Chapter 804
Seeking Benefits for Employees
When Ma Lu heard that Xu Bo'an really wanted to buy him a house, he immediately stopped joking with Xu Bo'an. He asked himself honestly that Xu Bo'an had been good enough to him. Ever since he came to Dongjiang to seek refuge with Xu Bo'an, he had been taken care of by Xu Bo'an in various ways, including treating his mother-in-law's illness and getting back together with Shi Xinyi.
If Xu Bo'an weren't still all alone, how could he experience the joy of having a harmonious family like this, especially since he and Xinyi both work at Xu Bo'an's pharmaceutical factory?
Shi Xinyi is currently pregnant and her belly is too big to go to work, so the company has allowed her to stay home to prepare for childbirth during this period, and her salary and benefits have not been affected.
If this were any other company, they wouldn't approve hiring someone while they're pregnant, let alone offer them any salary or benefits. Ma Lu knew that all of this was thanks to Xu Bo'an's care for him.
Xu Bo'an has already helped him enough, how could he be so greedy? Besides, buying a house costs a lot of money, even the cheapest one would cost over a million. So Ma Lu felt that this joke couldn't continue. If Xu Bo'an really bought him a house, he would never be able to repay Xu Bo'an's favor in his lifetime.
After hearing Ma Lu's words, Xu Bo'an said, "I don't care if you're joking or not, your brother is serious. Don't look at rental listings for now, I'll get this sorted out for you right away."
Ma Lu quickly said, "Brother, you can't do this! I called you because I thought you had a lot of connections in Dongjiang and would be able to find out about rental information for me more easily. I didn't expect you to actually buy me a house. If I had known, I wouldn't have dared to call you!"
Xu Bo'an said with a smile, "Little Yao, when you came to me wanting to follow me, I told you that if you followed me, I would treat you to the best of everything. Now that I'm making more money than before, I certainly can't treat you badly!"
Ma Lu was deeply moved by Xu Bo'an's words. The phrase "When I become successful, I'll treat you to all the good things in life" was just a joke that the brothers often made together. Most people would just listen to it and not take it seriously. Ma Lu really didn't expect that Xu Bo'an would actually take such a casual remark to heart.
"A gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way." Ma Lu was touched, but he certainly wouldn't accept such a great favor.
He said to Xu Bo'an, "Brother, you have already helped me enough. I can't be a greedy person."
Xu Bo'an said, "Look at what you're saying. It's my own choice to buy you a house. It's settled then. I'm not short of money now, so don't try to refuse anymore."
Ma Lu said, "Brother, this really won't do. Nobody's money comes from thin air. You didn't earn it easily either. You can keep your money for yourself."
After Ma Lu repeatedly declined, Xu Bo'an understood that Ma Lu would definitely not accept the house if he were to buy it for him right now. Thinking of this, Xu Bo'an stopped talking about buying a house and instead said to Ma Lu, "Alright, in that case, I'll keep an eye out for suitable rental information for you. If I find a suitable place to rent, I'll give you a call!"
After hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Ma Lu said, "Okay, brother, then I'll trouble you."
Xu Bo'an said, "We brothers don't talk about this!"
After chatting for a few more minutes, the two hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Bo'an thought about the matter carefully and came up with another solution. Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory was now on the right track, and it was his first company. Although he didn't often go to the office, he was determined to develop and expand it.
Moreover, several of his trusted confidants work there now. For example, Liu Quan and Tang Xiaotong, who had always followed him, came to work at Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory because they trusted him. Su Jie, Ma Lu, and Shi Xinyi, whom he invited later, also work there.
Now that the company is developing steadily, and has recently received hundreds of millions of yuan in agency fees from hangover remedies alone, the company's turnover has increased. Therefore, the benefits for the company's employees in various aspects must also keep up, so that the employees will be willing to contribute to the company.
That's right. Because Ma Lu talked to him about the house, it indirectly made Xu Bo'an think of distributing welfare houses to the company's employees. This would solve a big problem for those in the company who are having difficulty buying a house now.
After all, if you want employees to serve the company better, the boss can't just treat them like cattle and horses. In the long run, employees will definitely not accept this kind of work where they only have to give. Employees also need to feel the warmth of the company family. Both sides need to give and contribute to each other in order to achieve a win-win situation for both the company and the employees.
Xu Bo'an thought about it more and more and felt that this was a good idea. Many other companies only gave their employees small benefits such as rice, flour, oil or some relatively inexpensive products from their own stores, which could not solve the employees' actual problems at all.
As the saying goes, "You have to give to receive." If you want to continuously expand your business, you have to be willing to invest. You can't be stingy with your subordinates. Besides, Lao Xu has already achieved financial freedom. What's a little benefit and housing for his employees?
However, rewarding employees with houses requires careful consideration. If all employees are treated the same without distinction, it will inevitably discourage those who have made significant contributions to the company. Therefore, although Xu Bo'an intends to benefit his employees, he needs to plan carefully and cannot make a decision on the spot.
Moreover, Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory currently has a large number of employees. If we want to provide them with better accommodation, we would probably have to buy several buildings.
However, Xu Bo'an thought that the area where Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory is located had started to develop a few years ago, and many residential buildings had been built around it. He would let Lin Kangtai learn about the surrounding area and see if there were any suitable properties.
Thinking of this, Xu Bo'an picked up his phone and called Lin Kangtai. Lin Kangtai answered the phone quickly, and Xu Bo'an said, "Mr. Lin, are you busy?"
Upon hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Lin Kangtai politely replied, "Hello, Mr. Xu. I just finished my work. May I ask if you have any instructions?"
Xu Bo'an said, "There are some things I want to tell you. Recently, our pharmaceutical factory has become more stable. I was thinking of solving some practical problems for the employees, which will be more conducive to the future development of our pharmaceutical factory. What do you think?" Xu Bo'an owns 90% of the shares of Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory, while Lin Kangtai only owns 10%. From a practical point of view, Lin Kangtai doesn't really have any say. To put it bluntly, he is just a senior employee. Xu Bo'an makes these decisions and then tells Lin Kangtai to carry out the orders.
Xu Bo'an was not the kind of person who liked to bully the weak. Moreover, since he had handed over the factory to Lin Kangtai for management, he had to give Lin Kangtai the most basic respect.
Hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Lin Kangtai felt that Xu Bo'an respected him very much, and he was very pleased. He said to Xu Bo'an, "President Xu, you are the person in charge of the company. I will just do whatever you say."
Xu Bo'an said, "President Lin, you're being too polite. Let's discuss this together!"
Lin Kangtai quickly said, "No, Mr. Xu, I just feel that you have already given me enough respect. The most important thing is that the pharmaceutical factory has recovered its former vitality so quickly under your leadership, which is enough to prove your strength. I will absolutely obey any questions you raise unconditionally."
It has to be said that Lin Kangtai's flattery hit Xu Bo'an right where it hurts, and Xu Bo'an was very pleased to hear Lin Kangtai's words.
He said to Lin Kangtai, "Since you put it that way, I'll be frank. Our factory has entered a stable period and has made a lot of money recently. I'm thinking of solving the housing problem for our employees! We'll create some welfare-oriented houses exclusively for our Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory. If employees want to buy them, they can do so at the lowest possible price. If they don't want to buy, they can rent them at the lowest possible price."
"For those high-ranking, highly educated, and employees who have made significant contributions to the factory, the properties will be given away for free, and they will belong to them personally. For the diligent lower-level employees, the properties can be sold at cost price. This is just a suggestion I came up with temporarily; you will need to personally formulate the specific details."
To be honest, Lin Kangtai's first reaction upon hearing Xu Bo'an's words was one of resistance. He felt that Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory had only just returned to a stable and forward-looking state of development, and Lin Kangtai personally believed that the funds recovered should be used to expand the hardware facilities and factory buildings. He felt that now was not the best time to give employees benefits, and it would be better to give them benefits later when more money was earned.
After all, in Dongjiang City, the salary and benefits of Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory are already quite good. The annual salary of its employees is no worse than that of state-owned enterprises, and is even slightly higher.
To keep employees on their toes, the significantly higher salaries compared to other companies would suffice. Lin Kangtai felt there was no need for such extravagance, at least not now.
Although the injection of this new product, hangover remedy, has boosted sales of other products in the factory, the factory recently received over 300 million yuan in agency fees for the hangover remedy alone. Combined with other revenues from the factory, the total income is at least 400 million yuan.
While this number sounds enormous to the average person, it's not the case for a large factory. First, the factory employs so many workers and needs to pay their salaries, as well as cover electricity, water, and fixed asset maintenance costs. Just these expenses alone add up to a huge annual expenditure. Not to mention other unexpected and miscellaneous expenses, making the annual expenditure even more immeasurable.
Most importantly, Lin Kangtai had just experienced a failure, and now he had finally managed to salvage the situation. He would be much more cautious in dealing with this matter than before.
Therefore, when Lin Kangtai heard Xu Bo'an propose providing housing as a benefit for employees, his first reaction was to resist.
This doesn't mean that Lin Kangtai is a cold-blooded boss who doesn't want to improve the welfare of his employees and treats them like beasts of burden. Lin Kangtai just feels that the current situation is not yet mature enough.
After Xu Bo'an finished speaking, he heard Lin Kangtai on the other end of the phone remain silent for a long time, so he spoke again to Lin Kangtai on the other end of the phone: "Hey, Lao Lin, are you listening?"
After hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Lin Kangtai came to his senses and said, "Oh...oh...Mr. Xu, I'm listening. I'll do as you say!"
When Xu Bo'an mentioned providing housing benefits to employees on the phone, Lin Kangtai paused for a long time without speaking. Xu Bo'an felt that Lin Kangtai might not have fully agreed with his suggestion and only spoke after Xu Bo'an reminded him. Moreover, Lin Kangtai's tone was stammering. Xu Bo'an was now even more certain of Lin Kangtai's thoughts.
Xu Bo'an then said to Lin Kangtai, "Old Lin, the reason I brought this up with you today is to discuss it with you. If you feel that this matter is not quite appropriate, you can express your opinion. Only by speaking out can we better discuss this matter."
When Lin Kangtai heard Xu Bo'an say such a thing, he knew that Xu Bo'an must have guessed what he was thinking before asking him this question. Lin Kangtai had been in business for so many years, and he knew that if the leader had already raised such a question and even come up with a rough solution, it was enough to show that the leader had already decided to do this.
He knew this wasn't the time to raise objections; he should simply follow his superior's instructions. He was aware of these basic workplace etiquette points.
However, Lin Kangtai had a very deep affection for Kangtai Pharmaceutical Factory, and he was very afraid that doing so would cut off the company's working capital.
For a company, a break in working capital is a fatal blow. It could put the entire pharmaceutical factory at risk of bankruptcy again. He had already experienced it once, and the heartache he felt was still unforgettable. He didn't want to go through it again.
So even though Lin Kangtai knew that Xu Bo'an had already made up his mind about providing welfare housing for employees before telling him, he still needed to express his true thoughts.
Thinking of this, Lin Kangtai truthfully said to Xu Bo'an, "Mr. Xu, you are right. I do have a different opinion on this matter you raised, and I hope you can understand!" (End of this chapter)