The media wants you to think the above image is what Wells Fargo is doing for their meetings. Why because its a more interesting headline than educating the public on the full story.
One large concern at the recent Meeting Professionals International (MPI) MeetDifferent conference in Atlanta this week was that companies are canceling the meetings only due to the bad press they receive. Incentive meetings are paid for by the incentives given to the employees or contractors that are working for them. It is built into the incentive structure. The economies of many cities like Las Vegas depend on this money. Of course, if the money is nefariously used(private jets for execs) this might be a problem. But companies are canceling these meetings just because the press is jumping on them and they do not want the bad press. The media needs to educate the public fully on the ramifications of canceling meetings.
Wells Fargo responded after canceling all meetings and was on the defensive following a report filed by the Associated Press this week that criticized it for moving forward with an employee recognition event taking place this month in Las Vegas, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has cancelled the four-day meeting for its mortgage division, it announced on Tuesday. The national banking giant, which has received $25 billion in taxpayer money as part of the country’s federal banking bailout, called the Associated Press report “intentionally misleading” and suggested that recognition events play a critical role in motivating and rewarding its employees.
“Through all economic cycles, our recognition events have been important part of our company’s culture,” the company said in a statement. “Late last year, we cancelled recognition events for 2009 except those where the financial commitment was so great that no meaningful savings would occur by canceling these events. We had scaled back the mortgage event, but in light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel this event as well. We do not plan to have any other recognition events this year.”
Wells Fargo—which will likely be responsible for paying hefty cancellation fees as a result of its Las Vegas no-show—was quick to point out that, had the event moved forward, it would not have been paid for with taxpayer money.
“The Associated Press story also misleads readers by implying Wells Fargo used the government’s investment to pay for these events,” read the company’s statement. “As we’ve said before, we’ve used the government’s investment to lend to creditworthy customers and to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.”
Wells Fargo is not the first organization to cancel an event after media scrutiny. In October, insurance giant American International Group (AIG) made headlines by canceling a corporate retreat to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay resort in California, along with over 160 other planned conferences and events.
Also on Tuesday, Wynn Resorts announced efficiency initiatives for its Wynn Las Vegas hotel. These initiatives include reductions in pay for all salaried employees in Las Vegas, reduced work weeks for full-time hourly employees, the elimination of 2009 bonus accruals and a suspension of employee match to 401K contributions.
Las Vegas tourism officials worry that increased scrutiny on business travel will discourage meetings and conventions — business that would be crucial for the city already suffering economically. The number of visitors to Las Vegas was down 4.4 percent in 2008 compared with a year earlier, and visits in December alone declined nearly 11 percent.
Late Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it had moved a three-day conference from the Las Vegas Strip to San Francisco amid what the bank called a broad review of its activities. Goldman Sachs has accepted $10 billion in federal bailout funds.
President Obama in a recent speech that bashing companies that are using private jets and trips to Las Vegas which lumped together was unintentionally dangerous to the meetings and events industry. Where private jets are not necessary for executives at this time- having meetings and infusing that money in local economies is necessary. We as a country need to keep meeting and getting money back into our economy. After all, the meetings and events industry is larger than the automobile industry.
So heres my question to you. Now that their are bailout regulations how should companies know which events are appropriate—and legal to have?
