Subject: Employee retention


Sally, Bob - just a thought about where we currently are and how we help ma= intain solid leadership for the future.
As I looked around the room at your=  breakfast meeting today it appeared many of the people in important manage= ment roles were probably at an age where they would like to stay at Enron, = work hard and hopefully be able to take care of immediate family needs (col= lege, etc.)
and then retire with a enough to enjoy their elder years.
Other= s were probably at an age where career changes are in their plans so it's t= he quick hits that will make a difference.
Maybe the mix was 50/50.
Clearly=  I'm in the former category.
Several people at the meeting commented about = the severe impact the current situation has had on their retirement plans a= nd how the time left to make this up is a concern.
In my relatively short t= ime here (3 1/4 years) I have made the following observation.
Enron has a g= reat Associate and Analyst program and these employees contribute immediate= ly to the company.
In addition Enron has a very young and mobile workforce = that provides great flexibility and energy to our efforts.
No doubt this ha= s led to the great success over the years.
However at the end of the day th= e business requires a level of maturity and experience that very effectivel= y complements this young and very talented workforce.
Helps pull things tog= ether and keep the sanity.
In many cases this translates to employees in th= eir mid to later years of their work life.
During the good times no problem=  as bonus $'s and other vehicles take care of things.
However we are possib= ly in a situation where those are limited or reduced to some extent for som= e extended period of time.
=20  Question: Do we need to do something positive, send a signal, to our middle=  aged and more senior employees that we understand the importance and value=  you add to the company and are willing to take a look at our pension/retir= ement plans.
When we come out of this current situation what will the compa= ny look like?
Will most of the younger crowd leave for the "quick hits" els= ewhere?
How do we maintain and protect our more senior employees.
How do we=  keep them here before they take another job that offers them additional se= curity?
Listening to Ken Lay at the employee meeting when asked a question = about pension I don't believe he really knew what type of retirement progra= m we have in place.
It really is, save all you can in your 401K and then we= 'll give you this cash balance vehicle to subsidize it.
I know the cash bal= ance option is a newer vehicle that many companies are moving to but Enron'= s is rather weak.
Many companies apply a larger percentage than Enron's 5%.=  Obviously this all has a cost, I know these plans were carefully considere= d over the years and changing anything at this point is not going to happen= .
In addtition this probably goes against our culture in many respects and = I'm not saying lets make this a job for life.
We still need to manage our w= orkforce as we have in the past and deal with employees that do not contrib= ute regardless of age.=20  Just wanted to share some honest thoughts and observations.
I get concerned=  when I look at the makeup of our workforce and think about commitment, loy= alty and ongoing leadership.
I promise this isn't about me although I certa= inly have my concerns as I know you do also.
=20  Thanks for listening - Bob