Sail across the sea

Chapter 557 is their company's standard.
The crowd's guesses were soon confirmed.

At the end of the first month, the engineers who participated in the project received a basic subsidy of 250 yuan from Haike Company. Jiang Zhiwei and another project leader also received an additional 100 yuan position subsidy.

Although Xue Chujiang repeatedly asked everyone to keep it a secret when distributing the subsidies, the entire design institute knew about this shocking news the very next day.

In reality, things at work can never be kept secret. When Xue Chujiang was giving instructions, he was just talking about personal matters. He wasn't afraid of the news leaking out; he was afraid that the news wouldn't leak out fast enough.

Every engineer who's received their paycheck has friends and family. Once they've received their paycheck, they'll inevitably mention it to their friends, implying that if similar opportunities arise again, their friends should also try to get it, because the company is really generous with its pay, and working for them isn't a chore at all; on the contrary, it's highly sought after.

Besides, when the engineer who received the money gets home, he'll inevitably have to report back to his wife, right? His wife also has a few close female friends, but aren't these just superficial friends who like to show off when something good happens to them? If her husband is capable and can earn a lot of extra money on top of his salary, wouldn't it be like wearing fine clothes in the dark if she didn't brag to her friends?
Just like that, overnight, the news that Haike Company was giving engineers high subsidies spread throughout the entire design institute, causing a huge uproar.

"I'd like to ask, which institute leader proposed this money-driven approach, and whether it was approved by the ministry?"

In Di Sucheng's office, an elderly man with gray hair slammed his fist on the table and questioned him sternly.

The old man's name was Fan Guoliang. He was one of the founders of the design institute and was known for his strong aversion to unhealthy practices. He would come to the institute's leaders every few days to offer his opinions.

As soon as I got to work today, several engineers came to Fan Guoliang's office to talk about how dispatched engineers were receiving high subsidies, implying that the design institute was favoring one engineer over another. Fan Guoliang got furious after hearing a few words, declaring that as a veteran of the design institute, he absolutely could not stand by and watch the institute become discriminatory, and that he would, as a senior engineer, file a complaint with the institute's leadership.

"Old Fan, calm down, sit down, and I'll talk to you."

Di Sucheng stood up to comfort Fan Guoliang and persuaded him to sit down on the sofa. Most people in the design institute had to call Fan Guoliang "Old Fan," but Di Sucheng could call him "Old Fan" because the two were close in age and both were founding members of the institute.

"I just heard about the generous subsidies."

Di Sucheng sat down next to Fan Guoliang, offered him a cigarette, lit it for him, and then explained:
“I asked Dean Cai, and Dean Cai then consulted with General Manager Xue of Haike Company. They said that giving the engineers subsidies was in accordance with their company regulations. They also said that the engineers we sent were working very hard, and to their knowledge, all the engineers had been working overtime voluntarily for the past month, with some even working on experiments until after 1 a.m. The subsidies they gave the engineers were overtime pay.”

"Overtime pay? I heard they each received several hundred yuan?"

"It's true that it cost several hundred yuan. They said that's their company's standard."

Has this standard been approved by our institute?

"This matter has nothing to do with our institute, and we have no right to interfere."

"How can they say they have no right to interfere? Aren't these overtime pay payments paid out of project revenue? This money should be managed by the design institute; what right do they have to make decisions on their own?"

"Old Fan, you've got it wrong. When we signed the contract with Haike Company, it stipulated that the engineers' overtime pay would be paid from Haike Company's share of the profits, not included in the project costs." "How is that possible!"

"It's true."

"What do they want?"

"I don't know about this."

When Di Sucheng got to this point, he let out a long sigh. He recalled how he hadn't understood the clause in the agreement when he first saw it, and felt that Haike Company had been taken advantage of.

Looking back now, it seems they planned to do this from the very beginning. It wasn't the design institute setting a trap for them; it was clearly the other party setting a trap for the design institute.

As for the other party's motive for being willing to subsidize the engineers out of their own pocket, he vaguely understood. Didn't he know his own engineers' character well? If the other party didn't offer any incentives, the engineers would definitely slack off.

If the other party wants to get things done, then it's perfectly reasonable for them to use their own money to incentivize them. They're only contributing a small amount of money, while the engineers work day and night for them, earning them a lot of money in return.

They know exactly what's going on in the design institute, and they know that the design institute definitely won't accept paying subsidies to engineers. So they directly took over this power in the agreement, so that you can't find a reason to interfere.

These capitalists are very shrewd.

Di Sucheng couldn't say these things to Fan Guoliang. In the past, when the institute wanted to adopt the same incentive policy, the biggest obstacle it encountered was people like Fan Guoliang.

These people are older and certainly can't work as hard as the younger engineers. If the institute distributes bonuses based on workload, these veterans won't receive them, so they're unhappy and want to voice their opinions to the institute.

Actually, the elders weren't really short of money; they mainly felt neglected.

What do you mean by giving such generous rewards to young and middle-aged engineers? Do you think we can't do the work and are trying to humiliate us in this way?
The senior members wield considerable influence; if they get angry, they're willing to complain to the central government, leaving the institute's leadership with no choice but to compromise. But now, it's a private company paying young engineers, unrelated to the institute—what can you say?
"Su Cheng, regardless of who paid for this, I think this trend should not be allowed to continue. The institute should negotiate with that company to stop this behavior. Also, the institute should require those engineers who received high subsidies to hand over their illegal income to the finance department within a specified time, or they will be subject to disciplinary action," Fan Guoliang said seriously.

Di Sucheng smiled wryly and said, "Old Fan, you're making things difficult for me. Things are different now than in the past. The central government has proposed to govern the country according to law, and the design institute must also govern according to law. What reason do we have to ask the company to hand over the subsidies it gives to the engineers to the finance department? There's no such provision in the institute's regulations."

"Hmph, what do you mean there aren't rules! Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. If your institute leaders can't do this, I'll go to the ministry and have them solve this problem!" Fan Guoliang said angrily.

(End of this chapter)