Thank you very much

It was the HR director. I have some news for you he said. I am happy to announce that your bonus has been approved. Our hero was pleasantly surprised, but cautious. What amount he said? The amount included in your contract the HR director said. Our hero was shocked. What about the additional bonus you promised me to cover the difference from not receiving the stock options he asked? It was not possible the HR director said, but next year… Our hero could not listen any more. He felt like an idiot. The company did it again. The HR director continued: Regarding the compensation in Argentina, unfortunately there will not be an increase in your salary but it will remain the same as now. Our hero had to ask. So I will get promoted, I will be responsible for two companies, travel back and forth but receive the same money I did only for one company? The HR director continued:Well maybe it sounds bad, but next year… Our hero could not listen any more. He had some thinking to do and some decisions to make. Ok he said thank you very much and ended the conversation.

The Phone Call

Nearly three months had passed from the announcement of his transfer to Argentina and our hero had not heard anything from headquarters regarding his issue. Only promises from the HR director. In the meanwhile these months were extremely difficult for our hero. He travelled back and forth to Argentina and in Peru the temp CEO was continuously present trying, without success, to make a difference. This meant significant additional workload for our hero. He was exhausted and quite mad. On the one hand he did not have time for his family, since he was working intensively in two companies and continuously travelling. On the other hand, he had no information regarding his transfer, which was initially planned to take place two months ago or about the additional bonus he was promised. This situation was very unpleasant and stressful. Finally one day our hero received a phone call from Greece. This phone call changed everything…

Wrong Again

In the meanwhile our hero started working in the Argentinean Company. How? Continuous travelling. Our hero could not wait for the finalization of his personal issues in order to start working. The new company had many open issues that required urgent attention. But this was extremely difficult for our hero. Besides the significant workload, he had to leave his family behind in order to travel. Imagine: His family was alone in Peru and he was in Argentina working for maybe 4 or 5 days. This was not what he had agreed on when he joined the company. They had agreed to move to another continent, but they would be all together. They were not happy with this situation, but they were patient. Deep down they thought that maybe the company was moving slow, but everything would be taken care of. His compensation would be fairly arranged and the new rent allowance would be determined in order for them to find an apartment in Buenos Aires. Again, they were wrong…

Promises

Our hero tried to communicate with the HR director in order to arrange the issues regarding the transfer to Argentina. Our hero wanted to see the full package, mainly the compensation and the rent allowance. Furthermore he wanted to finalize the extra bonus that was promised to him in order to cover the lack of stock options. All these issues stressed him and he wanted to finalize them. According to the initial communication with the HR director, he was to suppose to move in Argentina within a month. However after a month had passed, he had no indication about the conditions regarding the transfer! He talked with the HR director, he sent mails, but received no answer at all. Only promises that everything will be taken care of. Nothing had changed regarding central offices behavior.

The temp CEO

The temp was also a nice guy. Professionally however during his stay in Peru he was not able to show any results in sales, which was his area. This was a big blow for him, because he had shown arrogance during the time he was “supporting” the company from headquarters. He travelled back and forth to Peru for nearly 4 months. During that time he had a good relationship professional and personal with our hero and his family. They spent weekends together, they discussed many personal issues and our hero later on met his family in Greece and both families spent a very nice day at the beach. Our hero thought that they would remain friends, independently of their professional relationship. He was wrong…

The new CEO

The executives from Greece would be arriving in the company Monday morning. Everybody was very anxious. A new CEO and a temp CEO is not a small thing. It is a major change. During this week our hero spent many hours with these two people. He liked the new CEO very much. He was an excellent professional with strong experience in sales and people management. Exactly what the company required. This guy showed no arrogance at all and went directly to the point. He respected all the people and listened to all the ideas. Our hero would not stay for long in Peru because of his transfer to Argentina, but he had the time to grow a very good professional relationship with this person.

Booming Argentinean Real Estate

Our hero decided to travel to Argentina immediately in order to review the house market. He had heard that the Buenos Aires market was very expensive but he wanted to see exactly how much money was required in order to discuss it with Greece. In Lima he was living in a nice apartment in San Isidro and the only thing he wanted was to rent a similar apartment in Argentina. He left after a couple of days in order to be back when the colleagues from Greece would arrive. He was also going to unofficially meet the executives of the Argentinean company. He remained in Argentina for three days. He saw many apartments and realized that what he had heard was correct. The market was expensive. In order to find an apartment similar to the one in Peru, he was required to pay two times the rent. Real estate was booming in Argentina and this was incorporated in the prices.

Starting to worry

It was the HR director that announced the changes. The current CEO would become Chairman of the Board and a new CEO would arrive, in three months. In the meantime, the marketing director, one of the three executives, would arrive to Peru as acting CEO. This was a big surprise for everyone. The current CEO did not have a problem with this. He wanted to withdraw himself from the day to day operation. The arrival of the marketing director was a surprise. Why? He did not have any experience running a company. Anyway next week both the new CEO and the marketing director would be arriving to Peru. The new CEO for a week and the marketing director for three weeks. Regarding our hero, he would be promoted to regional CFO and transferred to Argentina. According to the HR director this should happen within a month. How about the details our hero asked? What do you mean details? My compensation, my rent allowance, etc. Don’t worry said the HR director. Everything will be arranged soon. When our hero heard the phrase don’t worry, he started to worry.

Summer Changes

During the next weeks they took advantage of the summer. In the weekends they visited the clubs and the beaches near Lima. It is very common in Peru for the upper class people to rent or to own summer houses. During the weekends Lima is empty and the clubs are full. These are controlled areas on beaches with very nice facilities (pools, playgrounds). A famous beach with facilities like this is the Asia beach, about 100 kilometers out of Lima. There you can find restaurants, bars, etc. The weekends for our hero and his family were quite relaxing, since they visited these areas with the CEO and other friends.

In mid January our hero received one of the famous Greek calls. It was quite surprising. Significant changes were going to take place in the company.

Back to Lima and Rafael

The Christmas holidays ended and our hero left for Peru. They had a good time in Greece and were a bit sad to have to leave. After a long trip that got even longer with a 4 hour delay in Madrid, they arrived to Lima on a Sunday evening. The good part was that it was summer in Peru and that the weather was beautiful, something that they saw the very next day. Lima usually is never cold, but is covered with a huge cloud. That time of year however there was no cloud and the days were very sunny. He went to the office with a two hour delay. The first day was difficult, but he was happy to see his colleagues. That evening he went with his wife to their favorite Peruvian restaurant Rafael. They had missed the food in Peru and that evening they had a wonderful time enjoying the extraordinary cuisine of Rafael.

Too Soon

Our hero left the meeting with mixed emotions. He was honored to receive a promotion that soon. On the other hand however, this would mean that he would have to move to another country again. Given the fact the he would still have responsibilities in Peru, we would have to travel, leaving his family behind. This was not easy. Furthermore, our hero did not know what this meant for his personal issues. He already had a problem with the company regarding his compensation. What will happen now? He imagined that the promotion would also mean an increase in his compensation. However nothing was clear. Our hero decided to wait for the official decision. It was too soon to think this through without all the required information available.

Big Surprise

The meeting with the CEO took place later in the afternoon. It only lasted about 5 minutes and it was very general. In any case our hero was very happy to finally meet him. Later that day he also had a meeting with the CFO. That meeting lasted longer and was very interesting. Our hero respected the CFO. He considered him to be a very good professional, that although had significant authority in the organization, was not at all arrogant, which was not the case with others in the organization (i.e. the three executives). The only problem was that he was an extremely busy person and was very difficult to reach. That meeting however lasted for a hour and was very interesting. He told our hero that the project in Argentina was successful and now the group is going to expand to Buenos Aires. The last part of the conversation was a big surprise. He told our hero off the record that he was thinking of promoting him to regional CFO giving him the responsibility of the Argentinean company, along with that of the Peruvian. This however meant that he and his family would have to move to Argentina.