How do you feel about forcing employees to donate part of the pay to charity?
1. Goldman should not adopt this policy. Charitable donations are a personal decision and an employer should stay out of an individual's personal decisions.
2. Goldman should adopt this policy. Employees at Goldman make a lot of money and the company has received bad press over its compensation practices. T his policy would create positive images in the marketplace.
3. Goldman should encourage employees to donate, but the company should not make it mandatory.
4. Invent other options. Explain.
Preparing for the negative publicity that's certain to fall on Wall Street when the first 2009 bonus checks are cut , Goldman Sachs is pondering the expansion of a program requiring top staff to donate a percentage of their earnings to charity.
The New York Times reported on January l l [2010] that the firm may adopt a scheme like one at failed investment bank Bear Stearns, which compelled more than 1,000 employees to donate 4% of their pay each y ear. Were Goldman to impose something similar, hundreds of millions of dollars would flow into philanthropic causes. Goldman already has a program under which its 400-plus partners must donate an undisclosed amount to charity.