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The Hilcorp Energy Company has made news recently for providing its employees with a $100,000 bonus last year. Unfortunately, the company is also known for its fracking operations which according to researchers, caused a series of earthquakes in Ohio in 2014. With fracking operations in a spotlight of their own today, some might consider this a rather smart move on behalf of the oil & gas company. To paraphrase the great John Oliver, they deserve a pat on the back, and a punch in the face—pat, punch.
Scientists have, in fact, linked many earthquakes large enough to be felt by humans to fracking, and it has been found that fracking plays an active role in generating toxic metal wastewater. Some states, such as New York, have banned it completely.
In the case of Hilcorp, it has been confirmed that their fracking operations caused a series of small quakes in Ohio in 2014 in the Poland Township and the village of Lowellville near the border of Pennsylvania. Offering their employees extravagant bonuses (this is the 2nd in a five year period) is a sure way to get additional support from the communities in which they operate, not to mention putting themselves in a favorable public spotlight.
In related news: Hilcorp plans to build island to extract Arctic offshore oil
Numerous sites have been calling Hilcorp one of the best companies to work for, even making Fortune’s best 100 list, proving once again that money talks. All 1,381 of the company’s employees received their $100k bonus for helping to double the business’s size, which was part of a 5-year plan.
According to Amanda Thompson, Hilcorp receptionist:
“Mr. Jeff Hilldebrand, our president, Mr. Greg Lalicker, they are such amazing motivators, and it’s just, some days I kind of look down the hall like I can’t believe these are my bosses, and they are just the best.”
One can imagine that $100k would indeed be an excellent motivator, however this shouldn’t be an ethic held only by corporations with questionable motives. There are a few factors to take into consideration at this point.
While U.S. corporate profits dropped slightly in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economics Analysis, the U.S. had already reached an all-time record high by the end of last year, and of the 20 most profitable companies in the world, nine alone are based in the States. At the same time, the Economic Policy Institute states that based on the average median wage, the U.S. leads in having the most low wage workers, and has the lowest wages for those workers. On top of this, the Pew Research Center reported that inequality and joblessness were the top threats for 2015.
Happy we all are for the employees of Hilcorp, but the point to take away from this is, nearly everyone in the States should be receiving a handsome bonus check this season, and it’s a bitter-sweet pill to take seeing an oil & gas company, known for its fracking operations, receive positive recognition for an action that should be taken in industries that don’t damage the environment. Imagine the incentive those in the medical and educational fields would have with a $100k bonus check, and then think of the positive effect it would have on the rest of society. Instead, we’re patting a major energy company on the back while resisting the urge to punch them in the face.
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Sources:
Turner, Terry. Good News Network. Dec 10, 2015. (http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/all-1300-employees-get-100k-holiday-bonus-from-generous-u-s-company/)
This Article (Hilcorp Energy Company: Frackers Give 100K Bonuses to All Employees) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
