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Boeing workers ready to catch stock windfall

By David Bowermaster
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

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Barring a significant collapse of Boeing's share price on the New York Stock Exchange today, more than 200,000 current and former employees will receive a distribution of Boeing stock from a little-noticed incentive plan.

Boeing's stock price must exceed $44 today for a distribution to occur, based on a formula set when the plan was created.

At yesterday's closing price of $50.51, a worker who spent the past four years at Boeing could receive 16.5 shares of Boeing stock worth $833.41.

Because a large share of Boeing's current and former work force remains in Washington, that could mean $50 million to $60 million of new wealth injected into the local economy.

Boeing had 52,763 workers in Washington state on June 3, the most recent information available, and 80,000 workers in the state in August 2001.

How quickly the new wealth works its way into local cash registers would depend on whether workers hold onto their shares or cash them out immediately.

"We encourage holding stock and being an owner in the company, receiving dividends, participating in its growth," said Anne Eisele, a Boeing spokeswoman in Chicago. "But ultimately it's a personal decision."

Two variables determine the number of shares each person would receive: the average of Boeing's daily high and low stock price today, and the number of months each person worked at Boeing between July 1, 2000 and today.

Boeing stock bonuses: Calculating the value If you worked for Boeing any time from July 1, 2000, to today, you can figure out what your stock bonus would be worth by using an online calculator at www.seattletimes.com/boeingaerospace.

The idea of Boeing's ShareValue Trust was to give all employees, from entry-level workers to production managers, a reason to care about the company's stock price. Perform more efficiently and help Boeing make more money, the theory went, and everyone will gain as Boeing's stock rises in value.

This approach is markedly different from Boeing's "employee incentive plan" (EIP), which pays bonuses at the end of each profitable year for the company, but only to nonunion workers.

Also, EIP payouts depend on a worker's salary — each recipient receives a certain number of extra days of pay — so employees already earning the most receive the largest bonuses.

In January, Boeing announced that 85,000 nonunion employees would receive eight days of incentive pay from the EIP in reward for the profits recorded in 2003.

The ShareValue Trust has not made a single payout since it was created in 1996 because the stock price has always been too low on the required dates.

Today is the fourth potential payout date, but it is the first time Boeing stock has been at a level high enough for a payout.

Boeing stock has had a great year so far. Since hitting a 52-week-low of $31 last August, the price has climbed 63 percent.

David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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