[wpietri]

The NYT did a good piece a few years back on how private equity firms totally destroyed Simmons, a mattress company:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/economy/05simmons...

Basically, in theory the best way to make money is to serve your customers well. But in practice, financial engineering creates a lot of opportunities where those diverge. This is hard on employees, who value non-financial things like stability and meaning in their work.

[shostack]

I'd say employees certainly value financial things and that "recurring revenue" from their paycheck is one of them. Liquidity events from a transaction would be another. Unfortunately they typically lose the former and almost certainly never get the latter in a PE deal.

[wpietri]

I'm not denying the financial angle. But people value job stability beyond the pure impact on their bank account. Even if you know you can switch to another job immediately, the worry that you could be laid off at any moment is unpleasant for many.