El Paso Veers Off the Wise Course

But some of those employees have few praises to return. While Wise collected $4.9 million last November selling El Paso stock -- in addition to an eight-figure salary -- employees saw their own stock investments continue to slide and their jobs, in some cases, completely disappear. As recently as last month, El Paso's staff suffered yet another painful cutback.

In a letter from Wise himself, El Paso informed employees that the company was suspending its matching contributions to the staff's retirement savings plans. Wise estimated that the move will save the company $33 million a year.

"The decision to suspend the RSP match has been a difficult one, and I understand that it will affect many of you," Wise said in a Jan. 28 letter. But "it is imperative that we continue to respond in order to deliver maximum value to our shareholders."

Saddled with fresh sacrifice, employees will no doubt be watching for any signs of a generous "parachute" for Wise that would cut into shareholder returns. Their CEO has already drawn criticism for collecting huge paychecks even as El Paso's fortunes have eroded. Last year, Wise was in fact ranked as one of the best-paid CEOs -- trailing only CEOs at Tyco(TYC Quote), Qwest(Q Quote), Enron and AOL Time Warner (AOL Quote) -- at the helm of a company under federal investigation.