UPDATED 06:20 EDT / DECEMBER 07 2011

RIM, Yahoo Battle Manpower Headaches

Sad as it may seem, RIM and Yahoo are only gaining problems, added on top of their lackluster performance and slacking market.

First off, two of RIM’s employees were fired following their arrest, and penalized $38,878 each to Air Canada for disrupting one of the airline’s flights to Beijing last week.

“RIM does not condone behavior that conflicts with applicable laws and employees are expected to act, at all times, with integrity and respect,” RIM said in a statement Monday. “The individuals involved in this incident are no longer employed by RIM.”

The two men, identified as George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38 – pleaded guilty of their wayward behavior in Richmond Provincial Court in British Columbia, Canada. RIM refused to reveal the position of the two men. On top of the monetary penalty, they were given suspended sentences and one year’s probation, within which they aren’t allowed to have contact with Air Canada crews or flying the carrier.

The comportment that has caused Air Canada to turn the Beijing flight back to Canada was described by the Royal Canadian Mountain Police as “consuming too much alcohol and disobeying the directions of the flight crew.” Campbell and Wilson can’t be reached for a comment at the moment, neither are their lawyers willing to give one.

Yahoo, on the other hand, is dealing with brain drain. Employees like Greg Cohn joined Yahoo six years ago as a business strategist, aspiring to become a senior director of generating revenue for new initiatives. While he may consider the current management as the strongest so far, he still left Yahoo in October and founded a tech company.

“If you’re not growing, if you’re not giving people challenging things to work on, if you’re not holding out the promise of creating some personal wealth during one of the frothiest technology markets in modern history, and if your people don’t ultimately believe in your ability to deliver across that whole spectrum, you’re toast,” Cohn said.

Aside from Cohn, other Yahoo veteran executives and engineers are fleeing the company these past few weeks, including their vice president of Latin American operations and the company’s chief trust officer, who went to rival Google to work on privacy issues relating to Google+. There were other employees who decided to leave Yahoo despite owning a stock they can’t sell until a designated date.

Back in late September, two of Yahoo’s directors sent an email to employees expressing grief against the company and its advertisers which are “fielding inquiries from multiple parties that have already expressed interest in a number of potential options,” and that the company needs to “accelerate innovation” and “reignite inspiration.”

While Yahoo may have uncertainties, Cohn said some good projects are also coming out of the company. Still, the uncertainty surrounding the company has become a “distraction to people who should be focused on shipping new products.” The board “will need to take a more aggressive approach to retention,” he added, because “real innovation is hard to commit to in a climate like that.”


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