PwC has launched a round of “silent lay-offs” in the UK, telling affected staff not to inform their colleagues why they are leaving but instead to adhere to some robotic “suggested wording” provided by HR if they want to send goodbye messages. Did nobody stop for a moment to think how this would be received?
Alison Taylor
1mo
The firm that has entirely rebranded itself around…. TRUST ok then 🤔
Anthony Steel
1mo
And this from people who are supposedly paid millions to protect and enhance others' reputations 🤯
They obviously can’t enforce it, but if they are asking then presumably there is a quid pro quo. If they offered a non statutory redundancy then there is some merit in them asking for an extra step, no different to saying you get the enhanced package if you don’t sue us for wrongful dismissal. But that quid pro quo needs to have been made clear up front. People think their 1 month per year is some natural right but in the UK it’s 1 week per year by law, everything else is an extra for which the company may ask for something in return.
Jay Horvath
3w
Yeah - do they know anything about human nature? In the '60s & 70s I recall my dad saying about management at the defense contractor he worked for ..."If management would only treat the staff like humans with real emotions instead of like robots there was no telling how productive they could be."
Alfonso L.
4w
What’s the alternative? People not recieving additional compensation for thier silence. Also consider that a choice (between bad and worse) is being offered to people? As business owner, I’m proud to say I’ve not had to layoff anybody that worked for me Or offer this type of “choice”
Senior Editor & Writer, Geopolitical Risk Analysis
1moMany people neglect to think through the optics of what they are saying or doing. They are trying to control the optics without realizing how bad that effort actually makes them look. Silent lay-offs are just part of the optics game, a way for a company to let people go in the hope that shareholders and the wider public will not see or be alerted to problems in the firm.