You’ve got mail … and you’re fired
September 11, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: HR blunder of the week, Special Report
If you ever find, as an HR pro, that you have to send an unfortunate e-mail to senior management about upcoming layoffs, you might want to double, triple and quadruple check the “to” field on the message.
Media agency Carat was struggling and planned a major restructuring of its operations, including layoffs.
Those always awkward conversations with those being let go will be even more awkward because the entire agency received an e-mail regarding the terminations, mistakenly sent by its top HR executive.
And the e-mail didn’t just announce the layoffs; it included PowerPoint and Word documents full of “message” points on how people should be told they’d be out of work.
When the e-mail was sent out my mistake, the IT department pulled it back. But it was apparently too late, because copies were obtained by Advertising Age.
To make matters worse, as is the case too often today, the euphemism “right-sizing” was used in the memos to describe the lay-offs.
Chances are the employees who quickly opened the documents before IT called the e-mail back didn’t consider the possibility of losing their jobs as “right-sized” for them.
There’s no word on one Carat employee’s fate, Chief People Officer Rose Zory, who was responsible for mistakenly sending out the e-mail.
While this is a pretty outrageous e-mail blunder, it won’t be considered the worst one ever having to do with lay-offs. Not long ago, RadioShack dismissed 400 people via e-mail.
Do you have a story about a workplace e-mail blunder, particularly one dealing with HR? Let us know about it by sending us a Comment below.
Tags: e-mail, layoffs, restructuring
September 12th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Polaroid fired me and hundreds of other employees in 1998 by email. Even worse, all of us were posted in different countries, sometimes individually, as Polaroid’s representatives in other countries that did manufacturing for them. No word in the email about whether they would arrange to move me and my family back from the US to South America. . . It was appalling and terrifying.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:32 am
This happened many years ago before my career in HR. A co-worker that I carpooled with came home one evening with an e-mail from the President of the company (<50 employees) in which she personnally attacked and complained about the employee. It was iobviously intended for the manager, but was sent to the employee.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I was working for a manufacturing company a few years back. I was the HR Generalist there and was unaware of the mass lay off that was to take place. I was one of the many that got laid off. It was around 3:30pm in the afternoon and I went to go on my computer and it just shut off. I could not log on to it at all. I called the help desk and they informed me that there was a virus going around and that it should be fixed shortly. I was about to leave and go home since I was not able to work on the computer. Then I hear that my manager was coming to my facility and then I got nervous. A co-worker had said to me if I knew it was “black Friday,” and I was like “what?” When my manager came into my office I knew that I was being laid off. I thought it was a very untactful way to do the lay off. Is this something that is common with mass lay-offs?
September 12th, 2008 at 11:31 am
As a computer instructor my email teaching includes many “tips.” If I may offer one that applies here, it will serve you, the reader, in ANY email “quick hits” (my term for hitting the send button and THEN reading the message). When you compose an email DO NOT put any names in the address fields even though they are first, and as a habit we address the message first. Instead, write your message, add your attachments, review your subject line (a descriptive reference for future look-backs, yet concise) and spell check. If at any time you accidently “send” before you finish these tasks you will get an error saying “we need someone to send this message to.” I developed this habit when the email service I use put the “send” button and the “save” button next to each other. Sometimes I would want to save and accidently send. Not a great impression on the receiving end when they read a half-finished and/or misspelled message. Also gives pause to consider the addressee.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I once had a manager and one of his employees with the same first name and their last names started with the same letter. The manager was at a facility in another state than I work, so our main means of communication was by phone or email. I was sending the manager a final draft of a termination severance package for his employee, but I hit the wrong last name in the address book and sent it directly to the employee. It was an error that was cast up to me and held against me at review time. Double and triple check who an email is sent to.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Like Victoria, I showed up to work on a Monday, and could not login. I checked around ans since everyone was working, I knew it was just me. So I did some filing and phone calls, since our IT guy was also the CEO. Two hours later I found out the reason I could not login was that I was fired.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Our Manager was working offsite and processing paperwork to layoff an employee. Only thing is when it came time to print it out he forgot to check where his printer was set too. It ended up printing in our office and the employee who was being let go happened to be at the printer when it came out. Of course the employee came and asked me if I new anything about it and I had to say no, but quickly called my boss to tell him what just happened.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Long before the electronic age the HR Department had the HR Assistant photo copy the layoff list to be distributed to the management team. Unfortunately she left the original list on the copier. It was found by an employee that was on the list who made several copies and handed them out before walking out the door. The HR Assistant took an early retirement.
At the same company a few years later they decided to call all the employees into a conference room (about 200 employees). They said if your name was called you were to return to work. If you name was not called you were being downsized and were to remain in the room to get further instructions. They mixed up the list and called the wrong names. My last name back then started with a V – it was a long wait to find out that I was, and then was NOT being downsized.
I guess that even before the big swing to the electronic age with computers on every desk there were major blunders as well.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I had a similar situation happen to me. I knew they were thinking of downsizing and I was sure they were thinking of downsizing me because I was the only African American left in the whole company and my title was Recruitment Supervisor and you don’t need a recruiter if you aren’t hiring. I came to work and I couldn’t log on. I always arrived before my boss came in and this was the case that day as well. She came in shortly after I arrived and told me in her office that she had to let me go and they were giving me 8 weeks severance but I couldn’t get it unless I ageed to sign a waiver saying I wouldn’t sue them or retaliate in any way. They had another position they were going to fill….with a friend of mine(white person)…and she hadn’t started yet. I asked about that position since my position was being eliminated and I was told that it wouldn’t be a good idea, because I would have to work with Tracy….a known racist. So in answer to Victoria’s question, yes it does happen just that way. And it doesn’t have to do with mass layoffs.
September 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I think making the computer unavilable is a old tactic. It also happened to me one afternoon when the CEO’s wife (who was a “play” employee) decided she wanted me gone. It was a small computer software company. I had not been there long as the HR Manager. My goals and objectives were driven by THREE different individuals at first I reported to thte VP of Sales, then the Accountant and the CEOs wife had a “play” position that she came to do on days when she was not busy (nightmare). Even to this day, it is not clear as to why I was released.
Anyway, if your computer is “taken down” and others are working that MAY be a sign we are being “LET GO”.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Good Point Dino – one that I actually use myself routinely no matter the type of email. I, myself, was part of a large “downsizing” – over 100 people (an entire division was being closed) were let go. I have to say that the actual downsizing process was handled very professionally. We all knew (for months) that this would be happening. Each person met with HR to get information about their severance package etc. I had been with the company for 28 years so I had an excellent package. The company had an Unemployment Rep come in and explain the process so that we were all ready to apply once our last day came. The company also provided for a two day training about how to write/update a resume and interviewing techniques. I felt that they handled this in the best way they could for something that was quite emotional for many of us. Most of the people let go had been with the company as long as myself – some even longer.
The area where they lacked sensitivity was in their refusal to even consider transferring any of us to another division – this company is huge. They held a job fair and all anyone heard was that either we weren’t quite the right fit or that there were no openings in any of the places we would “fit”. Every one of us felt this was a joke – one in poor taste.
It seems from the other comments that the people doing the laying off/firing were not trained properly to perform this task. It takes someone who can at least be empathetic and kind when delivering the bad news. And even though I think that I posses those qualities, I’m happy that I don’t have to perform that task!
September 16th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I was working for a small high-tech startup firm in 2001 when everyone was rushed into the largest conference room one morning. The HR manager was in a near panic making sure everyone got there. Then the marketing manager – not the CEO or HR manager – made the following statement: “If you are in this room, then you still have a job.” It was appalling as everyone looked around and began noting who was absent. Turns out it was 20 people, or about 20% of the company, who were being let go, all from the same group.
In addition, the entire business plan of the company changed course at that point. Fourteen months later, I was let go too, along with 21 others, but I must say the way they handled the second layoff was better than the first. The VP who did the deed actually had tears in his eyes as he spoke, and I at least knew this wasn’t a trivial decision for the business to make. I didn’t enjoy being let go, but I felt like they handled it with some care, anyway.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
We had a new president and were undergoing an office restructure. A couple of positions were being eliminated and I was writing up a severance agreement for the first employee being let go. I intended to email the letter to a manager for proofing but accidentally emailed it to the employee being terminated. What a way to find out you are being let go…I still have nightmares about that day.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
[...] You’ve got mail … and you’re fired. Media agency Carat was facing layoffs. Its HR director prepared an e-mail with a list of employees [...]