Posted on 06/01/2003 8:42:08 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Staff members of a British company took a leaf from the residents of Baghdad when they looted their office after being sacked via text messages.
About 2,500 workers of The Accident Group were suddenly told they had lost their jobs. They hit back by stripping their office near Manchester of computers, stationery, furniture and even toilet equipment.
Television pictures displaying what transpired near Manchester and in Baghdad were only slightly different. Instead of carrying computers and office equipment all the way home, the staff members carted the stuff into their cars and drove off.
Russell Bennet, a photographer, said that when he went to the company's Birmingham office on receiving messages about the closure "the place was a complete mess".
"People had been here for hours and had taken anything they could get their hands on. Computers, coffee machines, even the photocopiers had gone," Bennet recalled.
Bennet said he had heard of some employees selling client details to other solicitors for up to 250 pounds.
A director, who did not wish to be named, said that looting and damage at the Manchester headquarters was widespread. "Things have been taken by people who haven't been paid," he said, "but that was inevitable."
Mark Langford founded the parent company of the group, The Amulet Group, with his wife Debbie in 1992. The Accident Group, its principal subsidiary, grew to become one of Britain's largest personal injury claim companies, but was accused of fuelling a compensation culture.
"I'm absolutely devastated. I don't like what has happened. If it had been in my control, I would not have done it that way," said Langford in a statement.
This is not, however, a unique instance in Britain. If a group of workers are fired, they often walk away with what they can from the office. Their actions, however, are seldom shown live on television.
That British company has some idiots for management who should be sacked themselves. Firing an individual, much less an entire office, by text message (or over the phone or by e-mail) is the absolute stupidest (and gutless) way to go about firing people. If you're going to terminate somebody's employment, have the guts to tell them in person.
Most large companies will herd everybody into a conference room, pull their security badges, and tell them that they have one hour to clean their desks and hit the road. And from that time on, they're escorted everywhere by a security guard. If this isn't done, the events described in the above article happen.
Yep, when Gateway closed their Hampton, VA. , call center, that's pretty much how they did it.
Is this a British/English sentence?
Which was inevitable, theft or no paychecks?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.