World's Worst HR Department

[brewer12345]

Aviva Mistakenly Fires 1,300 Employees at Investment Unit - Bloomberg

Aviva Plc (AV/), the U.K.’s second-biggest insurer by market value, said the company’s investment unit mistakenly sent an e-mail dismissing its entire staff before retracting the message.
The e-mail, which was sent by the Aviva Investors human resources department to 1,300 employees globally, told recipients to turn over company property as they left the building and reminded them of their obligation to guard the firm’s confidential information, according to Paul Lockstone, spokesman for the unit of the London-based insurer.

 

[truenorth418]

Standard operating procedure for big bureaucratic organizations.

I know a big company here in the States that laid off the wrong person. The HR manager in charge of the department was confused and prepared the paperwork for the wrong person, went ahead and fired them anyway. Of course, the company never owned up, and the person that was supposed to be let go is still there 3 years later. As for the person who got the ax by mistake, never heard from them again.

 

[REWahoo]

Aviva Plc (AV/), the U.K.’s second-biggest insurer by market value, said the company’s investment unit mistakenly sent an e-mail dismissing its entire staff before retracting the message.

Those Brits have a real sense of style when it comes to April Fools Day jokes...

 

[Chuckanut]

Check out this movie "The Desk Set" - Spencer Tracey Kathern Hepburn. One thing the new computer does is fire the entire staff! The scene where Tracey is in Hepburns apartment wearing her boyfriend's (Gig Young) robe is a classic as Tracy really needles the pompous Young.

 

[Mulligan]

I guess emailing to lay people off is becoming more prevalent. My SO told me the other day, a coworker of hers got an email saying she was part of a group that was being laid off. The trouble was it had another persons name on it. So she had to walk in to the boss to find out if it was for her or not. Unfortunately for her it was, they just forgot to change the name on the dismissal form letter.

 

[Nords]

... the company’s investment unit mistakenly sent an e-mail dismissing its entire staff before retracting the message.

I've seen a lot of impressive screwups in the military, but I cannot for the life of me understand how a clerical employee can compose an e-mail and say "Let's see, who does this go to again? Oh yeah, 'Reply all'. Got it. Good to go. *click* Hey, who's ready for lunch?"

Maybe they've fired two employees by now...

 

[Redbugdave]

Yeah, that would be funny in a twisted way if that clerical employee also has to add their own name to the email...a good Twilight Zone type of scene...

 

[gindie]

Yeah, that would be funny in a twisted way if that clerical employee also has to add their own name to the email...a good Twilight Zone type of scene...

This kinda happened with a company I worked for in the 80's. Frequently, there would be RIF's on Friday afternoon. On this one occasion, the folks were told to see Betty in HR for their outprocessing. The only thing was, you guessed it, Betty had been let go herself earlier in the day!

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.

 

[Midpack]

Did all 1300 get to keep their severance packages? Seems only fair.

And I assume there may have been two RIFs that day, the original employee and another in HR shortly thereafter.

 

[oldphd]

Not layoffs, but in the stupid HR e-mail mistake category, here's what happened where I was working about 10-15 years ago.

Smallish company, maybe 1,000 employees at the time. This HR person was the one who sent announcements to all employees. Got an e-mail that was that typical To All type, but it contained an attachment, the salaries of every person in the company, from the corner office to the janitor. It was retracted fairly quickly, but not before a few quick thinking IT types managed to save it, pretty much public knowledge after that.

I put that pretty high up there in the "What were you thinking?" category.

 

[ChadR]

Not layoffs, but in the stupid HR e-mail mistake category, here's what happened where I was working about 10-15 years ago.

Smallish company, maybe 1,000 employees at the time. This HR person was the one who sent announcements to all employees. Got an e-mail that was that typical To All type, but it contained an attachment, the salaries of every person in the company, from the corner office to the janitor. It was retracted fairly quickly, but not before a few quick thinking IT types managed to save it, pretty much public knowledge after that.

I put that pretty high up there in the "What were you thinking?" category.

Ouch!!! That would be ugly in the US. Interestingly a former coworker from the Netherlands insisted that at his company there everyone knew what everyone else made per company policy.

 

[Brat]

Back in the day I was doing an audit of a firm in NYC. I needed to find a private office for interviews where compensation would be discussed so I explained my concerns with the owner of the company. His response, "In my company I want everyone to know that I pay for performance. Salaries are on the bulletin board, including mine, together with a note that if an employee thinks they are underpaid relative to anyone else to come see me." I admired that guy and so did his employees.

Rarely do employers today list actual pay on documents that list names, instead they may have comp ratio which is an individual's place in their pay range.

 

[Purron]

Why do I think you have even better war stories to tell Brew? Having worked for a mega corp then the guvmint for a number of decades, I've got a few. Not complaining tho. These experiences led me to getting out and moving on.

 

[Nords]

The U.S. military tells you exactly what you'd make if you volunteered for some of the exciting stuff, going all the way back to 1949...
Pay Tables

Now some of you "more experienced" veterans can check to see if you really were living on $5/day.

 

[marko]

Speaking of HR, 90% of what I just saw in that "Desk Set" trailer would now land you in court!

Back then: a rollicking good time! Now: Hefty fines and termination!!

How times have changed!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Not layoffs, but in the stupid HR e-mail mistake category, here's what happened where I was working about 10-15 years ago.

Smallish company, maybe 1,000 employees at the time. This HR person was the one who sent announcements to all employees. Got an e-mail that was that typical To All type, but it contained an attachment, the salaries of every person in the company, from the corner office to the janitor. It was retracted fairly quickly, but not before a few quick thinking IT types managed to save it, pretty much public knowledge after that.

I put that pretty high up there in the "What were you thinking?" category.

+1 at a company I worked at 10 years ago, except it wasn't a layoff (just a dumb mistake) and not IT who saved it, just a few souls who were there after hours when it hit.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

And another war story:

At a company I worked for an admin assistant got laid off in March. She was in charge of reserving the venue for the annual Xmas party. Nobody bothered to ask what the status was and she figured if they didn't ask...

Of course, when somebody called the fancy hotel in November inquiring about the reservation, the response was "what reservation? Oh yeah, I remember someone asking about making one."

That was the year of the Xmas pool party at a Holiday Inn, the only venue left.

 

[Brat]

I was HR, my lips are locked.

 

[KB]

I was HR, my lips are locked.

I'm sure you have stories....

 

[kumquat]

Sounds typical. If it had happened at my mega-corp, I'm sure I would have had to fire some low-level employee (or be fired myself) since it was my department (IT Security) that allowed the brainless HR people to send the message.

 

[Zero]

HR must really be a hoot at times, and not so much at other times. Here is one story that ought to be used as a training exercise.


..Snip.. [Edit: I just removed the incident details because it was so unique that anyone from my Mega-Corp would recognize the incident]...Snip Over

On the Friday afternoon of her last day, she emailed the presentation to everyone in the division.

 

[Brat]

My last employer had a huge % of under 35 singles. There is a large piece of land nearby where a developer was proposing a hotel. Employee Relations thoughts could be summed up with "Oh, no!"

 

[Nords]

My last employer had a huge % of under 35 singles. There is a large piece of land nearby where a developer was proposing a hotel. Employee Relations thoughts could be summed up with "Oh, no!"

Geez, at least that'd encourage them to stay out of the office-supply closets and copier rooms...

HR could've taken a proactive stance and handed out coupons: "25% off first four hours!"

 

[Purron]

This thread makes me think of "Office Space". Please be wary of adult lyrics and under no circumstances play this if you're in an actual office space.

Destroy office equipment#

 

[Brat]

The hotel hasn't been built and the office suppy closets/copier rooms were sufficiently busy so as not to provide for liasons.

Married couples were at the stage in life where pregancy was the largest corporate health care expense.