I must have been at the right place at the wrong time; but I got to live an important instance in a corporate giant's history. Siemens had announced earlier on this summer that they were planning to fire more than 16,000 employees.
While the story ravaged the business news and made top headlines in financial news; it did not move much the people concerned for it was perceived as a far-off fact that was not directly linked tgo them. It was only after the news had cooled down in the media, that the real action took place. The people in Grenoble were notified yesterday. They were only going to be affected by 17 jobs out of 800, given their good financial performance this year.
The communication strategy was to give the news directly from head down the organization structure, before it could move horizontally and create noise. We were called into a meeting and notified in the afternoon. The news was reassuring, they're doing their best to reintegrate the people concerned in other departments. No one was going to be laid off unwillingly. Right. I was surprised to see that the employees actually believed this, but they did! How gullible can they be, with all the fuss that went around... Having less "per employee profit" than their competitor GE was not reason enough; they truly believed in their good intentions.
Internal communication was perfect. One step down the ladder. One step closer to the truth.
The shock will not be NEWS anymore once the real action will take place. Thus it won't be of anyone's interest to talk about it or revolt against it.
Marrvellously done; and I am left to wonder whether this was spontaneous or planned...
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