BAE Systems Shedding Jobs

Skepticemea

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Skepticemea
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
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Another manufacturing firm in the UK starts to cull its workforce. It'll be a real blow in Yorkshire and Lancashire, not only for those directly affected but for the suppliers and support industries as well as retailers in the area.

My reason for the post, however, is this little tidbit from the press:

The company said in a statement on Monday: "Whilst there has been a lot of media speculation it has always been our intention to communicate the results of the review to employees as a priority, and this will take place on Tuesday, 27 September."
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They make an announcement to the press on the Monday that they'll be informing their staff of job cuts the following day. Did they somehow assume that their staff do not read or watch the news?

Shoddy.
 
But did the press release mention specifically cuts?

Anyway, it does seem a bit strange to be scaling back on arms manufacturing when there are potentially several new customers champing at the bit:

Libya: check
Tunisia: check
Syria: could be
 
commandlinegamer said:
But did the press release mention specifically cuts?

Anyway, it does seem a bit strange to be scaling back on arms manufacturing when there are potentially several new customers champing at the bit:

Libya: check
Tunisia: check
Syria: could be
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I was only half listening to the BBC news last night, but they seemed to imply that BAE was aware this was the case, but that new orders would be a year or so in coming, so they were going to lay off a few thousand people for now, then re-employ them as and when they were required.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
I was only half listening to the BBC news last night, but they seemed to imply that BAE was aware this was the case, but that new orders would be a year or so in coming, so they were going to lay off a few thousand people for now, then re-employ them as and when they were required.
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Ahh, "Just in time" manufacturing taken to its logical conclusion!
 
Skepticemea said:
Another manufacturing firm in the UK starts to cull its workforce. It'll be a real blow in Yorkshire and Lancashire, not only for those directly affected but for the suppliers and support industries as well as retailers in the area.

My reason for the post, however, is this little tidbit from the press:



They make an announcement to the press on the Monday that they'll be informing their staff of job cuts the following day. Did they somehow assume that their staff do not read or watch the news?

Shoddy.
Click to expand...
That sounds standard for the Industry.
Here, the company announces job cuts (E.G., Lockheed cutting 640 jobs). The statement "communicate the results of the review to employees as a priority, and this will take place on Tuesday, 27 September." generally means that the employees, in general, are aware cuts are coming, but on Tuesday, they will know WHO is getting cut...
 
rwguinn said:
That sounds standard for the Industry.
Here, the company announces job cuts (E.G., Lockheed cutting 640 jobs). The statement "communicate the results of the review to employees as a priority, and this will take place on Tuesday, 27 September." generally means that the employees, in general, are aware cuts are coming, but on Tuesday, they will know WHO is getting cut...
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I have a follow up. I've watched a news report this afternoon from a union representative for these employees who states that they found out about the number of job cuts via the press release rather than by consultation with the company and other employees found out via email.

Not sure what the best way to find out you may be unemployed for a year or two is, to be honest.
 
Would you prefer they made an announcement which did not have all the details?

Or are they somehow meant to stop the press from reporting on it?

Or are the very journalists who are criticising them for not informing the employees first maybe somewhat to blame themselves for running the story?
 
Jaggy Bunnet said:
Would you prefer they made an announcement which did not have all the details?

Or are they somehow meant to stop the press from reporting on it?

Or are the very journalists who are criticising them for not informing the employees first maybe somewhat to blame themselves for running the story?
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The press were informed by the company before the company informed their employees. You think that's okay?
 
Skepticemea said:
The press were informed by the company before the company informed their employees. You think that's okay?
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No but, unfortunately, it seems to be the way a lot of companies work these days. They don't seem to realise that loyalty and flexibility should work both ways. There will always be some people who take the piss but, generally, employees that are treated with respect will work harder and longer than those that are treated like mushrooms.
 
Skepticemea said:
The press were informed by the company before the company informed their employees. You think that's okay?
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IF that had been true it would not have been okay. However as it is untrue there is no need to worry about whether its okay or not.

From the quote you posted:

"Whilst there has been a lot of media speculation it has always been our intention to communicate the results of the review to employees as a priority, and this will take place on Tuesday, 27 September."

They told the press they would be announcing the results of a review to their employees the following day. They did not tell the press the results of that review.

The press, deeply concerned that the employees should be the first to hear the results, had been speculating over the weekend (as in the example from Saturday's Guardian) that the result of the review would be job cuts. This is hardly surprising giving cuts to defence spending.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/24/bae-thousands-job-losses-reports

So the press who ran the stories then seek to blame the company for the employees finding out through the stories that they themselves ran and which the company had nothing to do with. Maybe the press need to take responsibility for their own actions?
 
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Skepticemea said:
The press were informed by the company before the company informed their employees. You think that's okay?
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They are more concerned with giving their PR staff time to spin the message than with doing right for their employees.
 
Newtons Bit said:
They are more concerned with giving their PR staff time to spin the message than with doing right for their employees.
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You do realise that what you are responding to is not actually true, right?

Press print speculative story.

Company says "we will announce results of review to employees first, tomorrow morning".

Press blames company because employees were exposed to speculative story in press before company made announcement.
 
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