After a much needed break from writing posts I have to admit I am now excited to get back into the swing of it, even with the current on going doom and gloom.
So before I start I would like to thank all my readers for sticking with me during 2008 and I wish you all the best for 2009.
This year is going to be a very interesting year for recruiters with some major challenges ahead with the impact from the down turn and the many redundancies, which brings me to the current news from Marks and Spencer making over 1000 redundancies.
But what caught my eye and wasn’t really mentioned in the above article, but significant none the less was back in August a Tony Goode (Ex employee of M&S) exposed the plan that they were going to cut redundancy benefits and as a result was fired.
It now seems that this cut was all part of a master plan by M&S to fiddle their employees, knowing that they were going to make redundancies in the new year. But to rub salt in the wound, a recent redundancy payout to the ex Food Director Steve Esom of £500,oo0.00 for under performing after just a year was OK, whereas employees with 30 years or more would have lost £9,000 by the stroke of the pen!
As I write this I cannot see if the proposal that was instigated in August went ahead, but if it didn’t then Tony is a hero, but I suspected it did.
Oh well I suppose the £1 billion in profit their employees made for them last year, means nothing!
Marks and Spencer have announced a £500 pound bonus to all shop workers except a few. In the ” Rewards and Benefits” part of their “Careers” section of their website, they state that ” the annual bonus scheme is open to ALL employees and to “new employees from the date they join”. They have decided on an arbitrary cut-off point and exclude a number of employees from the above promise. This is unfair,demotivating and hurtfull to anyone in this boat who expect M and S to honour the promises they made when they were recruited. Is there any way they can be “persuaded” to honour their statement.