A Shameful Firing Fiasco, Big Ideas Shaping 2022, and More

 

Get the latest guidance on vaccine mandate messaging, a slew of workplace communication reminders and a handful of uplifting links.

Robby Brumberg, Ragan CommunicationsGreetings, communication pros and masters of prose.Let’s explore some notable stories from Dec. 6-10, 2021—and extract a few useful messaging takeaways along the way:1. Better.com’s heartless layoff fiasco.This week’s corporate internet villain is Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better.com, who decided it’d be a swell idea to fire 900 employees on a three-minute Zoom call.And now he’s very sorry about it! In a memo to employees, he writes:

“Team –I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week. I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better. I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution.In doing so, I embarrassed you. I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”

But what is he really sorry for? His actions? Or that he got caught and was exposed as a poor leader who will instantly become a case study in “heartless corporate communication”? You decide.Continue reading here...