How an email blunder sparked a PR disaster

How redundancy communications are handled can have a significant impact on an organisation's reputation.

So, imagine your employees found out they were losing their jobs through an automated email telling them to hand back their laptops.

For one large bank, that horror scenario has become a reality, with an automated email blunder triggering a damaging crisis media management incident.

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It happened at ANZ, one of Australia’s largest banks.

The emails were accidentally sent ahead of schedule to employees in its retail division, before planned conversations with those involved in the redundancies, causing, in the words of one trade union, “panic and distress”.

It also generated a significant amount of media attention.

Here are a few of the headlines it created:

Ouch.

How has the bank managed the crisis?

Well, it has been a bit of a mixed bag.

One of the first parts of its crisis response was an emailed apology from Bruce Rush, the acting head of the retail division

That email has been leaked to the media, so we can see what was said.

Here’s the key part:

“Unfortunately, these emails indicate an exit date for some of our colleagues before we’ve been able to share their outcome with them. It was not our intention to share such sensitive news with you in this way, and I apologise unconditionally.

"I deeply regret the distress this situation may have caused. Please know that we are committed to treating every colleague with dignity and respect as we move through this process.

"In response, we will bring forward outcome conversations to begin today, and we expect them to be finalised by end of day tomorrow.”

What do you think?

There are parts of this crisis response that should be better, and that others can learn from.

Let’s start with “I deeply regret the distress this situation may have caused” – why use the word “may”?

Finding out by email that you have lost your job is obviously distressing. There is no “may” about it.

Similarly, the word “unfortunately” feels particularly weak in this situation.

“Weasel words”, as one of my former comms bosses would say.

But it is the line about treating colleagues with “dignity and respect” that really jars, when dignity and respect have been missing from the way people have been treated.

The response feels overly corporate at a time when a more compassionate tone was needed. A human crisis needs a response that feels like it has been written by human.

Sadly, “dignity and respect” and “unfortunately” were also included in a statement sent to media.

But the crisis communication improved.

Nuno Matos, the bank’s chief executive, two days later said in an email: “The way this sensitive news was shared with some of you is indefensible and deeply disappointing.

"We are investigating the cause of the issue with urgency, to ensure it does not happen again."

That is more like it.

Visible leadership

But it raises the question of why the CEO did not respond earlier, at least internally. It would have shown the visible leadership needed during such a significant internal crisis and reputational threat.

We discussed this when analysing another redundancy announcement that caused a crisis – the time P&O Ferries told 800 employees they were losing their jobs through a pre-recorded video message. A video was a cold, cruel, and cowardly way to announce those job losses. But it was also notable that it was not the company’s boss who made the announcement.

We should say that ANZ has subsequently said it has offered psychological support and counselling to those who have been impacted, which is a good move. And that there was an “urgent call” with around 300 employees.

Culture under the spotlight 

But the email blunder came at a time when the bank’s culture is under the spotlight.

During the same week, it also grabbed media attention for threatening to cut the take-home pay of staff who fail to come into the office for at least half of the days they work.

In another internal memo that has been leaked to the media – the company seems to be leaking like a sieve - managers were told that pay reviews and bonuses could be impacted by office attendance.

Clearly, one set of bad headlines was not enough for one week.

Here is a taste of how the ‘back to the office’ demand was reported.

With the bank’s CEO suggesting that more change is still to come, the terrible headlines could continue unless ANZ shows people that it cares in its communication.

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