ABC News reports that RadioShack has fired 400 employees by email. The email message was how the workers were informed they had been fired.
Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters received an e-mail Tuesday morning telling them they were being dismissed immediately.
"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress," the notice stated. "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."
Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.
Management experts expressed surprise at RadioShack's use of electronic notification instead of face-to-face meetings with supervisors.
Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.
RadioShack really should have found a better way to do this. You can read more blogs discussing this in a roundup on BloggersBlog.com.
