Lessons from PwC’s failure to squelch dissent in the ranks with ‘silent layoffs’

It’s been a trying time for staff at firms with redundancies, affecting morale as layoffs mount amid an effort to silence dissent in the ranks for those departing.

Last month, the Financial Times  reported that PwC had launched a round of “silent layoffs” in the U.K. Affected staff had to stick to a “suggested wording” if they wanted to send colleagues goodbye messages, while any mention of why they were actually leaving needed to be strictly omitted.

Staff who were offered a package to leave were notified individually and informed they must not tell other staff if they accepted the offer, according to the FT. Additionally, FT reported they were told to follow a script provided by human resources extolling the benefits of working at the firm and the opportunities ahead if they wanted to send goodbye notes to colleagues.