Surviving the Corporate Axe

A live broadcast on a London business station discussing the human toll of recent headcount reductions and restructuring.

Surviving the Corporate Axe

True or false?

Justin claims that management handled the initial communication with complete transparency.

• True
• False

Melissa mentions that her company leaked plans to the press before telling employees.

• True
• False

Justin reveals that he laid off his entire team and was made redundant the next morning.

• True
• False

Melissa suffered from severe survivor syndrome in her department.

• True
• False

Justin was able to keep his position despite the restructuring.

• True
• False

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Melissa: Exactly. When our firm announced a massive ____ , they let it leak plans to the press before telling us. You might have told your own staff first instead of reading it in the Financial Times. It was humiliating.
• Justin: Well, last Tuesday, I had to deliver the ____ and lay off my entire team of twelve people. It was soul-crushing. But the truly ironic part? When I walked into the boardroom the very next morning, executive leadership handed me my own redundancy notice.
• Justin: Not joking at all. I spent all afternoon negotiating my own ____ . So technically speaking, I'm now one of the unemployed statistic casualties myself.

Sources: photo by Pixabay on Pexels