I am taking the opportunity as I enjoy my extended vacation in the UK to do just that – and came across this story.
A sales assistant at a UK retailer, Blue Banana, was fired recently – via text message – and the manager of the store reasoned this as – "We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses SMS messaging as a major means of communication"
Ironically the company expects staff to call in by phone if they are sick.
Double standards perhaps?
Whilst the company had a reputation for high turnover and they are appealing to a generation that perhaps places less emphasis on careers and loyalty to one company, job or vocation – does that give them the right to treat anyone less respectfully than they would want to be treated themselves?
While the youth may enjoy text messaging, I do not believe they appreciate being treated to termination by text message. I had a very bright engineer, who I hired right out of university, quit on me last year because she did not like the way the company treated it’s employees. They want to be treated with respect just like everyone else.