How Not to Show Respect for Employees

It was 2:57 PM on Friday afternoon, June 11, 2004, when the 200+ employees of Color Arts in Racine, Wisconsin were summoned by a voice from loudspeakers telling everyone to come to a 3:00 PM meeting in the company cafeteria. They gathered quickly for the surprise announcement: the company is closing. You're all fired. Start packing. Thank you.

The locks were changed by 4:30 PM.

After 57 years of business, the company pulled the plug, keeping their problems entirely secret from their employees, completely unwilling to discuss reality, seek alternate solutions, or do anything to help the employees. The radio discussion I heard said that there was no severence, nothing. (The closing is reported by the Journal Times of Racine and the Duluth News Tribune.)

Why is management so afraid of sharing information with employees? The failure of Color Arts' management to trust their employees raises red flags in my mind about the competency of their management. They obviously weren't into best practices and open communication, and clearly failed to appreciate that their employees were more than just automotons. I believe that when companies trust their employees, share information with them, and turn to them for ideas and solutions to problems, that they are more likely to find their way through difficult times, and more likely to benefit from the resources at their disposal (whoops, perhaps not the best word in this case).

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