Radioshack Sacks 403 By Email

September 1st, 2006: Email declares,"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Tuesday, August 29th 2006 will be seen by more than 400 workers at troubled U.S. electronics retailer, Radioshack as the day they would have preferred a Spam deluge rather than the email that sacked them.

According to company spokeswoman, Kay Jackson, informing those people whose employment was to be terminated by email provided for more privacy. She then went on to explain that time was of the essence for the organisation. Sacked workers had 30 minutes, "to collect their thoughts, make phone calls and say goodbye to employees before they went to meet with senior leaders", she said.

The background to the email sackings is slightly more complex, in that notice had been given previously that this was the medium in which the final news was to be delivered. Employees were also given the opportunity leading up to the big day to comment via Radioshack's intranet.

Shares of RadioShack rose 29 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $18.21 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The fact that this tale of apparent human-resources thuggery does raise a question regarding just what is acceptable practice. It is highly unlikely that a company trying to restructure would have received quite the level of media attention currently being heaped on Radioshack, had it sent termination letters via traditional (SnailMail).

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