There’s bad corporate PR, and there’s REALLY bad corporate PR. The accounting department of software giant Microsoft offered a textbook example of the latter.
Last month, Microsoft announced its first-ever mass layoff, with 1,400 employees being asked to leave immediately and another 3,600 on the chopping block for job cuts. That was unpleasant enough, but just last week an unknown number of pink-slipped employees got another shock: A letter from Microsoft telling them that their severance package had been miscalculated and they had been paid too much money. A smaller group of employees reportedly got good news, that their severance payment was actually too small.
Two Weeks to Repay
According to a copy of the letter obtained and posted online by the blog TechCrunch, Microsoft asked its former employees to repay the money promptly.
“Please make your check or money order payable to “Microsoft Corporation” within fourteen (14) days for the full [figure] (Net) amount identified above and mail it to the following address: Microsoft Corporation, Attn: Payroll Department — Repayments.”
The accounting error rapidly turned into a public-relations nightmare for Microsoft, with news of the demand spreading like wildfire throughout the technology press. Articles about the mix-up have also attracted large numbers of sarcastic comments from readers, ranging from the predictable “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” to “They must have been running Vista on the machine that goofed up … LOL!”
Interpret Vice President Michael Gartenberg said that while Microsoft may have a legitimate claim, the cost of recovering it may simply be too high.
“Yes, the money was given in error and does belong to Microsoft,” Gartenberg said, “but at this point it’s a question of taking a PR hit at the expense of the money it feels is owed them. It’s hard to imagine that Microsoft didn’t realize that this might become public, and now it clearly has….