I’m staggered after reading the following in today’s NYTimes Business section: “About 12:30 Monday morning, Lehman sent out a press release announcing its intention to seek bankruptcy protection. Lehman’s 25,000 employees learned of the filing through the media, with no direct communication coming from (CEO Dick) Fuld or other Lehman executives.”
So… if we are to believe the Times, are we to conclude that Lehman has no internal blog with RSS alerts, no Twittering execs (who could protect their Tweets, of course, so they wouldn’t be publicly visible), no interest in using social media tools to stay connected to their employees and treat them with courtesy and respect? (Er, what about an email from the CEO??)
And, further, should we conclude that employees are not using social networks to communicate amongst themselves?
As mind boggling as the Wall Street collapse of the past few days is, I find this even more troubling.
I must be wrong.
Surely there’s a private Facebook group or a by-invitation-only LinkedIn group, or a crisis blog for employees set up by Lehman’s HR folks. I did find the Lehman Brothers page below on LinkedIn.
If it’s true, as the Wall Street Journal points out, that 42% of people find a new job through networking, ex-Lehman employees are starting way behind the ball.
Does anyone know? Please set me straight.
