Poll: HSBC staff sacked....

Do you think the sackings are justified?

  • Total voters
    216
  • Poll closed .
Are people in this thread actually offended by the actions? I'm certainly not. Doesn't mean it wasn't a stupid thing to do, and also doesn't mean they shouldn't have been fired.
 
timebomb26 said:
Are people in this thread actually offended by the actions? I'm certainly not. Doesn't mean it wasn't a stupid thing to do, and also doesn't mean they shouldn't have been fired.
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Right, ao what are the reasons they should have been fired again?
 
Zefan said:
Right, ao what are the reasons they should have been fired again?
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They breached their contract by bringing the company into disrepute. Whether you think what they did deserves firing or not is irrelevant and I'm sure they'd have no problem justifying it in court.
 
They work for an international bank, which at the moment aren't winning any PR competitions. They then decided, on work time, to put together a video imitating a group who have killed countless people in the past few years, most recently gunning down 40 or so people in a beach resort in Tunisia. They then decided to post this on the internet for all to see.

Am I offended? No. Are others offended? Quite possibly. It is definitely in bad taste though and doesn't reflect well on the company itself. For this reason I assume HSBC thought it best to fire them. Had they made the same video 20 years down the line, who knows maybe they may have just been disciplined, but to do it now is moronic.
 
dowie said:
Which is worse if we take a step back - silly jokey video that may be offensive and cause a brief media fuss or millions of £££s in ill-gotten gains and resulting massive fines from rigging markets?
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This isn't an either/or scenario,
both events can and should be judged on their own.

That stunt brought the companies name into disrepute (which they then chose to make public), they don't get paid to make HSBC look bad so yeh, sacked.

Also, bad taste,
someone's Dad has been butchered by ISIS, I don't suppose they ever want to see other people get a cheap laugh out of it.

This doesn't seem like the typical well thought out Dowie post :|
 
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Moothead2 said:
They breached their contract by bringing the company into disrepute. Whether you think what they did deserves firing or not is irrelevant and I'm sure they'd have no problem justifying it in court.
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Why disrepute, because they may have caused someone offence, right? That was my point.
 
Zefan said:
Being sacked over that is laughable. I can understand that bosses maybe want to make an example of them, and are probably pretty terrified of the media making massive deal out of it, but losing your job over that is a joke. If that was truly a sackable offence, there'd be no military left.
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I'm not surprised they were let go, they were representing thier company whilst doing this. Gross misconduct.

What's the military got to do with it btw?
 
Zefan said:
Why disrepute, because they may have caused someone offence, right? That was my point.
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It really is that simple. They've offended a lot of people including customers and potential customers - on company time. That's enough for gross misconduct.
 
I've yet to see any genuine offence taking, just people assuming.

Honestly, if I had a family member that had been murdered by ISIS, yes, I would be upset, but not offended unless they were doing so maliciously, and purposefully upsetting me. My great uncle was shot down in the war. Do I get offended when people do comedy sketches about world war 2 bomber crews? Nope. In fact, it doesn't even upset me, but if they did, I would just think "well they're idiots, I can get on with my day now". If there was malicious intent, then that is something altogether different. I don't believe there was any malicious intent in this case (at least, the video suggests not, and there is no evidence suggesting otherwise) , and therefore I find it hard to believe that people will be truly offended by it.
 
People need to learn and remember that they are responsible for their actions. I don't think it is harsh. What a stupid thing to do.
 
You cant compare a war 2 generations ago and acts from a terrorist group that only killed a number of UK residents a week or so ago.

Saying that my Grandad asked me never to buy a German car - and have still not to this date because of him
 
dowie said:
... for mucking about making a silly 'ISIS' video on a team building day

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4490060.ece

so just to get this straight, some lads from the legal department acting inappropriately and potentially causing 'offence' as a result of a social media/PR gaff deserve to all lose their jobs, rather than perhaps some other disciplinary action and maybe some training on the appropriate use of social media

however rigging the FX market or having it rigged by people reporting to you - well you mostly get to keep your job aside from a few scapegoats


Which is worse if we take a step back - silly jokey video that may be offensive and cause a brief media fuss or millions of £££s in ill-gotten gains and resulting massive fines from rigging markets?
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Won't so,embody think of the poor shareholders!
 
Moses said:
That's the point. There's such a low bar for offence it's ridiculous. Basically no one's meaningfully offended... similar to when there's something on a TV show which the Daily Mail picks up on and causes a flurry of complaints (on top of zero, or a handful of complaints people sent in before the artificial hype). It's not as though any customers would have left them if they hadn't sacked these people!
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Whilst I agree with you that people are too easily offended, I wouldn't blame anyone who is offended by this. Not really on the same level as some B list celebrity saying something a bit naughty on TV.

You say no customers would have left, but you can't say this with complete certainty. Can HSBC really afford to take the risk when the only cost to them covering themselves is firing some easily replaceable staff?
 
Freefaller said:
People need to learn and remember that they are responsible for their actions. I don't think it is harsh. What a stupid thing to do.
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yes, but should they get fired for this. How come it's ok for this group to be punished, but for a man wearing an ISIS flag in central London to go unscathed ? I am trying to understand how people are thinking this one through.......

No one got killed, it looked like a **** take from start to finish. Was it in bad taste........ yes, but so are my bosses shoe and trousers combo's but he doesn't get fired for that and white shoes with blue trousers seriously offends me...............
 
Moses said:
That's the point. There's such a low bar for offence it's ridiculous. Basically no one's meaningfully offended... similar to when there's something on a TV show which the Daily Mail picks up on and causes a flurry of complaints (on top of zero, or a handful of complaints people sent in before the artificial hype). It's not as though any customers would have left them if they hadn't sacked these people!
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Not sure if you work for a company buddy but in most cases you are representing the company you for work.HSBC is a business and if they feel business will get turned away as a result a few employees they will take action.

They could care less what random person thinks or feel it's about business/money.


:mod:
 
I have a dark sense of humour so I did roll my eyes and chuckle.

At the same time I understand it is unprofessional to be doing it at a work place, especially in a such a highly professional environment. Taking pictures is just the **** take cherry on the cake. With all the bad press banks are getting too.. justified and not surprised it happened.
 
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wildman said:
yes, but should they get fired for this. How come it's ok for this group to be punished, but for a man wearing an ISIS flag in central London to go unscathed ? I am trying to understand how people are thinking this one through.......

No one got killed, it looked like a **** take from start to finish. Was it in bad taste........ yes, but so are my bosses shoe and trousers combo's but he doesn't get fired for that and white shoes with blue trousers seriously offends me...............
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They were representing the company - it's not really a sensible thing to do on company time (sure, it was a team building exercise, but still company time).

Would it be different if it was just some kids having a laugh outside of work? Well that's a different question as to whether it was in bad taste or not - a different debate.

In this case I think it puts HSBC in even further bad light - so what if no one was killed, what's that got to do with it?

The chap in London was holding a flag and not actually doing anything with it, not making any public disorder. These so called professionals, were making a mockery of something a bit more serious, and potentially offensive.

I personally don't think it is as bad as that and just rolled my eyes and though "*****", that said you have to think about others and how it affects them. Either way, I would not DREAM of doing it at work or think it was remotely appropriate.
 
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