Thinning the corporate herd Pt II; The Big Stink
Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under Career Development, Gen X, Gen Y
Last week I wrote about the recent suspensions of 39 Whirlpool employees. Today comes some clarification from Whirlpool on their policy as well as news on what other companies are doing.
First off, there were some who sided with the Whirlpool employees claiming that people aren’t capable of remembering what they may have signed when they were first hired and that it wasn’t fair for Whirlpool to suspend the employees who now years later were in violation. I called bullsh*t on this one. We all sign various documents when we get hired and employers always provide copies, so there’s no confusion. Now word today from Whirlpool that they require employees to confirm their tobacco status annually as part of their annual benefits program. Man I love being right. Sorry smokers, time to pay the piper. As Alison Earles, an attorney and chief executive of ACE Ideas, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that specializes in wellness incentive programs notes, ‘Providing false information when signing up for any insurance plan is considered fraud’.
Interestingly enough the Tribune Co, which owns the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Cubs, and other companies, just this week announced that they were canceling their 4 month old tobacco surcharge program and will refund all fees incurred by their employees citing that the policy was “inconsistent with the new culture”. “We’d rather you use your own judgment when it comes to tobacco use, not impose ours upon you,” Gerry Spector, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said in an e-mail to employees. Um..OK..I guess.
Across the board the debate rages on with companies like Black and Decker instituting a tobacco surcharge and others declining to. We’ve likely not heard the end of this one.
Until next time…
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