There is a “right way” to handle a mass layoff, and then there’s whatever this company did.

One horrified employee watched his employer send cops into offices across the country to remove laid-off workers in under fifteen minutes — with or without their stuff.

So when HR decided to follow up with a self-righteous email about “transparency and morale,” the sheer hypocrisy was too much to stay quiet about.

Keep reading for the full story.

Clueless HR call leads to disaster.

A couple of months ago, our HR department sent out the obligatory email that our severance and reduction-in-force policies had been updated.

A bunch of people saw the writing on the wall and started looking for other jobs.

A bunch of talented, capable people walked out the door.

Next, bosses started calling employees to go over their credentials, experience, etc.

But when HR got involved, things turned outright disastrous.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, there were mandatory HR calls for hundreds of employees with direct reports.

And the calls couldn’t have been more callous, shallow, and downright hurtful if they tried.

After spending 45 minutes laying down how the totally confidential layoffs were going to go, it all boiled down to this:

It was clear HR really didn’t care about anyone’s wellbeing.

“Make sure to treat these employees with professionalism and respect, but also make sure the cops are right outside the door and have them gone in less than 15 minutes from the time you walked in. Tell them to take what they can carry, and we’ll mail them the rest of their stuff.”

The layoffs were supposed to take place over the course of the next three weeks — but after those disastrous calls, people all over the country started packing their offices.

Now HR was really feeling the heat.

In a desperate attempt to stop the damage, they decided they now had one week — because thousands of employees were sitting under the Sword of Damocles and were too busy trying to save their skins to actually get things done.

The result? Every office suddenly had a contingent of cops arrive, and everyone in the building was quaking in their boots as cops sat in conference rooms, waiting to be taken to another office.

Obviously, this wasn’t good for morale or productivity.

Nothing got done — everyone knew it was someone’s last day, but they didn’t know if it was them, so they weren’t about to bust their backs until someone walked up and tapped them on the shoulder.

So all day at every office, there was a conference room full of cops, and every now and then someone would come out of the conference room dragging two cops — and someone would walk out crying and carrying a box.

Unless, of course, they were out of boxes — then they just had to take the company’s word that their stuff would be mailed.

Even better, they sent out an email after all the carnage with a few bullet points:

HR then rubbed it in even further.

“1) We let a bunch of people go, but we aren’t going to tell you who they are. You’ll just have to find out when you’re trying to get a hold of them for stuff you need and their emails suddenly start bouncing back.

2) Just because an office is open doesn’t mean you can move in. Anyone moving offices without permission will be subject to discipline.

3) We may have to do this again in a couple of months.

4) We sent this clarification so everyone would know what’s going on, because we know that transparency builds morale.”

That’s right. They sent out an email that basically said “sit in the dark, figure your own stuff out, and by the way, don’t get the idea that you’re safe” — to boost morale.

And they’ll still sit around and wonder why nobody wants to work anymore.

This may be one of the worst HR departments in existence.

What did Reddit make of it?

Corporate leadership often has their priorities way out of wack.

This user wonders how the cops ever came to agree to something like this.

Since the police are already right there, why not get them involved?

There may just be a way to get a little advance notice for large layoffs.

You can’t expect anyone to work under these toxic conditions.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.