How boss said ‘See you, Jimmy’ to Scottish staff facing the sack
Fury over ‘crass humour’ of director posing with tam o’ shanter and Irn-bru before redundancy talks
IT WAS such a hapless, ill-considered display that even David Brent’s longsuffering colleagues would have raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
For reasons unknown, Antonio Shabbir, a senior Vodafone director, took it upon himself to don a “See You Jimmy” tartan hat and brandish a bottle of Irn-bru for a photograph posted on the company’s intranet shortly before meeting Scottish employees facing up to 360 job losses.
The picture was captioned: “Getting ready for this month’s ‘Audience with Antonio’... some exciting news to share.”
Mr Shabbir, 43, the customer operations director, was expected to travel to Glasgow from his office in Newbury, Berks, yesterday to brief colleagues on plans to relocate their jobs to Manchester.
Needless to say, the crass display prompted fury from Vodafone staff anxiously waiting to learn their fate. One commented: “Is this really how a professional business goes about its business? Here we are in Scotland sitting at our desks waiting to hear news of our pending redundancies and this pops up. What’s the news? We’ve binned 350-plus jobs?”
Another wrote: “Astonished at this. Multiple redundancies in Scotland and this is what a senior leader posts? Truly awful.”
The post had appeared on their computer screens via Workspace, an internal work platform used by the company. It was swiftly deleted after workers complained.
Reports suggested that Mr Shabbir pulled out of his appearance at the
Scottish office and sent his deputy instead. Vodafone staff had been told they had until yesterday to volunteer to move south of the border as part of a restructuring. Those affected, some of whom were due to find out yesterday, will have 60 days to accept the move or lose their job. Others will not find out if they are affected until July. One told the Daily Record: “The
‘This looks insensitive at best and utterly callous at worst’
whole thing is ridiculous. Everyone is so nervous. There’s a real anxiety about the place. People’s livelihoods are at stake… To then see this photo is horrible.”
Paul Sweeney, shadow Scotland Office minister and MP for Glasgow North East, told the newspaper: “This looks insensitive at best and utterly callous at worst. This is a time of great uncertainty for 350 Glasgow workers… They deserve better than a boss who thinks this is an appropriate moment for crass humour and dressing up.” Sandra White, SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, branded his actions “ill-timed”.
Mr Shabbir has worked for Vodafone for nearly eight years and has previously held senior roles at mobile phone companies EE and T-mobile.
David Brent, Ricky Gervais’s “boss from hell” character in sitcom The Office, was famed for his cringeworthy gags.
A Vodafone UK spokesman said: “It was an internal event. No offence was meant and we apologise unreservedly.”