Stellantis uses sneaky new tactic to lay off corporate employees

Automaker Stellantis  (STLA) , which manufactures top car brands such as Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge, laid off about 400 of its U.S. corporate employees late last week, and it used a sneaky new tactic to do it.

The company reportedly sent out a notice to its employees informing them that it will implement a “mandatory remote work day” for “all U.S. Salaried Non-Bargaining Unit” employees in its engineering and technology department on March 22.

In the alleged email to employees, which was leaked on social media platform X, Stellantis claimed that the reason for the mandatory remote work day was because the company was holding an “important operational meeting that requires specific attention and participation.” The email also states that “employees are expected to work from home” unless a manager tells them otherwise.

BREAKING:

Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, is sending notices to its employees about a “mandatory remote work day” on Friday.

The reason?

Your guess is as good as mine, but a notice like this (on a Thursday) could potentially signal layoffs.… pic.twitter.com/6rG9csCHBM— Car Dealership Guy (@GuyDealership) March 22, 2024

During the meeting, roughly 400 employees were informed that they were being laid off from the company. Stellantis claimed in a statement to Reuters that the recent layoffs were due to the current headwinds the automotive industry is facing.

“As the auto industry continues to face unprecedented uncertainties and heightened competitive pressures around the world, Stellantis continues to make the appropriate structural decisions across the enterprise to improve efficiency and optimize our cost structure,” said Stellantis in the statement.

The move from Stellantis comes after it offered buyouts, which are voluntary severance packages, to 6,400 of its U.S. employees in November last year, citing an effort to cut costs amid the company’s transition to electric vehicles.

Layoff etiquette has been a topic of conversation recently as many companies have been botching the process. Last month, in a viral video, YouTube Music employees found out that they were being laid off from the company in the middle of their testimony at an Austin City Council hearing where they were calling on Google to bargain with its unionized workers.

this is the exact moment our coworkers found out we had been laid off while speaking in front of city council pic.twitter.com/IcsCszGe3Z— jacob (@peepaw_) March 1, 2024

In January, tech company Cloudflare faced backlash after former employee Brittany Pietsch filmed herself being laid off from the company via a virtual meeting.

In the viral video, she is seen being told by two HR representatives that she was being laid off because she was not meeting expectations. Pietsch then claimed that the company was “making up some bulls---” and was covering up the real reason why she was being laid off as she had only been at the company for a few months. She also said that during her time at the company, she has received praise from her manager on her performance and had “the highest activity” amongst her team. When she asks for more details for why she and other teammates were being laid off, she was given little to no explanation.

Shame on you Cloudflare, that’s a horrible treatment of your employees— Ömer Selçuk Cihan (@scihan) January 12, 2024

The way an employer conducts layoffs can have a significant impact on how much employees trust a company. A 2023 survey by professional services company PwC revealed that 80% of the employees that were polled said that layoffs damaged their trust in companies, and 55% said that the way their company executed a layoff harmed their trust.

Also, 57% of employees in the survey revealed that being more transparent about the reasons for a layoff could help build their trust in a company. And 53% said that encouraging managers to increase their communication with the team members who weren’t affected by the layoffs will also help to build trust.

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