Great PR?

[seabro]

On the front page of the Mirror today was a computer company who fired an employee after 45 minutes because they found out she smoked (and they don't employee smokers).

Now was that a PR stunt or real??

And although they say all publicity os good publicity surely this would offend smokers?

[DuaneJackson]

It might offend smokers, but you've now heard of the company. So when they are pushing their wares, something subsconciously tells you you have heard of them, but not necassarily why.

[uksbc]

sort of makes you wonder whether you should sack someone for a silly reason just for the PR.

i am weighing it up now - "revenue generated by being on front page of the mirror against tribunal case against me....mmmmm....."

i know its sounds stupid but depending on your industry it could work. like duane said, people will recognise the name but not associate why. great form of brand recognition

i couldnt do it for smoking though. being a smoker myself might make me a bit of a hypocrite. :shock:

[clairemackaness]

Probably a mass PR stunt, besides 45 minutes doesn't warrant a tribunal so they had nothing to loose

[fastfences]

And although they say all publicity is good publicity . .

But is it?

I think there may be some who would think, 'That's the company that sacked that poor lad/lass after only 45 minutes. I'm not going there.'

But there is another issue here. If the company has such a 'strong' stance on smoking, why was this not picked up during the interview process. Someone's head should roll for that!
Cheers, Nigel

[mumper]

It must be a stressful company to work for if the poor girl needed a cigarette after only 45 minutes.

[seabro]

OK, according to the mirror..

They were not breaking the law in firing her for being a smoker.

Also, they said the agency knows of their policy and normally only sends no-smokers. So they didn't need to reconfiem in interview.

[directmarketingadvice]

when they are pushing their wares, something subsconciously tells you you have heard of them

There's a lot of debate on whether the mind works this way or not.

If it does, then there are going to be literally hundreds of millions of these subconscious triggers in each of our minds.

And, if that's the case, how important is that "familiarity" going to be in the decision process?

I think that, if someone has a strong opinion on this company's policy, they may remember the name (though, I've just looked up the story and the name is pretty forgetable).

If this strong opinion is positive, and the reader happens to have a use for this company's service, (s)he may choose to reward them with his business.

If it's a negative reaction, then they'll probably lose out.

Steve

[confused]

I cant see how you can get away with sacking someone for BEING a smoker, fair enough if the person lit up in the workplace !
I used to work for a large computer company, they went on watchdog for having terrible support and treating their customers badly, the following few months aparantly saw a massive sales increase - go figure ! The logic is that because they have been on watchdog their attitude would change - not so in this case!

[nemesis]

I think they can get away with it as it was their stipulation to the recruitment agency. It is in effect the agenies fault as they are in breach of contract.

i can see why they may have this policy though. if you take into account smoking breaks over the course of the year a non smoker will likely give you an extra few days work a year over a smoker.

Normally its not a problem but ive been on a support desk with a 60 a day smoker and i may as well have been on my own :(

[clairemackaness]

Coming from an agency background, you cannot choose to not send an otherwise suitable candidate for an interview because of this as it can actually be cause for discrimination. The agency was not to know that the candidate perhaps only smoked socially.

If the agency had agreed this matter then the REC would come down on them like a ton of bricks.

It's just as bad as a company saying they only wanted males or only wanted someone under the age of 30 for instance

[SillyJokes]

Ah, but you can't help being male or over 30. You can help smoking an it is an unhealthy habit that could lead to more days off sick, and it could effect other workers.

Having said that I employ a smoker but she smokes outside. Another employee had given up smoking since coming to us because our policy helped them resist the temptation.

[www.t6c.co.uk]

It sound like a great PR stunt.

Did you hear about the hosting company who are adopting a child.

[daveashton]

yes it is very rare that PR ends up being bad in the long run.

I would like to know though how much she got for the story?