(Note: A November 2007 update to this article is here)
Typically with mergers and acquisitions a 10 percent layoff is seen across the board immediately. We haven’t seen it at Household - HSBC yet. But the acquisition is now complete, names have been changed and the predator has been digested by HSBC. Aldinger still runs the show. So are layoffs in the works? Quite possibly, but not for the reasons one might think.
When the $484 million nationwide settlement of 2002 first started, Household International tried to blame everything on one rogue office in Bellingham Washington. Today, consumer complaints are at an all-time high accross the board, from auto financing, credit cards, private label financing, mortgage loans, second mortgages and everything in between that is handled by Household, now called HSBC Finance Corporation.
How will Household - HSBC defend against it when it catches up with them once again? One possible answer is just like they did in the past.
Although some customer service representatives often give customers answers that are illegal, wildly unbelieveable or just plain ignorant, now is the time for layoffs which may generate the scapegoats for the next round of lawsuits. Many CSR’s are professional trained caring individuals, perhaps managed by a ruthless band of cutthroats. Some already left the company and had no control over their dignity, what to say and when to say it.
But if history is any indicator of the future, laid off employees will be characterized as the rogues. Everything will be blamed on them. The truth will come out, but perhaps not until the professionals are once again raked over the coals as they were in Bellingham.
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