5. “If you’re driving, pull over” – 3 December
Just a day later, it emerged that Exertis IT had put all staff at its Exertis UK Business and Consumer and Exertis Supplies businesses at risk of redundancy.
One employee on the call said the message was that Exertis UK wanted to evolve into a small consumer retail specialist.
“Very early on in the day, they put in a mandatory meeting for everybody, saying ‘cancel all meetings… if you’re driving, pull over’,” said the source, who was talking under condition of anonymity.
“The director in situ, Jon Sutherland, came on and read from a script with no emotion – obviously you can’t have emotion in this kind of situation.
“He said, ‘that’s the situation, we’ve been taken over, and with any takeover there are changes companies want to make. Exertis is in the situation where it’s not performing, and not making money. We have to place all staff at risk of redundancy’.”
A 45-day consultation process then ensued.
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