Have A Care For The People Who Really Are Having It Tough

When we went out to “clap the carers”, I don’t remember it including the 1,500 consultants who work for accountancy firm KPMG. But maybe it should have done. They are feeling a little hard done by.

- Ross Clark

First, they had their pay cut from an average of £640,000 to £572,000. And now they feel insulted by their boss, Bill Michael, who held an online meeting to discuss the fall in their bonuses.

Michael is not a man to mince his words. Irritated by the refusal of his staff to accept that economic reality had forced the firm to cut rewards to its staff, he told them to stop moaning, adding: “Well, you can’t play the role of victim unless you’re sick. I hope you’re not sick and you’re not ill, and if you’re not, take control of your life.”

What he failed to appreciate, needless to say, is that we are all “victims” nowadays. After a recording of the meeting went viral, Mr Michael was suspended from his job as he was accused of bullying and damaging employees’ mental health.

EVEN worse, in the eyes of some, he dared to slay one of the great sacred cows of the modern workplace: unconscious bias training. In fact, he described it as “c***”. A message board set up to allow staff to air grievances soon afterwards crashed with the volume of complaints.