Tony Goode has few regrets about blowing the whistle
onMarks & Spencer's plansto cut
redundancy payments, which would have weighed heaviest on its
longest-serving staff, even though itcost him his job.
Speaking to Computer Weekly in his first in-depth
interview since his sacking on 3 September 2008, the former
customer database manager said "My intention was never to cause
embarrassment to Marks & Spencer.
>> SEE
PART TWO OF THE INTERVIEW
"I went to the press because I had raised the issues internally
with my line manager and with the works councils, and I did not
have any confidence that they would resolve them. I thought that
speaking to the press would put the issue in the public domain and
hopefully get Marks & Spencer to change its mind."
Goode acknowledged his interest in having the plans changed.
When he was sacked he was a few days shy of completing 25 years'
unblemished service, and would have missed out on a substantial
top-up to his pension under the new arrangements.
However, his call to the reporter on the Times last year was the
culmination of what he describes as a long steady erosion of trust
between management and staff. A new financial incentive scheme
created a "divisive" environment where blame, bullying and
overloading junior staff could easily arise, he said.
This was reflected in a staff survey conducted just before he
left the retailer. In one group of 30 staff, 41% reported that
bullying was tolerated in their department, he said.
Staff also felt they were being watched, Goode said. He knew
from personal experience that the human resources department was
checking when people entered and left the head office building.
There was a sense that staff were being paid for attendance rather
than output, he said.
M&S's workplace surveillance went further, he
said. "It is my understanding that all e-mails into or out of the
company are stored for six years," he said. "I also know from
conversations with information security people that they are
testing and trialling software that can inspect the content of
e-mails," he said.
"There needs to be some trust. Keeping e-mails for that length
of time is certainly something that would not have happened five
years ago," he said.
Goode is finding it tough to get another job. Retailers all
along the High Street are closing down, M&S itself is shedding
1230 staff, and may shed more. Being outed as a whistleblower does
not help. Goode is doing some work for the GMB union, which is
supporting his unfair dismissal claim against M&S, but a
permanent job in retail seems a dim prospect.
So would he do it again? "John Wareham (M&S's head of global
HR) asked me the same question," Goode said. "I said I hoped never
to be in the same position again. He took that as a yes, but that
is not what I said."