Blogs put new spin on layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO -- During past downturns, layoffs were mostly a private affair. Big companies tended to issue vague news releases filled with jargon about "downsizing," and startups often gave people the pink slip without telling the world anything at all.

Not anymore. In the age of transparency, the layoff will be blogged.

Elon Musk, chief executive of the electric-car company Tesla Motors in San Carlos, Calif., said he had no choice other than to blog about the Oct. 15 layoffs at the closely watched company -- even though some employees had not yet been told they were losing their jobs.

Valleywag, a Silicon Valley gossip blog owned by Gawker Media, had already published the news, and it was being picked up by old-media reporters, Musk said. "We had to say something to prevent articles being written that were not accurate."

Blogging about staff cuts is particularly prevalent in Silicon Valley, where tech gossip sites pounce on every rumor, and Web-savvy employees broadcast their every thought on personal blogs and Twitter feeds. Companies feel pressure to break bad news on their own blogs so that they can better control the message.

However, experts in human resources and public relations say it is only a matter of time before companies of all sizes and in all industries will act as if they're compelled to blog about painful news.

Every industry has Web sites that cover its companies and eagerly publish rumors, from the Starbucks Gossip blog to DealBreaker for the financial industry and BlueOvalNews.com for Ford Motor. Web sites such as Glassdoor.com and JobSchmob.com also encourage workers to vent about their bosses.

"Today, whatever you say inside of a company will end up on a blog," said Rusty Rueff, a former human resources executive at Electronic Arts and PepsiCo. "So you have a choice as a company -- you can either be proactive and take the offensive and say, 'Here's what's going on,' or you can let someone else write the story for you."

Larger companies need to learn that lesson, too, said Andy Sernovitz, chief executive of the Blog Council, which helps big companies use social media. "There are hold-out companies that still wish there was traditional PR control of the message, but that day is long over."