How the credit crunch is turning the sheep into wolves

I hear Microsoft may not get the money back that they accidentally overpaid as severance money to the 1400 staffers they let go recently. Aparently some wise anonymous person is spreading the Christmas cheer early this year. Cara mentioned the severance bungle in a prior blog of hers. It is a rather cruel mistake to make with people you just let go, not so? I mean, even if it is an honest mistake, perhaps Microsoft would have been better off just letting the mistake slide. On the other hand though, there is the matter of underpayment to some staffers they also let go recently. Now that needs to be rectified.

To top things off with the whole layoff saga that is starting to spread like wildfire across the first world and in some advanced industries of the third world who supply to these large conglomerates, is the matter of industrial espionage and theft that workers being laid off commit. More than half of the workers who lost their jobs admit to this! This refers to anything from stealing client lists to designs and product plans and beyond. It looks to me like companies need to be extra careful who they step on in this economic downturn as things are probably going to get uglier still and I am not referring to economic conditions. They may well be scattering their intellectual capital to the wind, unwittingly so and spawning their own future competition.