Full transcript
0:04We're bringing you the story of two
0:06companies, two very different companies,
0:08but with one thing in common. They both
0:09found themselves under scrutiny for the
0:11way they manage their employees. One is
0:13Oracle, the other is Morgan and Morgan.
0:15One is firing people, the other is
0:17watching them.
0:19And here's the irony. These are
0:20companies that talk about workplace
0:22values, professionalism, accountability,
0:24work ethics. Yet, when it comes to the
0:26people who work for them, the picture
0:28can look very different.
0:30And this is not the first time that
0:31these companies have faced questions
0:33about their workplace practices.
0:36So, what's going wrong here? And more
0:38importantly, what kind of workplace are
0:40we creating?
0:42We'll start with Oracle. It's one of the
0:43world's biggest tech companies. It has
0:45operations in more than 140 countries
0:47and a workforce of more than 100,000.
0:49Oracle builds the technology that other
0:51companies run on. They build databases,
0:54cloud systems, business software. In
0:57simple terms, they help companies store,
0:59manage, and analyze their data.
1:02But, it's not their work
1:04that they're in the news for.
1:06The company's ruthless firing has become
1:08a topic of conversation online. Now, we
1:10don't know the exact number of people
1:12that they fired, but we can tell you
1:14that layoffs have happened both in India
1:15and the US. And guess how people found
1:18out?
1:19Through an email that read, "Today is
1:21your last working day." Not a meeting,
1:23not a phone call from their manager,
1:25just an email.
1:28And this is part of the company's second
1:30round of job cuts.
1:32Earlier this year, they had a much
1:33bigger round of layoffs. Some 21,000
1:36people were fired.
1:39That's about 13% of its workforce.
1:42And now the cuts are happening again.
1:44Employees in the US and India are losing
1:46their jobs. Some said that their access
1:48to company systems was cut off, and some
1:50received their termination emails early
1:52in the morning.
1:54Now, Oracle says this is part of a
1:56broader restructuring.
1:58And there is business logic behind it.
2:00Oracle is spending huge amounts of money
2:02on artificial intelligence. They're
2:03building data centers. They're expanding
2:05their cloud business. They're trying to
2:06reposition themselves for the AI boom.
2:10And they're restructuring.
2:12They've already spent more than $2
2:13billion on restructuring and they've
2:15added another 700 million to that plan.
2:20But that brings us to a bigger question,
2:22too. When a company restructures, does
2:24it have to feel so impersonal?
2:27And this isn't the first time they've
2:28done it.
2:30Oracle's workplace practices have come
2:32under scrutiny before. In 2024, they
2:34agreed to pay $25 million to settle a
2:36class action lawsuit.
2:40That's after
2:41allegations said that women were
2:43systematically underpaid there.
2:46And there have been other legal disputes
2:47in involving Oracle employees and former
2:50employees, too.
2:53And that's the first example that we're
2:54bringing you tonight. The second company
2:56in focus is Morgan and Morgan. This is
2:57the US-based law firm.
3:00No layoffs there,
3:02but something else is happening and that
3:03is employee surveillance. John Morgan,
3:06the founder of the law firm, has said
3:07that 23 employees quit within a week.
3:11That's because the company introduced
3:13camera-based monitoring.
3:15This was for remote workers.
3:17The employees who did not want to return
3:18to office, they were allowed to work
3:20remotely, but with closer monitoring.
3:23With cameras that track their
3:24productivity and keystroke monitoring.
3:28Morgan defended the policy as a way of
3:30ensuring accountability, but it
3:32triggered a very different question.
3:33Where do you draw the line?
3:36Think about it for a moment. You're
3:37working from home. You're sitting at
3:39your desk. Your employer consistently
3:41monitors what you're doing on your
3:43computer. The company may call it
3:45productivity monitoring, but for an
3:47employee,
3:48it feels like an invasion of privacy.
3:50And that is the debate.
3:52Now, look at the two stories together.
3:54Oracle cutting jobs as it restructures
3:56for an AI-driven future and Morgan and
3:58Morgan increasing monitoring of
4:01employees working from home.
4:05And you'll see what these cases are
4:06really about, control over people.
4:10There's something else that makes this
4:11ironic because companies carefully craft
4:13their employee handbooks. They talk
4:15about ethics, conduct, accountability,
4:17professionalism, values.
4:20But workplace values cannot be one way.
4:23If an employee is expected to follow a
4:24code of conduct, so is the employer.
4:28Now, to be fair, like I said earlier,
4:30companies have the right to restructure.
4:31They have the right to cut costs. They
4:33have the right to change their business
4:35model.
4:36And they have the right to ask remote
4:37workers to follow company policies. That
4:39is how businesses operate. But there's a
4:41difference between making a tough
4:43business decision
4:44and forgetting that there is a human
4:47being on the other side of that
4:48decision.