{"id":50,"date":"2013-08-15T12:59:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T11:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/blog\/?p=50"},"modified":"2016-01-29T10:47:22","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T10:47:22","slug":"aol-boss-sacks-staff-member-during-conference-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/blog\/aol-boss-sacks-staff-member-during-conference-call\/","title":{"rendered":"AOL boss sacks staff member during conference call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Armstrong, CEO of former internet giant AOL, is at the centre of a conference call controversy after he sacked an employee midway through a conference call with 1,000 other staff members.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/104878948&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The former Google executive interrupted the conference call to admonish creative director Abel Lenz for filming him during the call.<\/p>\n<p>In what must go down as one of the briefest, not to mention most public, dismissals ever, Armstrong said: &#8220;Abel, put that camera down right now. Abel, you&#8217;re fired! Out!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And that was the end of Abel at AOL.<\/p>\n<p>In a scene that sounds like it&#8217;s been lifted from The Office, a few seconds of awkward silence followed before \u00a0Armstrong carried on speaking to the group.<\/p>\n<h2>A public apology<\/h2>\n<p>Although it looks unlikely that Abel Lenz will be given his job back, he&#8217;d already been reprimanded for filming Mr Armstrong in confidential meetings (which really does sound a bit weird), AOL&#8217;s CEO has apologised to all concerned.<\/p>\n<p>A statement sent out to all AOL employees read:\u00a0\u201cI am writing you to acknowledge the mistake I made last Friday during the Patch all-hands meeting when I publicly fired Abel Lenz. It was an emotional response at the start of a difficult discussion dealing with many people&#8217;s careers and livelihoods. I am the CEO and leader of the organization, and I take that responsibility seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If it still seems a little harsh to sack an employee on the spot like that, rumours are doing the rounds that Lenz was a marked man after the project he was heading up had been deemed a failure.<\/p>\n<p>So when you&#8217;re making a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">conference call<\/a>, make sure you don&#8217;t say something that will offend anyone, even under your breath, as every pair of ears is listening!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Armstrong, CEO of former internet giant AOL, is at the centre of a conference call controversy after he sacked an employee midway through a conference call with 1,000 other<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/blog\/aol-boss-sacks-staff-member-during-conference-call\/\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">AOL boss sacks staff member during conference call<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[3],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - 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