Astonishing, Abusive — and in the cable industry they give prizes in “internal communications” (!) for this:
I Can Make a Difference!
Cox Communications, Inc.
Baton Rouge, LA
In launching the Cox Advocacy Network (CAN), Cox Greater Louisiana saw a unique opportunity to motivate and educate employees about how elected officials affect their business on a personal level by using three tools ” All-Employee Meetings, Voter Registration Drive and Email Campaign. Through the All-Employee Meetings, a huge audience learned about what CAN is, how it works and heard first-hand from legislators how effective it can be. Many employees were able to vote in 2007 elections that otherwise would not have been able to. Employees were kept well informed of legislative activity and election information. Lawmakers want to hear from their constituents, and employees learned “I CAN make a difference!”
So they line everybody up in a room an feed ’em the company line and try and turn citizens into Cox lobbyists.
They pay their real lobbyists much better.
They tried this silliness in Lafayette (both Cox and BS) and it didn’t work — BellSouth’s (now AT&T) compulsory meetings of Cingular employees were regarded with particular contempt by the “participants.”
There is no such thing as a corporate citizen. And stuff like this makes it clear.
