Staff at Taylor Wessing have been voicing their anger after the firm launched an expensive rebrand - just after cutting salaries and making redundancies.
Like most other City firms, Taylor Wessing has been hit by the downturn. In response to a 29% decline in profits, it has frozen salaries, made several staff redundant and offered the rest voluntary redundancy and sabbaticals on 10% of pay.
Recently the firm asked staff to buy an extra two weeks holiday, at a cost of a 3.85% salary cut. One insider says that "many support staff can't afford the loss of one day's salary every month, but conceded it better to have a job and suffer this if it ensures a healthy firm". Such magnanimity quickly evaporated, however, when it transpired that the firm had decided to re-brand at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Costly rebrands are contentious even in times of plenty - Nabarro and Ashurst both got a ribbing for spending huge sums on dropping the "s" at the end of their names. But handing over a stack of cash to support the Columbian marching powder habits of ad executives whilst dicking over your own staff is beyond insensitive. Another insider comments that "perhaps the new logo could be along the lines of 'Taylor Wessing - the firm that doesn't give a sh*t'".
Tim Eyles, the firm's Managing Partner, said: "In response to increased competition in the legal market we are proactively reviewing our international strategy. This includes a review of our brand positioning, to which contributions from staff and clients are proving instrumental. We have been very open with staff during these difficult times that this is a project which we believe is essential for the continued success of the firm."
Or, in plain English, "Maybe a prettier logo will help us get a fifty million pound investment from 3i".
Tip Off ROF
Like most other City firms, Taylor Wessing has been hit by the downturn. In response to a 29% decline in profits, it has frozen salaries, made several staff redundant and offered the rest voluntary redundancy and sabbaticals on 10% of pay.
Recently the firm asked staff to buy an extra two weeks holiday, at a cost of a 3.85% salary cut. One insider says that "many support staff can't afford the loss of one day's salary every month, but conceded it better to have a job and suffer this if it ensures a healthy firm". Such magnanimity quickly evaporated, however, when it transpired that the firm had decided to re-brand at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Costly rebrands are contentious even in times of plenty - Nabarro and Ashurst both got a ribbing for spending huge sums on dropping the "s" at the end of their names. But handing over a stack of cash to support the Columbian marching powder habits of ad executives whilst dicking over your own staff is beyond insensitive. Another insider comments that "perhaps the new logo could be along the lines of 'Taylor Wessing - the firm that doesn't give a sh*t'".
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Managing partner Tim Eyles giving a sh*t yesterday |
Tim Eyles, the firm's Managing Partner, said: "In response to increased competition in the legal market we are proactively reviewing our international strategy. This includes a review of our brand positioning, to which contributions from staff and clients are proving instrumental. We have been very open with staff during these difficult times that this is a project which we believe is essential for the continued success of the firm."
Or, in plain English, "Maybe a prettier logo will help us get a fifty million pound investment from 3i".