‘Make it work, or I’ll find someone who can’: New CFO forces senior compliance officer's hand to fire half his team, company loses $500K because they needed the employee they fired to close the deal

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Aug 15, 2024 11:00 PM EDT

"The documentation needed his specific knowledge and a set of reports that were saved on his company-issued laptop, which had been returned and promptly wiped after his departure."

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  • When a new C-suite executive enters your company, it's important to grant them respect as a boss, but equally important to make sure you are advising them on the ins and outs of the company as well (respectfully, of course). What happens when a new executive comes in and assumes they automatically know what's best for the business? Why do they think that cutting budgets automatically equals more money in the long run? Sometimes, a certain number of employees, especially those who work in compliance, are necessary to ensure the company is running in tip-top shape without running into any hiccups down the line. If you fire employees without thinking it through, you might just get the entitled person karma you deserve.

    The man in this story is a senior compliance officer at a multinational corporation involved in highly regulated industries. A new CFO referred to as ‘Julia’ entered the company not too long ago, determined to cut costs across the entire company for the sake of maximizing the company budget. She forces the man to cut his team by 30%, even though he expressed that each person is integral to the compliance team as they work in different jurisdictions and handle sensitive data. She threatened his own job security, so did as she asked. Fast forward, though there are discrepancies in the story ($500B or $500K), there is a hefty deal coming in that requires files that were only handled by an employee, Peter, whom they fired in the mass layoff. His company computer was wiped, so the CFO asked him to figure out how to remedy the situation. He'll only do it for a six-figure consulting fee, to which they agreed, but they ended up losing the deal anyway. More malicious compliance follows. Scroll to read the whole story.

  • 01
    The $500K Compliance Fiasco
    via creativenemo
  • 02
    I work as a senior compliance officer in a large multinational corporation that operates in highly regulated industries. My job is to ensure that we meet all regulatory requirements across different markets. It's a complex job, but after 15 years in the industry, I've seen it all-or so I thought.
    via creativenemo
  • 03
    Our company recently brought in a new CFO, Julia, who was determined to cut costs across the board. She was a numbers person through and through, and in her mind, compliance was a bloated department that could
    via creativenemo
  • 04
    easily be trimmed down. We had several meetings where she'd question every expense, every process, every role. It was clear that she didn't understand the intricacies of compliance and didn't care to learn.
    via creativenemo
  • 05
    One day, Julia called me into her office and told me that my team was "too expensive" and that I needed to lay off 30% of my staff. I tried to explain that each person on my team was responsible for managing compliance in different
    via creativenemo
  • 06
    jurisdictions, and cutting staff would put the company at risk of non-compliance, leading to fines or worse. But Julia was having none of it. "We're overstaffed. Make it work, or I'll find someone who can," she said.
    via creativenemo
  • 07
    Seeing no other option, I complied. I made the layoffs, reluctantly letting go of some of my most experienced staff. But I knew that this was a ticking time bomb.
    via creativenemo
  • 08
    A few months later, our company was bidding for a massive contract with a government entity worth half a billion dollars. Winning this contract would be a game-changer, and the pressure was on to ensure everything was in order. Julia was leading the charge, but the timelines were tight, and we had to submit all compliance documentation within a week.
    via creativenemo
  • 09
    Here's where things got interesting. One of the key compliance documents required for the bid involved an obscure regulation in a small market we operated in-let's call it Country X. The regulation was something that only one of the laid-off team members, a guy named Peter,
    via creativenemo
  • 10
    had handled. The documentation needed his specific knowledge and a set of reports that were saved on his company-issued laptop, which had been returned and promptly wiped after his departure.
    via creativenemo
  • 11
    Julia, not understanding the gravity of the situation, assumed this was a minor hiccup and ordered me to "just find the reports" or "recreate them." But the process wasn't that simple.
    via creativenemo
  • 12
    The reports were generated through a custom-built tool that Peter had developed over years, and there was no way to replicate them without his expertise. I calmly explained this to Julia, who then realized the severity of the situation.
    via creativenemo
  • 13
    Desperate, Julia asked me to contact Peter and see if he could help us out as a consultant. I reached out to Peter, who was understandably bitter about his sudden layoff but willing to listen ―for the right price.
    via creativenemo
  • 14
    I reported back to Julia that Peter was willing to assist, but he was asking for a six-figure consulting fee. Julia balked at the cost but realized she had no choice. Peter was the only person who could get us the documents we needed to comply with the regulations in Country X.
    via creativenemo
  • 15
    Peter returned, and within two days, he produced the necessary reports. However, when Julia submitted the bid, it was too late. The delays caused by the scramble had already set us back, and the contract went to a competitor who had everything in order on time.
    via creativenemo
  • 16
    The fallout was significant. The company lost out on a $500K deal, and the board of directors was furious. Julia's cost-cutting measures, which had seemed so effective on paper, had directly led to this catastrophic loss.
    via creativenemo
  • 17
    The kicker? Peter's consulting fee and the costs of cleaning up the compliance mess afterward were more than double the savings Julia had achieved by laying off my team. And as for me? The board decided that compliance was too important to
    via creativenemo
  • 18
    be left to the whims of someone who didn't understand it. Julia was quietly let go, and I was promoted to a new role-Head of Global Risk Management, with a mandate to ensure that nothing like this ever happened again.
    via creativenemo
  • 19
    I made sure to hire Peter back on a full-time basis, with a significant raise. We never spoke of the incident again, but I made it a point to always remind my team that their work, though often invisible, was invaluable. And from then on, compliance was never taken for granted.
    via creativenemo
  • 20
    Ultimatefriend007 40m ago For your company, kudos. However, Julia is not "gone". She resurfaces in another company still believing that what she did was right and will do it again (and again) in another company. That is why one needs an astute able CEO to hire the right people and make the right decisions (not regrets)...
    via Ultimatefriend007
  • 21
    LostDadLostHopes Thank you for this. 41m ago As someone who pointed out serious ethical lapses- and was told "Unless we're gonna lose, it's not illegal" (paraphrased).... and blackballed for it... I applaud your loyalty to your team. I just wish someone had had it for me. Wish Peter well for me and tell him how luck he is to have a good boss like you :)
    via LostDadLostHopes
  • 22
    doortothe 16m ago Small typo in paragraph 5. You say "half a billion" instead of "half a million". That's a huge difference, haha.
    via doortothe
  • 23
    Fiempre_sin_tabla • 7m ago "Compliance, schmompliance...yes, it might be raining heavily, but I am not getting wet, and neither are you, so why are we even holding these umbrellas? They cost money, you know! Get rid of them or I will find someone who will!"
    via Fiempre_sin_tabla
  • 24
    Fit-Discount3135 • 55m ago New manglers gonna mangle! I'm glad "Julia" is gone and congrats on your promotion
    via Fit-Discount3135

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