ANZ accidentally laid people off by automated email. (yes, seriously)
Staff got “exit dates” and laptop return instructions… before anyone told them they were fired.
The story gets EVEN WILDER than this.... 🧵👇
Staff got “exit dates” and laptop return instructions… before anyone told them they were fired.
The story gets EVEN WILDER than this.... 🧵👇
The HR bot leaked layoff notices to 300+ managers.
👇👇👇
People thought it was a glitch… and when they asked for support- HR handed out psychologist hotlines instead of answers. (yes seriously... this happened.)
ANZ is one of Australia’s “Big Four” banks. 2/6
👇👇👇
People thought it was a glitch… and when they asked for support- HR handed out psychologist hotlines instead of answers. (yes seriously... this happened.)
ANZ is one of Australia’s “Big Four” banks. 2/6
The Psychologist thing is not even the craziest part...
The HR service used by ANZ is ServiceNow -- and from their own website on 7/21/25:
Challenges of organisations in the ANZ HR landscape
HR departments across ANZ are under increasing pressure to modernise employee experiences while cutting operational costs. Fragmented legacy systems, manual onboarding processes, and inefficient service delivery models often hinder workforce satisfaction and compliance. The benefits of transforming HR operations through automation and self-service models have never been clearer: improved employee engagement, reduced time-to-resolution, and data-driven decision-making.
3/6
servicenow.com/community/hrsd…
The HR service used by ANZ is ServiceNow -- and from their own website on 7/21/25:
Challenges of organisations in the ANZ HR landscape
HR departments across ANZ are under increasing pressure to modernise employee experiences while cutting operational costs. Fragmented legacy systems, manual onboarding processes, and inefficient service delivery models often hinder workforce satisfaction and compliance. The benefits of transforming HR operations through automation and self-service models have never been clearer: improved employee engagement, reduced time-to-resolution, and data-driven decision-making.
3/6
servicenow.com/community/hrsd…
Email from ANZ's acting group executive for retail banking, Bruce Rush addressing the layoff email:
4/6
4/6
How did this happen? The email layoff chain probably went something like this:
HR entered “end date” in SAP SuccessFactors
ServiceNow HRSD lifecycle workflow saw the date → triggered “exit event”
Auto-email went to affected staff before managers could speak to them.
The error likely occurred due to a misconfiguration or lack of synchronization between the automated workflow and the human-led notification process.
5/6
HR entered “end date” in SAP SuccessFactors
ServiceNow HRSD lifecycle workflow saw the date → triggered “exit event”
Auto-email went to affected staff before managers could speak to them.
The error likely occurred due to a misconfiguration or lack of synchronization between the automated workflow and the human-led notification process.
5/6
You can’t make this up:
– Bot fires staff
– HR hands out therapist hotlines
– Execs scramble to catch up
You couldn’t dream up a darker corporate comedy. 6/6
– Bot fires staff
– HR hands out therapist hotlines
– Execs scramble to catch up
You couldn’t dream up a darker corporate comedy. 6/6
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