Dive Brief:
- According to a report in the Washington Business Journal, Donna Lesch, a controversial chief human resources officer at Computer Sciences Corp., left the Falls Church, Va., technology company at the end of March after a brief one-year tenure.
- A company spokesman confirmed in the article that Lesch was gone and did not respond about her replacement. There is also no CHRO listed on the company’s website.
- During her short time, Lesch backed some unpopular workforce policies focused on corporate cost-cutting. One was a decision to use a bell curve ratings structure that pretty much guaranteed 40% of the workforce would fail to meet their goals/objectives. Another idea included a "use-it-or-lose-it" vacation policy, and an annual one-week shutdown—typically the last week of December—with all employees expected to use vacation time to cover the days off.
Dive Insight:
Since Lesch is the fourth high-level executive to depart CSC in the past year, according to the Business Journal, it's clear that the company's cost-cutting strategy is not going smoothly.
On the other hand, while tough decisions often need to be made when companies try to reel in spending, it would make sense to include fairness in the overall strategy—something apparently missing from both of these HR programs.
