The Royal Bank of Canada has been answering some tough questions in the days since it became embroiled in an outsourcing controversy. To be accurate, RBC hasn鈥檛 been accused of outsourcing per se, but of bringing over foreign workers, training them for their IT services contractor iGATE Corp., and then firing the employees who trained them.
I鈥檝e been following the story, not so much to see if the claims are true (though they seem to be), but to watch RBC鈥檚 reaction to the accusations. So far, the bank鈥檚 strategy has followed the standard pattern.
At first, RBC CEO Gord Nixon denied any allegations of wrongdoing by sticking to the literal truth: 鈥淩BC has not and does not hire any temporary foreign workers.鈥�
It was only after the tide of public opinion turned against them and 91原创s began to vocalize their anger that Nixon addressed the accusations head-on and issued a statement that was more comprehensive than, 鈥淭echnically, we haven鈥檛 done anything wrong.鈥�
The second apology is a fine one, and can be viewed in full at rbc.com, but it鈥檚 too little too late for a lot of people, including many British Columbians, who were soured by Nixon鈥檚 initial failure to take his former employees鈥� complaints seriously.
I鈥檓 consistently amazed that people like Nixon 鈥� CEOs who have access to media consultants and advisers 鈥� so consistently screw up public apologies. It must be a knee-jerk reaction, because Nixon鈥檚 initial denial followed the standard pattern of the corporate 鈥渇auxpology鈥� 鈥� an instance where an organization attempts to do damage control by issuing a placating statement without actually apologizing for its behaviour.
Regular people apologize all the time. We make mistakes, we鈥檙e called out on them, we stop and take stock of our behaviour, we realize that our behaviour unintentionally but seriously offended or injured someone, we apologize with humility, we learn, we move on. I wonder why organizations have such a hard time doing it.
You can always tell when an organization (or a person 鈥� let鈥檚 not just pick on companies here) doesn鈥檛 understand or want to acknowledge that they鈥檝e done something awful, because they鈥檒l start with: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry if some of you were offended.鈥�
鈥淚f鈥� is a great little word that puts the onus on the person who was offended, rather than the actions of the person who offended them. It restructures the responsibility in the situation from the group that injured to the person attempting to call attention to that injury.
Nixon didn鈥檛 sink so far as to employ an 鈥渋f,鈥� but by initially denying that RBC did anything wrong, he brought his apology鈥檚 authenticity into question at the exact moment when he needed to re-establish his bank鈥檚 integrity.
Bad move. The public isn鈥檛 stupid. We鈥檙e well aware that apologies can be either sincere statements or cynical attempts at damage control. By failing to directly and swiftly address the situation, RBC has signalled 鈥� either correctly or incorrectly 鈥� that they鈥檙e in the second camp.
The positive side of this story is the impact that British Columbians 鈥� Victorians in particular 鈥� have had in this national story. Nixon鈥檚 failure to address the issue properly caused several of Victoria鈥檚 unions and B.C.鈥檚 businesses to threaten to withdraw their patronage, and this potential boycott contributed to Nixon鈥檚 change of tune. He went from 鈥渨e are compliant with the regulations鈥� to it鈥檚 鈥渘ot about doing only what the rules require.鈥�
It鈥檚 heartening to see that people鈥檚 commitment to their values can have an impact on the world around us.
(For the record, I don鈥檛 think Nixon is an ogre, but a salary of $12.6 million does make you accountable for a thing or two.)
At the end of the day, I don鈥檛 much care if RBC was outsourcing legally or illegally 鈥� all banks outsource, and that鈥檚 problematic whether or not the practice is legal. When we allow our corporations to take advantage of lower standards of living in other countries, we鈥檙e saying that foreign workers are literally worth less than 91原创s. We shouldn鈥檛 be OK with that.
But we also shouldn鈥檛 lose sight of this week鈥檚 victory. Nixon鈥檚 apology is proof that Victorians care that our businesses are run responsibly and ethically, and that we鈥檒l take action to hold them responsible. Good job, Victoria 鈥� let鈥檚 keep it up.
