Pensioners and former employees

Has Thomson Reuters abandoned their pensioners and former employees?

They would claim not, however recent actions do paint a different picture. Most people are aware of the reneging of the previous policy to pay annual discretionary cost of living increases to UK pensioners. Although not formally written down, it was a previous custom and practice which every UK pensioner was aware of and was reassured by. However in 2003 Reuters decided to change this as a way of saving money. Pensioners now see the real value of their pensions dropping year-on-year as a result.

A few years ago Reuters started a group named the Reuters Alumni Network. At the first meeting Tom Glocer stated that the purpose of the group was to provide a forum for former Reuters employees to keep in touch and to be kept up to date with some of the latest Reuters strategy. Three or four meetings were held in London with guest speakers but the forum now seems to have been quietly dropped without any notification to the Alumni members.

It was also a tradition for Reuters to host an annual pensioners’ lunch in London. Some years ago this was changed to a two-yearly event to reduce costs. However the lunch that was due to be held this year (usually in May) hasn’t happened and it now appears that the lunch has also been quietly abandoned.

What should pensioners and former employees make of such decisions and the way they were implemented? From my perspective I think the saddest aspect of the above is that Thomson Reuters management do not feel any need to contact pensioners and former employees to advise them of these decisions. It seems such decisions are taken behind closed doors and those directly affected only find out when they ask direct questions to TR. I do think this displays a lack of courage by those in charge. Of course, there are times when such decisions may be justified and necessary, but please do the decent thing and have the courtesy to advise those impacted in an open and honest way. After all, we are real people who put a huge amount into our working life to help make Reuters become a great company with great values. Or so we thought at the time - things do now seem to have changed for the worse. ■