Another suitcase, another hall


Bell Pottinger has paid the ultimate price for working for
South Africa’s Gupta family as the agency, once Britain’s biggest, went into
administration. About half its London-based staff, including non-client facing
employees, were made redundant at the same time.
Administrators BDO informed Bell Pottinger’s staff of the
decision, and then performed a roll call inviting some employees to go to one
side of the room. They were then told that they had been made redundant, asked
to clear their desks and instructed to hand back all company property otherwise
its value would be deducted from any potential salary they may yet receive. The
insurance on all company cars expired at midnight that same day.
Insiders claim that remaining staff have been instructed to continue
to manage relationships with those clients who have stayed with Bell Pottinger
as BDO explores options for ‘selling’ these to another agency.
BDO’s aspiration was described as ‘mis-guided’ as it is
inevitable that some clients will move with their account manager once they
find new jobs. It is understood that some employees are looking at setting up
their own agencies with colleagues, while others have already joined other
agencies. PR agencies going into administration is such a rarity – industry veterans
struggle to remember another – that nobody is quite sure of the rules regarding
gardening leave or poaching colleagues. ‘As far as we know, we can start work
with another agency immediately, if desired, without following the normal
etiquette that applies when joining a competitor,’ said one.
‘I think the vast majority of Bell Pottinger people will
easily walk into other jobs,’ said a former colleague. ‘These are talented
people. LinkedIn is filled with former Bell Pottinger employees telling their old
colleagues to make contact as they have roles for them.’ He added that, since
the administration was announced, the ‘atmosphere is more relaxed. People are
open about the fact that they are just popping out for an interview’.
But it is also understood that some partners face the
prospect of selling their homes to pay Inland Revenue bills for their tax
liabilities. As a limited partnership, Bell Pottinger offered partners the
chance to receive their earnings net of tax, so that at the end of the financial
year they would have the requisite funds to pay their Inland Revenue bills. In
normal circumstances, the company would ringfence these tax liabilities by
placing the funds in an escrow account. However, Bell Pottinger does not
appeared to have followed this practice. ‘Partners, who already had their tax
payments deducted, face the prospect of huge bills from the Inland Revenue with
no money to pay them,’ said one insider.