Ex-Rok boss Snook sends axed workers bizarre email

Grant Prior 14 years ago
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Former Rok chief executive Garvis Snook sent his staff a bizarre email urging them to “keep on Roking” just days before they were axed by administrators.

Snook said he was among the first wave of Rok employees to get the boot by administrator PwC last week.

A spokesman at Rok’s customer helpline confirmed to the Plymouth Herald that Snook sent the e-mail to employees shortly after he was shown the door by administrators.

One former employee said that the apparently upbeat message summed up Snook’s management style “to a tee”.

In the email, Snook hinted that other parties were to blame for Rok’s devastating collapse, writing: “In the coming weeks and months you will read and hear lots of rumour and conjecture as to why we went into administration.

“I would love to tell you what I think caused it but I would probably be sued and that’s a problem I could do without.”

Snook urged axed Rok workers facing a bleak Christmas to regard Rok’s implosion as a “new beginning,” writing: “As somebody said to me today, ‘now is our chance to go and spread the things we learned into other businesses’.”

A former Rok employee said: “It makes sad reading.

“It more or less says that others were to blame, when ultimately, I think it was down to him and his management team.”

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