Staff at Bates Worldwide’s New York headquarters learned Thursday that the shutters are poised to fall on the agency’s New York headquarters.

To his credit, David Hearn, Cordiant Communications chairman/ceo, did not delegate his unappetizing task, flying-in to break the bad news personally. According to Bates insiders, employees are still uncertain who will be offered jobs with Bates’s new owner WPP Group.

It seems that WPP’s word processing system is currently churning-out two types of letter. The first carries an employment offer with details of the job, its location and with which WPP agency; the second is of the ‘Dear John’ variety.

Hearn has grasped the nettle in no uncertain manner. Word from within is that he will personally face all Bates New York employees at 2pm Friday.

His email invitation to staff promises to “update everyone on the status of the integration plans with WPP and to give each one of you final confirmation of these plans as they relate to you personally … This is a very important meeting and I will ensure that the formal part takes only ten to fifteen minutes.”

Data sourced from: AdAge.com; additional content by WARC staff