Ogilvy has sacked its global chief creative officer Tham Khai Meng following a number of internal complaints about his behaviour reportedly towards female colleagues.
Meng, who’d held the CCO role at the WPP-owned agency since 2009, was terminated after a two-week internal investigation by senior management.
The decision to sack Meng was announced to Ogilvy staff via an internal memo from its worldwide CEO John Siefert.
Siefert’s memo said:”I have decided to terminate Khai’s employment with the company with immediate effect.”
The memo to staff read in full:
Two weeks ago, I was informed of employee complaints regarding the behavior of Tham Khai Meng, Chief Creative Officer of The Ogilvy Group.
I found these complaints serious enough to appoint external legal counsel to investigate the matter.
After carefully reviewing the investigation’s findings with several of my partners, we concluded that Khai’s behavior was a clear breach of our company values and code of conduct. I have decided to terminate Khai’s employment with the company with immediate effect.
Each year, we ask every employee in the company to read, authorize, and fully commit to a code of conduct that each of us is responsible for living up to. Over the past 70 years, we have institutionalized shared values and a standard of professional behavior unique to the Ogilvy brand.
This is an important moment to reaffirm that no individual in this company is too senior or too important not to be held accountable for their actions.
Thank you for your support.
