Thursday, July 20, 2006

From The Too Good To Be True Dept.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chatelaine Switches To Fixed Schedule For Staff Resignations

In order to improve editorial stability and reduce staff turbulence at Chatelaine, a new policy mandates that staff resignations can only occur on alternating Wednesdays.

“We can’t stop staff from leaving their jobs,” explained Chatelaine publisher Kerry Mitchell. “But we can make sure they resign in a more convenient manner.”

Given the long and successful history of the Chatelaine brand, the past two years of staff unrest has spooked some advertisers, along with executives at Rogers Communications. Since 2004, Kim Pittaway, Beth Hitchcock, Bonny Reichert, Kim Zagar, Caren Watkins, Dre Dee and Ruth Hanley, among others, have left the storied women’s magazine. In order to convince the magazine community at large that a measure of stability was at hand, recently hired editor-in-chief Sara Angel instituted the new scheduling policy on Monday July 17.

“The problem is not staff attrition,” explained Angel. “It’s being unable to predict when that attrition might occur. Our new resignation procedure removes the guesswork and will allow our remaining staff to focus on producing the best magazine possible.”

Since implementing the policy, a decorative bowl of zesty basil minestrone soup -- slated to appear on the January 2007 cover of the magazine -- resigned effective 12:01am on Wednesday, July 19.

The publishers of Chatelaine do not expect anticipate further staff fluxations until Wednesday, August 2.

###