Maybe I'm just too cynical and jaded, but to me it just sounds like damage control from the management side. Once word got around about this spreadsheet, what

Maybe I'm just too cynical and jaded, but to me it just sounds like damage control from the management side. Once word got around about this spreadsheet, what else can management do? As management, you let everyone know that you know about it and you backpeddle from your problematic "we will fire you for your involvement" position. Someone from Human Resources affirms what everyone now knows (from doing a quick Google search), that this is not grounds for dismissal but that it makes things hard for management, so on and so forth.