I once worked at a large bureaucratic org that tried to keep it secret when people left (if quit or were fired) because they thought departures were bad for morale. So it was just a big secret. Are they here any more, are they on PTO, are they out sick, who knows! Can't talk about it. It caused way more gossip and bad morale than it would have just to be straightforward letting us know that so and so was gone.