Business and Technical Writing Essay

Phoenix Advertising as a whole has always put our clients first and is well known for our excellent work. As you know, the Roanoke branch had been experiencing difficulties since January of 2015 with regards to overworked and underpaid employees and a loss of clients. Productivity had declined by 20 percent over the course of the past few months, and we lost a few key members of our team. In response to our current crisis, I have developed a proposal in order to return Phoenix Advertising to the standard of excellence we have always maintained. Background Throughout 2014, the Roanoke branch of Phoenix Advertising had excellent feedback from both clients and employees. In December of 2014, the branch had taken a turn for the worse. By January of 2015, productivity had declined and an art director and account executive had resigned. The resignations left the remainder of the employees reconsidering their positions at Phoenix Advertising. Earlier this month, I conducted an investigation at the Roanoke Branch and found there to be a few issues that need to be resolved. The first issue brought to my attention was the current employees working overtime and not being properly compensated for their time. There were an influx of new clients and new projects being accepted without taking into consideration the number of projects currently assigned to the team, as well as the number of employees at the time. As the vice president of human resources, I also wondered why the employees had not contacted the human resources department before their sudden resignation. Company policy was not being strictly adhered to and the department directors were not properly trained to deal with a situation like this. Employees need to be compensated for their time, and as policy states, they should not exceed 20 hours of overtime monthly with exception of certain circumstances which would need to be approved by headquarters. There were not enough employees to keep up with the workloads, and both the employees and the quality of work had suffered. Our clients who had been with us for quite some time had noted a change in the work they received. In order to properly address the current situation and bring the branch back to our high standards, I suggest the following changes: The Roanoke branch needs to hire additional part time and seasonal help in order to evenly distribute the workload accordingly. The process of accepting new clients as well as projects will need to be revised and should adjust to the number of employees available. There needs to be an open line of communication between employees and their superiors. There is no reason that an employee should feel uncomfortable speaking to anyone within the company. Employees shall be rewarded with bonuses after excellent feedback from clients, as well as an employee of the month program. Proposal In order to return the Roanoke branch to its former level of excellence, I propose the following plan. Additional help: In order to properly manage time and increase productivity, the Roanoke branch needs to hire additional help for part time and seasonal positions for the busiest parts of the year. We also need to adhere strictly to the overtime policy and ensure that the employees are being properly compensated for their time. The additional help will also allow us to have more creative ideas and will allow the team to devise a customer loyalty program in order to retain current clients as well as gain new clients. Weekly meetings: Weekly meetings shall be held in order to maximize productivity and give the employees a chance to freely speak to their superiors. In each meeting, there will be a status report for the prior week from both the employees and superiors. The team will use the weekly reports to work together to come up with a solution to any problems, or to reward employees for excellent work. This will provide an open line of communication, as well as survey the current situation and see if there is a need for additional help to any and all team members. Training: Both managers as well as employees will need to complete a series of training courses to ensure that everyone is well versed in company policy, as well as have knowledge of what to do in case of an event such as the current crisis at the Roanoke branch. One such course would be on the importance of communication between employees and superiors. All employees will learn when it is necessary to hire additional help, when they really need to speak up, and that human resources is here to help and they should not be shy when they need guidance. It is important for all team members to be knowledgeable about the company and policy. Employees will be scheduled for two meetings a week – on days that best fit their schedule – for four weeks, followed by an evaluation to see if the course material was thorough. If more training is necessary, it will be rescheduled accordingly. Schedule Manager training: When to hire additional help; Project Approval: April 6- April 10 Employee training: Your rights as employees; YOU matter:April 13- April 17 All team members: Importance of open communication: April 20-April 24 Company policies:April 27- May 1 Staffing Kevin O’Hara, the director of employment services, has been with the company for 6 years and prior to working with our company, has worked with very prestigious companies in the industry. Mr. O’Hara is very well versed in company policy and will be in charge of conducting the training for when to hire additional staff members. I have great faith in Mr. O’Hara, as he has been a great help in this process. The director of customer relations, Paul Clemens has been with Phoenix Advertising for a total of 8 years. Mr. Clemens has exceeded our expectations in every aspect, and he will be conducting the project approval training process. The final three training seminars will be conducted by me, as well as the department directors. Together, we need to remind all team members that they are very important to the company, and their work is what gets us our reputation. We will thoroughly discuss open lines of communication, policies, and the importance of working together as a team. I am very confident in the department directors at the Roanoke Branch, and I feel that we can all present a very important matter in a way that gets the point across.