A letter to my Boss

A letter to my boss when everyone is quitting...just substitute your job description.

Ok, here goes...

Of course, all the questions you asked all seem to roll into the same situation: communication.

What don't you like about the management style?...communication.

What can we do to make your job easier?...communication.

What are the two things you want to change at work?..when and how to communicate.

How can we improve our company?...communicate problems and goals

Why do you enjoy working here?...communicating my successes and goals.

So on to the complaints/observations...

Open door policy..when you have to be on the road by eight and management arrives at 8:05, not much can be said there...or how about the infamous 2 hour meetings (Supervisors) with 2 each day? Yea, that works.

When we approach you about problems, P to the sixth, PEBKAC, etc. is your answer. How's that work'in for ya? Gotta problem? That's your answer..really a problem solver, isn't it?

Got a problem with pay? Did you say “NO” is your final answer? Yep, feels good to know there is “NO” chance to progress, no matter what you do. “NO” raises, “NO” promotions. Here's another “NO” for ya, “NO” incentive for the employees to make things better or grow the company. Works both ways.

“Set up to fail” So many jobs/responsibilities are assigned with no time/money/equipment. When they do fail or take too much time/effort, well it's obvious the tech doesn’t know what they're doing and it's their fault. No root cause analysis is done, just easier to blame the tech. We're techs. Not database managers, schedulers, policy writers, etc. If we were, we all would be database managers making 6 figures.


So now the suggestions...

Show your face..just a short 5 to 10 min meeting once a week to say “How goes?” would go a long way in understanding of what's going on and make employees feel valued. Unless it's training, limit your meetings. If you have to stand up, use a stopwatch, etc., find something effective. Be conscious of your time. Too many companies will tell you how they almost lost their business because of meetings.

Curt answers leaves one feeling belittled and frustrated because the problem still exists. Listen to the problem, you'll find it's generally due to lack of information or mis-information causing the situation.

Pay is always a tough one. Who deserves what is always tough to decide. But if there no incentive of any sort, you'll always lose people, and you KNOW how long it takes to train someone to get them to be productive, no matter who and that costs you a whole lot more than a few dollars per hour.


“Set up to fail” Our shop supervisor has done a marvelous job at doing the balancing act, but even he has his limitations. Said it before, you know the drill. Takes minimum 30 min to 1 hour to organize and load equipment /personnel / paperwork. Another 1 to 2 hour drive to get to any job we do, 30 min. with client, 30 min to setup equipment, run like hell to perform the job for 4 to 6 hours, then repeat to go back to shop. And that's if there's no problems. Total= 9 to 10 hour days, then you complain about overtime. Simple answer is 4, 10 hour days. You say it can't be done. Make it work, others have.