The Suggestion Box
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 2:46 am
Prologue
Joanna reviewed the report again. She had already verified that the numbers were correct multiple times, but she wanted another look just in hope that the finance team had missed something. Not likely, this decision affected them as much as anyone.
Finally, she reviewed the wording on her email once more before clicking send. It was too late to turn back now. Within minutes, she expected her door to be rattled off its hinges by disgruntled workers. The economic downturn had caused a complete collapse of the company’s financials. Not only would there be no raises this year, but everyone from manager level on up would also be expected to take a significant pay decrease.
There weren’t any other options if the company was to survive. The email did include a promise that as things got better, the pay would be restored, but no back pay and no raises for at least 2 more years.
As head of Human Resources, Joanna was going to face the brunt of the employee pushback. It’s not as if their own expenses aren’t going up through all of this. She tried to reassure herself that at least they hadn’t had many layoffs. She had heard of one company that was currently going through a 40% work force reduction.
It was no surprise when she heard a knocking at her office door. She had always had an open door policy when it came to employee relations, and wasn’t going to change that just because times were tough. Heck, employees needed an ear to listen to their complaints, and she needed to keep an eye on the morale of the company.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see the CEO and several other VPs waiting to see her. “Come in.” She said, startled.
There were five in total, Steve Saching, the CEO, Onella Davidson, the CFO, Mark Arting, the VP of IT, he was never granted the title CIO and she knew why. Also, there were Anna Stevens, the VP of Marketing and Carl Edgeburg, the Chief Engineer.
The group crowded into Joanna’s office. She had a small conference room table that she held staff meeting at on the far side of her office. There weren’t enough chairs, so she pulled the chair from behind her desk. That still left her one short, so she decided to stand while the rest took seats. There was no reason for it to be her, as she was also a Vice President, but she thought it a courtesy to stand since she was apparently hosting this impromptu executive meeting.
“So how do you think the employees will take the news?” Asked the CEO. The question should have been directed at Joanna, but for some reason he just asked the room in general.
Joanna hesitated. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to sound too eager when she said it.
“How do you think they’ll take it?” asked Onella. “Their gonna be pissed!”
She had such a way with words. Joanna thought. Everyone else muttered their agreement, however.
“I’ve given it some thought.” Joanna said, after the group began to calm down a bit. “Morale will certainly take a hit. But you have said so yourself, that this is just a temporary cutback. We need to remind them that this IS temporary and that in time all will be restored.”
“Not restored.” Onella cut her off. “No raises this year or next at the very least, and that is IF sales bounce back to where we were even two years ago!”
The Steve nodded his understanding. “If we don’t get our numbers up, we may have to pursue the staff reduction after all.”
They all seemed to agree that having to lay off a large percentage of the work force would somehow make this better.
“I suppose it would depend a lot on who we cut then.” Carl brought up. “We’ll never get ourselves out of this pit if we can’t produce products anymore.”
The biggest problem with this line of discussion was that each department head would do whatever was necessary to keep as many of “Their” employees as possible, regardless of if it made sense to do so. Priority would also be on politics and not common sense.
“That is not today’s problem.” Joanna cut in. It was a simple fact, but her saying it outright brought the chatter to a close. “Today we must deal with the morale problem for the workforce we have. If we don’t, then the staff reductions will take care of themselves and we won’t get to control who leave and who, if anybody stays.”
She had their attention. She didn’t want it, but she had it. Of course, she needed their attention, but she still didn’t want it.
“What can we do to raise morale while also cutting pay?” Steve asked, suddenly interested in something Joanna had besides the color of her blouse or how short her skirt happened to be that day.
“My suggestion is just that, well sort of. I suggest we employ a suggestion box for boosting morale. Employees can make any request, within reason, and if the company can afford it and it is appropriate, then we will implement it.” She finished.
There was a pause while the room considered what she just said. “What sorts of things do you think they’ll request?” Mark asked carefully. Undoubtedly worried that a lot of new tech will be requested that he would be responsible for managing.
“Who knows? It could be anything. If it is appropriate and we can do it, then we should!” Joanna answered.
“Who decides what is appropriate?” Steve asked.
That was a good question. “I suppose, I should be the one, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences.” Joanna answered.
It was decided. They adjourned the meeting and shortly thereafter, an all-hands staff meeting was held. Steve addressed the company and announced the offer. Of course, there was plenty of complaining, but they assured everyone that, “For as long as we are able, we will at the very least not implement any layoffs. If we all pull together, we will get through this and come out stronger in the end.”
Joanna’s idea of a suggestion box seemed to fall on deaf ears during the meeting and everyone left disappointed and angry.
It was a couple of weeks before the first suggestion came in. It was small, Hawaiian shirt Wednesday. Joanna signed it and it was implemented the next week. That led to other suggestions, like free soda one day per week. Signed. Some requests, like allowing alcohol on Fridays was deemed inappropriate. The rule was, if it was appropriate, Joanna would sign it, if she signed it, it would be implemented.
Each time she signed a slip, Kelly, her assistant would post them on the corkboard outside of the Human Resources department. There was usually a group of three or four people standing outside of the department when Joanna would get in in the morning to review which suggestions had been approved.
Today however, the crowd was closer to fifty people all standing around looking downright gleeful about something. Even Steve was there. He grinned at Joanna openly and approached her as she walked toward her office. “You’re really taking this morale boost to the next level! He told her.”
Joanna smiled, not really knowing what he was talking about, and headed into her office. Steve followed her in and closed the door. “So when did you have in mind?”
“In mind for what?” She asked.
Steve pulled out one of the slips of paper that clearly had Joanna’s signature on it as a commitment to implement one of the employee’s suggestions, but when he read what was suggested, she was shocked!
Joanna reviewed the report again. She had already verified that the numbers were correct multiple times, but she wanted another look just in hope that the finance team had missed something. Not likely, this decision affected them as much as anyone.
Finally, she reviewed the wording on her email once more before clicking send. It was too late to turn back now. Within minutes, she expected her door to be rattled off its hinges by disgruntled workers. The economic downturn had caused a complete collapse of the company’s financials. Not only would there be no raises this year, but everyone from manager level on up would also be expected to take a significant pay decrease.
There weren’t any other options if the company was to survive. The email did include a promise that as things got better, the pay would be restored, but no back pay and no raises for at least 2 more years.
As head of Human Resources, Joanna was going to face the brunt of the employee pushback. It’s not as if their own expenses aren’t going up through all of this. She tried to reassure herself that at least they hadn’t had many layoffs. She had heard of one company that was currently going through a 40% work force reduction.
It was no surprise when she heard a knocking at her office door. She had always had an open door policy when it came to employee relations, and wasn’t going to change that just because times were tough. Heck, employees needed an ear to listen to their complaints, and she needed to keep an eye on the morale of the company.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see the CEO and several other VPs waiting to see her. “Come in.” She said, startled.
There were five in total, Steve Saching, the CEO, Onella Davidson, the CFO, Mark Arting, the VP of IT, he was never granted the title CIO and she knew why. Also, there were Anna Stevens, the VP of Marketing and Carl Edgeburg, the Chief Engineer.
The group crowded into Joanna’s office. She had a small conference room table that she held staff meeting at on the far side of her office. There weren’t enough chairs, so she pulled the chair from behind her desk. That still left her one short, so she decided to stand while the rest took seats. There was no reason for it to be her, as she was also a Vice President, but she thought it a courtesy to stand since she was apparently hosting this impromptu executive meeting.
“So how do you think the employees will take the news?” Asked the CEO. The question should have been directed at Joanna, but for some reason he just asked the room in general.
Joanna hesitated. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to sound too eager when she said it.
“How do you think they’ll take it?” asked Onella. “Their gonna be pissed!”
She had such a way with words. Joanna thought. Everyone else muttered their agreement, however.
“I’ve given it some thought.” Joanna said, after the group began to calm down a bit. “Morale will certainly take a hit. But you have said so yourself, that this is just a temporary cutback. We need to remind them that this IS temporary and that in time all will be restored.”
“Not restored.” Onella cut her off. “No raises this year or next at the very least, and that is IF sales bounce back to where we were even two years ago!”
The Steve nodded his understanding. “If we don’t get our numbers up, we may have to pursue the staff reduction after all.”
They all seemed to agree that having to lay off a large percentage of the work force would somehow make this better.
“I suppose it would depend a lot on who we cut then.” Carl brought up. “We’ll never get ourselves out of this pit if we can’t produce products anymore.”
The biggest problem with this line of discussion was that each department head would do whatever was necessary to keep as many of “Their” employees as possible, regardless of if it made sense to do so. Priority would also be on politics and not common sense.
“That is not today’s problem.” Joanna cut in. It was a simple fact, but her saying it outright brought the chatter to a close. “Today we must deal with the morale problem for the workforce we have. If we don’t, then the staff reductions will take care of themselves and we won’t get to control who leave and who, if anybody stays.”
She had their attention. She didn’t want it, but she had it. Of course, she needed their attention, but she still didn’t want it.
“What can we do to raise morale while also cutting pay?” Steve asked, suddenly interested in something Joanna had besides the color of her blouse or how short her skirt happened to be that day.
“My suggestion is just that, well sort of. I suggest we employ a suggestion box for boosting morale. Employees can make any request, within reason, and if the company can afford it and it is appropriate, then we will implement it.” She finished.
There was a pause while the room considered what she just said. “What sorts of things do you think they’ll request?” Mark asked carefully. Undoubtedly worried that a lot of new tech will be requested that he would be responsible for managing.
“Who knows? It could be anything. If it is appropriate and we can do it, then we should!” Joanna answered.
“Who decides what is appropriate?” Steve asked.
That was a good question. “I suppose, I should be the one, since I am the one who has to live with the consequences.” Joanna answered.
It was decided. They adjourned the meeting and shortly thereafter, an all-hands staff meeting was held. Steve addressed the company and announced the offer. Of course, there was plenty of complaining, but they assured everyone that, “For as long as we are able, we will at the very least not implement any layoffs. If we all pull together, we will get through this and come out stronger in the end.”
Joanna’s idea of a suggestion box seemed to fall on deaf ears during the meeting and everyone left disappointed and angry.
It was a couple of weeks before the first suggestion came in. It was small, Hawaiian shirt Wednesday. Joanna signed it and it was implemented the next week. That led to other suggestions, like free soda one day per week. Signed. Some requests, like allowing alcohol on Fridays was deemed inappropriate. The rule was, if it was appropriate, Joanna would sign it, if she signed it, it would be implemented.
Each time she signed a slip, Kelly, her assistant would post them on the corkboard outside of the Human Resources department. There was usually a group of three or four people standing outside of the department when Joanna would get in in the morning to review which suggestions had been approved.
Today however, the crowd was closer to fifty people all standing around looking downright gleeful about something. Even Steve was there. He grinned at Joanna openly and approached her as she walked toward her office. “You’re really taking this morale boost to the next level! He told her.”
Joanna smiled, not really knowing what he was talking about, and headed into her office. Steve followed her in and closed the door. “So when did you have in mind?”
“In mind for what?” She asked.
Steve pulled out one of the slips of paper that clearly had Joanna’s signature on it as a commitment to implement one of the employee’s suggestions, but when he read what was suggested, she was shocked!
