The revolving door of frustrated, unhappy employees. - Anonymous Payentry Employee Review

From: Joe Beverly, President I am sorry you have such negative feelings toward your employment. Since your review is unsigned, I do not have a way to reach you to further discuss these matters. My door is always open to any employee whose issues are inhibiting their ability to perform their job. With regard to your comments on growth, how would you suggest we create growth opportunities? Should we fire someone who is in the position you seek? There have been numerous occasions upon which people were promoted to positions beyond the one for which they were hired. Examples include: • an inside sales representative to processor to programmer to MIS manager to branch manager to Branch Operations Director • a processor to assistant branch mgr to branch mgr to programmer to Branch Operations Director to network administrator • an assistant branch manager to branch manager to tax manager • an HR administrator to programmer to branch manager • a processor to programmer • a processor to assistant branch manager to branch manager, and most recently • an outside sales representative to branch manager. As should be apparent, those who are motivated, work hard and strive to excel have achieved growth in this company. Senior Management, myself included, are more than willing to make changes. We appreciate any suggested ideas, but ideas have to be evaluated, and part of the evaluation is the cost/benefit ratio. Other parts of the evaluation include: determining whether there is a better way to accomplish the same objective and whether there are other projects competing for the same resources and which has priority. Change just for the sake of change is not always desirable. If it makes you feel any better, we very frequently shoot down ideas of our own and of other senior managers after we evaluate them. On the other hand, there are plenty of other things that do get approved and implemented. I believe recognition should always be given when it is due. Should we thank each employee who shows up for work each day and does the job they agreed to do for the compensation they agreed to accept? I personally express appreciation to an employee who has done something exceptional or above and beyond the norm. I expect all managers to do the same. If you have actionable suggestions for customer acquisition which would be less “invasive and rude”, I would be happy to hear them. We are in a very competitive business, and our sales staff works hard to gain new clients. However, we certainly do not train our sales staff to be invasive or rude. We also expect our operations staff to work hard to keep our clients by reducing the number of errors made in processing payrolls. Making errors on payrolls definitely does not make customers happy. If enough customers are unhappy, none of us have jobs. So we try to consider customer happiness in everything we do. I do not carry a grudge against any employee. If there is an employee who is not doing a good job, then they are re-assigned or asked to leave. That does not mean that I do not appreciate the effort and results of some employees more than others. Those employees who show up, work hard, apologize sincerely for their mistakes, try to avoid making the same mistakes, have a good attitude, treat fellow employees well, try to figure out how to make customers happier, treat customers well and realize that customers are the ones who really sign our paychecks are the employees that I like the best. I do not apologize for liking and treating those employees very well. I’m confident that is what our customers would want us to do. We are a for-profit corporation, and our owners expect us to control expenses. One of these expenses is unnecessary overtime pay. Most employees like it when they can leave early on Friday after working late during the week. Infrequently, employees are asked to work a weekend day. This affects our IT staff more than any other employees, because we do not want to inconvenience and lose customers while we take down our systems for maintenance/upgrades. New Year’s Day is the only holiday we require employees to work, and that is not always. Our clients like getting their employees’ W-2s with their first payroll delivery of the New Year. To keep our clients happy, we try to do things they like as much as possible. With regard to morale, are your actions and comments uplifting to your coworkers, or are you part of the problem rather than the solution? Our company is certainly not perfect, but we do care about our clients and our employees. My intention is not to be combative but to allow the readers of your review to see the other side of the one-sided story you have portrayed. I hope you will share any additional concerns or suggestions you may have with me directly and not anonymously.