Dear Lay Ting,
We pride ourselves on being a “Customer Based Business” and do not look highly on personnel who are reported in regards to poor customer service.
We have had several reports of your disinterest in assisting our customers. Over the last few weeks, we have had many customers specifically stating that you had engaged in disrespectful conversations towards them. There have also been reports that you totally ignored some customers
This type of conduct will not be tolerated at Topmart. If these actions are not rectified immediately, disciplinary action will be taken up to and including termination. I am confident that this situation will be resolved without further action or conduct from the company.
Sincerely,
Mr Timothy Tan
Manager of Topmart
The above is a letter of warning given to Lay Ting regarding her poor attitude towards her customers. Firstly, the letter needs a letterhead, date and a subject heading to improve its correctness. The tone used in the letter was strict without losing its courtesy. In terms of conciseness, the passive sentence “do not look highly……poor customer service” can be changed to an active one. Instead, “we require our personnel to provide good service to our valued customers” not only stated the expectation required of the personnel but also highlighted the importance of customers’ satisfaction to the company.
Instead of merely mentioning several reports were received on her disinterest towards customers, the letter would be more concrete by stating the number of complaints received and elaborating on a particular incident that caught her in the act. The letter was clear to point out the company’s expectation of their personnel and the consequence if it is not followed. In general, the warning letter can be considered to be complete as the reader understands why she had received it, the remedial action required, as well as the consequences if she did not adhere to the action.
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Hey swee swee,
ReplyDeleteA subject heading is a definite must for this letter because i feel that the opening sentence, "We pride ouselves..." is not appropriate. Instead, the sentence can start off as, "I am writing in response to the recent feedback gathered from..."
In contrast to what you said, the tone of the letter was definitely harsh and certainly lacks courtesy. The letter should also offer a channel to gather feedback from Lay Ting and not penalised her based on one side of the coin.
Cheers!
Johny
An interesting letter that Swee Guan has chosen. A warning letter, a type of 'bad news' letter, is usually not easily to be written.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the points being raised by Swee Guan and Johny. In cases like these, being complete and concrete is very important. I think the company should also be more specific about its remedial actions and follow-up actions that may be considered fair and just to all parties - company, customers, and the staff member concerned.
Hi Sweeguan,
ReplyDeleteWow! This letter was really direct and I think that it was a really good warning letter because it sort of scares the readers off (like me).
Besides being direct, the letter was complete and concise with no courtesy. It feels like there is no second chance and the next mistake that Lay Ting commits will set her off the company. Although it is a warning letter, I feel that being stern and direct can drive the situation to either two directions; 1) Lay Ting will try to improve on her customer service as she is afraid of being terminated; or 2) Lay Ting will become more rebellious and affect the image of the company more.
Seriously, I think that the writer should be more courteous so that Lay Ting will improve on her service more willingly and anyway, employee is the biggest asset of the company!
Personally, I don't really like the last sentence of the letter. It feels as if the manager is in a more superior composition as compared the other employees of the company.
(:
Hi swee guan,
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I do agree that the letter is indeed direct and harsh. However, I feel that this should be the way superiors should communicate with his or her employees provided that the employee has shown so much attitude problems. I personally think that by sending such harsh email, not only that it can wake up Lay ting's idea, it also serves as a strong education to Lay Ting that being in the customer service industry, she should have the notion of "customers is always their top priority". By doing so, I feel that Lay Ting will learn her lesson in a hard way and will not do it again before she gets fired! Nonetheless, the letter is definitely concise and concrete.
JF
Hi Swee Guan，
ReplyDeleteI thought this is a quite well written warning letter, as it is strict without losing its courtesy.
But after reading your analysis, I agree that there are still room of improvement. Stating the number of complaints received and elaborating on a particular incident that caught her in the act definitely will make this warning letter more concrete.
Cheers,
Lu
Hi Swee Guan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have mentioned about the letter lacking a title. Coupled with the starting being "We pride ourselves on being a “Customer Based Business” and do not..." it is not clear what the letter is about unless one continue reading it.
Nonetheless, I agree that the letter was quite well-written, just that it would be more concrete if evidences of Lay ting's lousy customer services were highlighted in the letter. A thing to add though, the writer of the letter might be helpful to state to Lay ting that if she wish to discuss the various incidents with him, she can actually do so. This is so as sometimes, the age-old adage that "customers are always right" may not be correct. It might be the case that Lay Ting has tried to help, but just that the customers are unreasonable.
Ken