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No-Nonsense Boss

I take issue with Hunter Metatek's kind and gentle approach to remedying an employee's poor helpdesk performance ("You're Not Fired!" Jan. 20, 2005).

Although protecting your employees is commendable, you must act quickly on negative performance to protect your business, especially if your helpdesk serves both internal and external clients. If other departments within your organization receive bad information from the helpdesk, they will inevitably appear weaker to external customers, tarnishing the reputation of your company as a whole.

While money may be the major reason many American companies now send their technical helpdesk work to India, the superior professionalism and quality of the employee base there is also a significant factor. As for me, I'd rather deal with a tech support person in India and work through the language issues than deal with the current American version.At our company, we've found that if we make our expectations clear and maintain very short corrective processes for employees who don't meet those standards, service quality and employee morale both remain high. Weeding out the IT problem children before they become chronic problems lifts the spirits of co-workers who perform well.

I don't advocate immediately firing someone who makes a mistake, but I do insist on immediate and lasting improvement. Our company has found that lengthy corrective plans simply don't work as well as short ones, and we've had at least as many employee turnarounds as firings while adhering to this policy.

Chris Sjoblom
Owner and General Manager
New Matrix Enterprises
[email protected]

Be ProactiveI totally agree with Rob Preston's opinions in "A Foreign Concept" (December 2004-January 2005).

At our company, we've begun to employ more overseas talent, largely because of what I refer to as the "Wal-Mart mentality" of our customers--that is, give us more for less money. I fear that if we don't look abroad, the restrictions imposed on employing people in the United States will price us out of the market for the tools we develop for others.

We need a long-term solution to our labor problem, not stopgaps like the H-1B visa program. Such limiting policies could put the U.S. IT industry in a situation no less perilous than what domestic auto makers have had to face.

Foreign manufacturers continue to gain market share while U.S. manufacturers are giving up. By being proactive, we can build on our technology leadership.

Doug Marburger
VP, Internet Marketing
Mbakop Studios
[email protected]

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