Write Negative Memorandum, Verizon Wireless: Juggling Diversity and Performance to Improve Productivity
As the Billing Adjustment Department Manager at Verizon Wireless, you have been trained to handle a culturally diverse workforce. One of your best recent hires is 22-year-old Jorge Gutierrez. Gutierrez is exactly what your department had been looking for the last 3 years. In record time he was entering and testing complex price changes, mastering the challenges of your monumental computerized billing software. He was a real find and you are glad to have him. He is well-liked by his peers and you expect that one day he may have your job. This is just one problem: his close family ties often distract him from work duties.
His parents emigrated from Toledo, Spain when Jorge and his sisters were young, and you understand deeply respect the importance that family place in the lives of many Hispanic Americans. However, every morning Gutierrez’s mother calls to be sure that he got to work safely. Then his father calls. Three times this month, his younger sister called him away from work with three separate emergencies. Friends and extended family members seem to call at all hours of the day.
Gutierrez says that he has asked his family members not to call his office number. Now they call his cellular phone instead. He is reluctant to shut his cellular phone during work hours, in case someone in his family needs him. You fear that if you do not do something about the situation, other employees will begin to engage in the same behavior which may decrease productivity.
At this point, you have given Gutierrez several verbal warnings. You really cannot afford to lose him, so you are hoping that a written memorandum will give him greater incentive to persuade his friends and relatives. You will deliver the memorandum in a one-on-one meeting and help him find ways to resolve this issue within a mutually agreed-upon time frame.
Hint:
Don’t threaten this employee.
Don’t use culturally biased language or innuendos.
Think about your goal for this employee.