Sub: STP and concerns regarding the buddy system Dear Harri, This is ABC, regional sales manager

of XYZ store in Helsinki. I am writing this mail on behalf of all the regional sales managers in Helsinki. This mail pertains to the STP programme and the recent announcements that were made with respect to it. Everyone at Tecknosport is really happy that the company has made rapid progress under your able leadership and is in accordance with your plans to make the company more efficient and lean. But there is some unrest among the employees with the withdrawal of the STP programme and we wanted to put forth our concerns regarding it. While we understand the need to cut costs, we strongly feel that the plan of eliminating the STP and introducing the apprenticeship programme may not be in the interest of the employees and the company as a whole. The STP has become an integral part of the work culture at Tecknosport and the employees are very comfortable with the process in place. And this has resulted in increasing revenue over a period of time. Also, STP contributes a lot to the image that our salespersons portray in the market and so far the results have been excellent. The STP even helps the experienced employees to be abreast with the new technological innovations and this adds value to their skill set. We believe that the proposed apprenticeship system has a few shortcomings and would like to draw your attention to them: The time taken for a new hire to become productive may take a lot more time than with the current STP. This in turn would mean a loss of revenues. The intensity of the STP ensures complete commitment from the new hires and the learning curve is very steep. This may not be the case with the buddy system as it will rely on the two individuals interacting. Knowledge imparted by the mentors to new hires may vary from person to person. This will lead to variations in the knowledge level of the employees. Also, STP incorporates the accumulated learning of various salespersons over many years. This would not be provided by a buddy system where scope is limited to just one mentor.

The commitment of a mentor towards training a new hire can be questioned, where as in the STP it is a well structured and uniform programme.

As against the STP, the experienced employees will not gain much from the new system. There will not be much addition to their skill set.

The new hire may imbibe the values and customs of the mentor rather than that of the organization. The experienced employee may get overburdened with the additional responsibility of mentoring a new joiner. This may affect his performance.

We understand that the focus of the organization is to become more technology oriented with the employees being comfortable with the new innovations in the field and using them on their job. We have to achieve this keeping in mind the cost constraints. In view of the above, we request a meeting with you and the board to discuss more about the issue and propose our solutions for the same. We believe strongly that the board will reconsider its decision after listening to the recommendations put forth by us. Kindly let us know a convenient time and place for the meeting. Thanks and Regards, ABC