TekMasters Reviews

I want to first thank you for your courage and truly insightful review. It is reviews like this that help us and are more impactful than the glorious ones. Personally, I always like to focus on our areas of improvement versus where we excel, for the obvious reasons. I commend you for the investment of time you dedicated to trying to make a difference. I will absolutely work towards a plan to address the areas of concern: 1. Our environment can be stressful, and we feel we are upfront and honest with everyone we bring on board that this is a fast-paced environment. We believe we will prepare everyone to be successful in what they do and will develop talented individuals. We obviously want that success to be with us, but we are proud to say we take pride in keeping in touch with all parting employees to see how they continue to grow in their respective industry, and further receive many kudos and accolades about their incredible performance. It is a testament to TekMasters to see others grow, outside of our organization. Our environment is fast paced and builds character, one of our company mottos is “Pressure makes what?...Diamonds!”. 2. If you, or anyone you know of, ever felt berated I want it to be known this was not the intent at all. I admit I am a passionate person and understand how the delivery of a message/conversation can be misconstrued and the intention was never to make anyone feel negative in any way. We must absolutely curtail this perception and have taken actions to ensure this holds true. We have created a form of accountability to create a safe environment to share concerns; be it personally or via another colleague where they feel safe. 3. As I state above, if my passion was ever misconstrued for anything other than wanting everyone to be successful than that was not the intent. We do mentor new team members; It is part of the learning process to fail forward. We do coach on how to handle new frontiers. We do not accept or tolerate any form of public reprimand. This is not encouraged, and we ensure to develop and work in a fun environment. If any inkling of negative behavior is identified, we will address individually and immediately. We have also asked our organization to hold each other accountable so these types of negative actions you mention are highly discouraged. 4. We have a safe and friendly environment. If at any time someone feels unsafe, we support them moving to an area where they may feel more comfortable as someone’s feeling of safety is extremely important. 5. We are a small company with extreme room for growth, and in fact have multiple career tracks. It does take time of course, but the goal is after a year we should review your personal career track (with ongoing discussions happening throughout the year) and identify how it aligns with our company goals. 6. We are a small company, and in many ways, absolutely have a lot to learn in way of processes and procedures. We do have quite a bit invested in this area, but by no means have we reached a regimented process. I agree we still have a lot to learn and continue to build here. 7. We do have a designated leader to help, who is involved on a daily basis. Our intent is not to guide every hour of the day, but we do have an open-door policy for anyone seeking guidance. We also have a designated HR person, but we are always looking to improve so we can of course investigate this further. 8. We do promote professional business attire, to maintain a professional office. We also promote casual Friday’s and “TekMasters Swag” Wednesday’s. 9. We do have the core office hours of 8:30-5:30 as mentioned. We have not received any concerns to date on these hours but are open to different schedules if there is a personal reason requiring a different schedule and will have those conversations individually. 10. All PTO has been approved to date, and in fact we allow our employees to even go negative 40 hours. This is our policy. We simply ask that we be informed prior to anyone being out of the office if possible. At times, we do recognize this is not feasible, so we ask to be notified as soon as possible in those times. 11. As stated earlier, we are a small company in a fast-paced environment and try to be nimble and flexible. We have processes, but I agree we can surely improve in this area. 12. The turnover rate was very high this past year, and we believe have resolved this issue by changing and updating our hiring practice. We have now procedures in place to more properly vet potential future employees to ensure they are the right fit for the role and organization. We have seen great success in this process with our most recent hires. 13. We do care about our goal: Mission and People First. This is our guiding principle as opposed to money or ‘the bottom line’. What is best for the customer/mission, and what is best for the person; that is what we fundamentally believe in. 14. It is unfortunate to hear this is how someone was led to feel. We always listen to constructive criticism and want constructive criticism to continue as you will only improve if you look at other options to see if there is a better way. I think the challenge is not all suggestions are implemented. 90% of our policies and procedures have come from our team. However, not everything has been implemented and sometimes this may cause dismay from employees who end up not feeling heard. 15. This is unfortunate to hear as this is not the environment we are looking to create in any way. We succeed together and succeed as a company. While there may be metrics individuals are measured against, there is zero intention of making anything adversarial. We promote teamwork, mentoring and all aspects of utilizing in house resources to help those who seek help. 16. We do promote professional business attire, to maintain a professional office. We also promote casual Friday’s and “TekMasters Swag” Wednesday’s. 17. Systems can always be improved, and new enhancements are added quarterly if not monthly. Our current CRM/ATS is actually above-average cost in the marketplace. We have heard some complaints, and there are pros and cons to all systems we have used to date. We did have an acquisition of our portal, and with that came some challenges while hands were changing. We did have a better handle on things once things get more settled and have the ability to control any settings however necessary. Any problems or challenges in this area were unforeseen. 18. We try to make the meetings brief and concise. Our current standing meeting is now under 10 minutes. Thank you for your help here, we listened and changed our procedure. 19. We do develop great leaders, and it is truly satisfying to watch people grow. For that reason, we accept people from all walks-of-life and believe in the ability to make a difference. We have developed our own proprietary training, and dedicated weeks both in the classroom, and then further On-the-Job training. Our current leader has been with us for about 2 years and has demonstrated a tremendous command for the space firsthand. I cannot argue that I am a passionate person. I have learned to let others lead, and do not actually intervene in the morning meetings as I did in the past. This was critical advice and suggestions from our team and I thank you for that. It has absolutely made a difference. We do welcome suggestions and we do try different things. Sometimes it is a hit, and other times we find 10 ways not to do something. It is progress though, even if it may not immediately reap results. We are continuously hiring great leaders and know this is a marathon for continuous improvement. We and I personally do care about everyone that comes through our doors. It pains me to know that I made anyone feel that way. I take complete ownership. Our environment is not easy, it is quite competitive, we work in the most highly credentialed industry. We are one of the only companies that help people transition to other companies if things are not working out as hoped. It doesn't make financial sense, but it is an attempt to demonstrate by actions our true desire, which is for people to succeed. We absolutely need to change our hiring practice and have to make sure that individuals are best aligned to their talents and interests. I must admit that previously we would hire many people with less vetting and try our best to develop them. This is an area that needed improvement. We have since changed that. Lastly, I have personally made sure there is an accountability of everyone included myself. If such activity is occurring, then this needs to be raised and addressed with corrective action. All conversations that are constructive in nature need to be in private. We are more focused on praise and positive reinforcement. This is our action plan. People first. We will continue to strive and always hope to be one of the best companies to work for. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your concerns. This will help us build a better foundation.