To: Acorn Employees
From: Tyler Harrison, HR President.
Date: 10/15/09
Subject: Upcoming policy changes.
Dear Employees,
You are likely aware of the current situation ACORN is in. Due to the illegal assistance that was videotaped and posted on youtube, we now have to make several policy changes within ACORN. While these changes might be an annoyance, we expect your cooperation as it is necessary for the company to continue operation.
Background Checks
Unfortunately thorough background checks will have to be made on all existing and future employees. Please understand that this is not because of any distrust we have in you. This is a necessary step to insure that this regrettable incident does not repeat itself. It is also necessary to rebuild ACORN's image to the public.
Policy Change and Upcoming Training
From this day forward, when any ACORN employee becomes suspicious that a patron of ACORN is engaging in suspicious or illegal behavior, that employee must report that information immediately to their supervisor. Supervisors will have the responsibility of deciding whether or not that information should be reported to the proper authorities. There will be a short training session in every ACORN department regarding identifying patrons that may be requesting assistance in potentially illegal activities. This session will be run by your supervisor within the next week. Please provide your full attention and cooperating with your supervisor at that time.
Please work with us through the upcoming policy changes, training sessions and background checks. We hope that with time and your support that ACORN will rebuild its reputation. Thank you for your cooperation.
http://www.hodu.com/memo-writing.shtml
The article thoroughly describes the point of a memo and how to go about writing one. It explains that a memo should be more or less divided up into three sections... the opening, discussion and closing statements. It also describes the effects that heaedings and numbere points can have on the effectiveness of your memo.
Team Evan Comment
Like our source recommends, your memo was concise and to the point.
After reading our source, we found that it was recommended not to use "Dear" as the opening to your memo, "it is not a formal written letter."
By SSS
Our site included the "Core letter components" for an internal memo dealing with policy changes. This is the criteria that needs to be met:
-Announce the change
-Explain the rationale
-Outline any associated organizational or staff changes
-Provide resources for additional information or questions
-Instructions for cascading the message, if needed
They Announced the changes they would like to make within their company (background checks, policy changes, and training future employees). They explained exactly why this will help ACORN as a whole and help them bounce back from crisis. Also, they explained how things will change within the company once these strategies/policies go into action. They did not provide resources for additional information, but we do not feel that is 100% necessary with the subject matter ACORN is dealing with.
Firestone Response
Make sure to write out the date in the heading. The introduction was done well. It does a good job of summarizing the situation without giving too many specific details right away. Maybe before the "Background Checks" heading, add a summary of what happened and why background checks will have to be conducted instead of assuming that all of the employees know what happened. That way employees might be more understanding of the background checks. Good job on explaining the policy change and new training. In the conclusion, maybe suggest that employees contact you if they have any further questions or issues.
memo response
In your date, you need to write the full date out instead of using slashes. It follows the format form our source, except for our source does not have section breaks. Other than that your format goes along with the guidelines our source provided. It has strong information and the reader understands what is being said.