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Ashley Strout

I’m a web developer from New Hampshire. I work for FirstTracks Marketing.
A bit more…

Union

Initial letter, 2/4 at 10am:

Hi Matt,
After the company meeting in January, I connected with everyone here at FirstTracks below director level to discuss our feelings on the announced change to three days per week in office, as well as some other issues. I’d like to share our collective feedback, as we do consider recent changes to be a cause for concern. We understand the desire to have more face-to-face time, and also the fact that having the office is an expense that FirstTracks needs to justify. However, especially given the strongly positive financial results of this past year, we feel that the challenges this policy presents would significantly impact our team’s ability to maintain the work-life balance that has contributed to our success. For many of us, this change would require substantial adjustments to childcare arrangements, commuting schedules, and work environments that we’ve optimized for productivity. These are not minor inconveniences, but fundamental changes that would affect both our personal lives and our ability to perform effectively in our roles.

Additionally, we are concerned about a broader pattern of changes being implemented with limited team input. Recent examples include the update to the bonus policy, the changes to resource management and weekly updates, and the increased focus on tracking billable hours. We understand that you, Jim, Jess, and Gary communicate amongst yourselves and reach decisions based on what you feel is best for the company, but we believe that including broader team input in these discussions would lead to better outcomes for everyone. For my part, I have always valued the small company atmosphere where no team member is just a cog in the machine. The recent shift toward more top-down decision making, particularly around metrics and office policies, has created concern among the team about FirstTracks moving away from the collaborative culture that has been key to our success.

I appreciate you taking the time to listen to our feedback, and we hope we can all continue working together as effectively as possible in 2025. Our team remains committed to FirstTracks’ success, and we believe that maintaining open dialogue about these changes will help us achieve that goal. If you would like to continue this discussion, I will be the designated point of contact for our team, and I’m happy to sit down and discuss next steps whenever is convenient for you. Thank you!

-Ashley

Matt’s response, 2/4 at 4pm:

Good afternoon everyone,

I received an email this morning from Ashley Strout that indicated concerns amongst the team that should be addressed. I would like to sit down as a group tomorrow at 9am so that everyone has the chance to share their perspective and discuss.

Thank you.

Ashley’s follow up:

Hey all! Matt has proposed a group discussion tomorrow morning in response to our letter. What would everyone’s preference be on that front – myself taking point or having a group discussion tomorrow? I’ve set up a poll on my website, please jump in and let me know if you can. Thank you!

Poll Results:

Company Meeting, 2/5 9:15am:

TBD