Situation

You are the vice president of operations for Rusty Nails Construction Company.
Recently a construction foreman who works for you was in a major traffic accident in
a neighboring city. He was driving a company vehicle but wasnt there on business.
The company vehicle was totaled. He came away with minor injuries and was
ticketed for reckless driving.
Over the past few months, several other employees received speeding tickets while
driving company vehicles. The employees provided you with a copy of their
citations, and you noticed that the times were often after working hours and the
locations were sometimes far from any job sites.
Accidents and speeding tickets are causing the companys fleet insurance rates to
increase. And its obvious that many employees arent following the company
vehicle use policy. According to this policy, employees must use vehicles for work
purposes only.
You ask John Knoxville, the companys safety coordinator, to come up with a
solution. The next week John gives you a copy of the attached memo, requesting
your approval before he sends it to all employees. Needless to say, you are horrified
by what John has produced. The facts are accurate, but the memo isnt written with
purpose or with readers in mind.

Instructions
Since Johns recommended changes were approved by the board of directors, they
need to stay the same. However, you have the freedom to

cut information that may not be relevant

add important details that may be missing
reorganize the content
reword the language
redesign the layout (for example, you might want to add subheadings or a
list)

Overall, the purpose of this assignment is to see if you can apply what you have
learned from the reading and the presentation by improving the memo to make it
more reader-oriented.

Memorandum
Date:

01/10

To:

All Employees

From:

John Knoxville, Safety Coordinator

Subject:

Changes with Company Vehicle Use

Recent abuses of the company vehicle use policy have come to my attention. I have
discussed a few changes that need to be made with the board of directors, and they
have approved these changes.
In 2007, we paid a total of $12,361 to insure 20 company vehicles. In 2008, we
added 5 new vehicles to our fleet and our cost rose to $16,083 per year. Now costs
have increased an additional $1,924 for this year because of traffic violations. Most
of these violations occurred after working hours, and in a few cases, in locations far
from job sites and homes. Its time we set some things straight. Our company
vehicle use policy states: Unauthorized personal use of a company vehicle may
result in loss of vehicle privileges or more serious discipline up to and including
discharge.
Because many of you seem unable to abide by this policy, we are going to set some
clear boundaries. First, all employees will be required to complete vehicle safety
training each year. Second, employees with a company vehicle will need to report
their monthly mileage on the attached form. Finally, the keys (and vehicle) must be
returned and a personal vehicle must be used instead if there are two violations or
more in a six-month period. Compensation will be given for wear and tear on the
personal vehicle.
If you have any questions, contact me at (505) 666-6666.