Telstra blogger faces retrenchment

By Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 13:40

People

Proponents of corporate blogging say it provides an authentic voice for a business. But what happens when a blogger goes off-message - after they've been told of an impending retrenchment, for example? Telstra's providing a case study.

Nic Frankpitt works on Telstra's Brisbane broadband help desk, and has been blogging about his work via the company's NowWeAreTalking site. Topics range from customer expectations of immediate fault rectification on consumer-grade services, the overload on the help desks following the debut of Next G, the trials of having to deal with someone that's already reached the end of his or her tether, and personal touches such as the music on the iPod he's not allowed to listen to at work.

But an entry that included "I’m happy right where I am, I enjoy my job a great deal, and I don’t see that changing in a hurry", was followed a few days later by "I've just been told today that the Brisbane Helpdesk is closing in six months, and when that happens, I no longer have a job with Telstra."

Frankpitt went on to write "When Telstra closes Brisbane, it seems like they're pretty willing to throw away some damn fine people... From top to bottom, Brisbane's helpdesk is full of people who deserve better than this."

The blog entry is still there three business days after being posted, so presumably it's not being pulled. A couple of comments purportedly from Frankpitt's Telstra colleagues have appeared, including one from the Launceston call centre that is closing in February.

If the blog stays on the site and new posts continue to appear up to Frankpitt's departure, Telstra will have earned some kudos by showing that corporate blogs really can be authentic.