Solicitors

MS HR

Does anyone have a "politically correct" policy against allowing unsolicited solicitors from wanting to make on-site pitches to employees about the benefits of their "better" products? We are a municipality and need to say "no thanks" without seeming to exclude every small and big purveyor of products from wanting to make pitches to employees?

Peyton Irby MS

most private employers have an absolute policy on no outside solicitation. also, solicitation is prohibited; (A) by employees selling products[such as Avon]during the times the solicitor or the solicitees (not a word) are supposed to be working; and (B)in working areas open to the public. as a governmental employer, you can limit when, where and how solicitation can occur, although i know there may be political considerations.
Peyton Irby
Editor, Mississippi Employment Law Letter
Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P.A.
(601) 949-4810
[email]pirby@watkinsludlam.com[/email]

mwild31

I don't know much about the public sector, but I wonder couldn't you also ask that all solicitations be routed through one office for pre-authorization? If any solicitation falls outside of that policy - then they are politely asked to leave & go through proper channels. Just some thoughts.

MS HR

thanks for your idea.
the trouble is getting people together to pass judgement on these salespeople and dare say if you let one in and not another, you had best be prepared to defend your actions in court. On the other side if you say no, the first thing people will do is call the powers that be and complain that they are not being given a chance to do business in the community. I think the best plan is to ban all unsolicited presentations whether it be written, on-site, or by mail.
Thanks again.

marc

I may not be understanding Public Sector rules, but I would not pay my staff to listen to anyones solicitation efforts. When they are on my clock, they are working on our mission statement, not someone elses sales goals.

Don D

I'm not sure who you work for MS HR; but, when I was with the public sector in your state, it was with regularity that "The State Office" would line up certain insurance companies to swing through with cancer or whole life presentations and supplemental things of that nature. All I would do as head of the office would be to put them in a room and tell them I would notify the employees of their presence and people could drop by on break if they chose to. If you are in a setting where you have control, and you don't have these people crammed down your throat like I did, then you can do whatever you want to. If it were me, and I was in control of the situation, I would say, "Our product review committee has decided that we aren't going to bring in any more sales presentations this year". Let that be that. They will probably just say, "Well, can I give you a call sometime next year?" You should have no concerns over anyone taking action because you didn't let them visit. I assume these are telephone requests. If one were so bold as to show up at the door, I would be less tactful.

MS HR

thanks don.
good thoughts.
appreciate yours and everyone else's.

Hunter1

Here's the 'politically correct' answer in my jurisdiction: "When we decide to offer this type of product to our employees, we'll do an RFP, make a determination of which vendor is best, and invite that vendor in to do presentations." If everything is done by RFP and everyone has a chance at the offering, no one has a complaint (yah, right). What it really does is that I seldom decide that I want to offer these products, therefore no RFP, no presentations, no problems. Good Luck