28th March 2011 Press Release
Travel Counsellors Pty Ltd Australia
At the end of November, last year, I wrote to the Chairman of Travel Managers highlighting their targeting of existing Travel Counsellors to join Travel Managers. I pointed out that this wasn't the first time this enticement had been reported by individual Travel Counsellors. Apart from it becoming tiresome and bordering on harassment, in my opinion, I felt it was unethical and lacked integrity. He admitted that they did it but if our TC's said "No, then that would be the end of the matter".
We have had a recent situation of a Travel Counsellor (TC) who about a year ago, left us and joined Travel Managers (TM) and then she recently approached us to return. We did not canvass or entice her to return she decided to do so of her own accord. Previously, of course, we let the TC leave us as we did not want someone to stay who didn't want to. She left with no penalties or restrictions.
By contrast, TM's approach has been to impose charges for more than a year, as though she were working for TM and they have excluded her from earning a living working for TC until January 2012 and they also seek undertakings from TC regarding TM's "confidential information". We believe their decision does their reputation more harm than good and speaks not of strength but of weakness.
We find ourselves competitors in the same industry, of course, we like to know what our competitors are doing but we are not infatuated with them, our focus is on what we do, not on what our competitors do. We believe that by doing our work the very best we can, then our offering can be no better. We are confident in what we do and we are focused on being the best.
We do not want to send this letter to appear to flex our muscles, neither to show we are apologetic, mainly, we respond in the public domain as we feel the litigious approach suggested by TM is unedifying and unnecessary and should be given the oxygen of publicity. In my thirty three years in travel I have never received a solicitor's letter from a competitor. We have a healthy respect for most of our competitors and where possible a friendship.
For TC, business is about the present and future, not the past. We are the world leaders in home-based agency operation and technology; we are not interested in "confidential information" of some other business. We are comfortable with who we are, what we do and more importantly what our beliefs are. We have a set of business "Vision and Values" of how we treat people, how we care and how we always endeavour to deal with TC's and the travel industry with integrity.
I am astounded at the threat of litigation; we feel it will do TM more harm than good. But there is a bigger issue here that should be addressed, an issue regarding the treatment of home-based workers and their ability to earn a living.
The home-based agent in Australia is a relatively new phenomenon and it is a responsibility for all those concerned, whilst protecting their own interests, to treat consultants fairly, as after all, they are only trying to earn a living for their families. Freedom to work is a feature of Australian law.
In this case we feel the consultant is being used as a business football and for her to be hurt by being dragged into the middle of TM's perceived battle with us, surely does nothing to help the reputation of home-based agency companies in general and Travel Managers in particular.
We have been operating Travel Counsellors worldwide for over 17 years and our philosophy has always been the same, at no time have we prevented anyone from leaving Travel Counsellors and have never held them to be charged for something we have not provided nor placed restrictions on their future employment. Our ethos is guided by what we believe in any business to be the Golden Rule and that is "Treat people the way you would want to be treated yourself".
If we care about people, their aspirations, their emotions and their businesses then it would be hypocritical to act otherwise.
David Speakman
Chairman & Founder
Travel Counsellors
Contact (03) 8517 8201