Unhappy Thread

Started by Caz, August 26, 2015, 10:11:20 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Hailstone

Unfortunately a common story in this day and age, people promoted by their ambition which usually is twice as far as their ability should normally take them, my own company suffered this too, I count myself fortunate to have escaped before the lunatics completely controlled the asylum!

My condolences

Alex

Train Waiting

Looks, to me, like it might be a TUPE situation, if contracting out goes ahead.  That might be a good question to ask the lady as part of the consultation procedure.

Best wishes.

John
Please visit us at www.poppingham.com

'Why does the Disney Castle work so well?  Because it borrows from reality without ever slipping into it.'

(Acknowledgement: John Goodall Esq, Architectural Editor, 'Country Life'.)

The Table-Top Railway is an attempt to create, in British 'N' gauge,  a 'semi-scenic' railway in the old-fashioned style, reminiscent of the layouts of the 1930s to the 1950s.

For the made-up background to the railway and list of characters, please see here: https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=38281.msg607991#msg607991

RailGooner

#1217
Yes John, should the 'consultation' conclude that outsourcing is the correct course to steer, we'll be offered TUPE. I'm a union rep and have great support from local and regional union officers. We managed yesterday to extract a commitment to a full and open consultation of all stakeholders. So I'm now trying to persuade my colleagues to seize any interaction with academics as an opportunity to lobby for our inhouse services.

The Q

When we got taken over at one section of Bacton gas works they found a way round TUPE, sacking all 200 of us, only re-employing 100. That of course got rid of any outstanding pension rights for the employees., and those remeployed were on lower wages..

guest311

remember the moto

illegitimae non carborundum

or for those who did not suffer latin at school

don't let the b******s grind you down  :smiley-laughing:

Malc

The trouble with outsourcing is that there is a lot of underbidding to get the job. Our in house team worked out a cost doing a job. The bids came in at £50k cheaper, so we allowed staff to take redundancy as well as applying TUPE. At the end of the first year of a 2 year contract, the winner said they needed another £50k to do the job. They didn't get it and didn't get the contract the following year. In regard to the TUPE, the contractor had several sites about 20 miles away and moved most of our staff there and brought in cheaper staff. Because of all the travelling the majority of our old staff left after 6 months.
The years have been good to me, it was the weekends that did the damage.

guest311

before I retired, I was working nights on security, and the site I was on had a quite state of the art system, with CCTV, alarms, computerised control of entry etc.

the computer terminals we used for this were on the clients own network, but the majority of the systems were outsourced from a security company.

so, at 03 sodding o'clock when the system failed, if it was the clients part of the system we called their duty IT tech, and he would either talk us through a reset procedure, or come in and sort the problem.

if it was the security company's parts of the system we called them, they then got their duty tech to call us, and he could be anywhere in the southeast on another fault, and we could still be waiting for him to arrive five hours later when we handed over to the day shift.

of course it was cheaper, but where when the system worked staff could get on site by simply swiping their pass, when it didn't we needed to call in extra staff to man barriers giving entry to the site, and others to check passes entering the buildings.

outsourcing of critical services NEVER works.

when Professor Plum's computer fails, can he afford to wait most of the day to get it sorted, rather than Fred from IT popping up in ten minutes to rectify the fault ?

as always, bean counters only see one thing, then blame everyone else when their decision turns out to be wrong.

then they usually get promoted and cause even more chaos in their new post. :censored:

RailGooner

Quote from: class37025 on November 28, 2018, 02:31:19 PM
..
when Professor Plum's computer fails, can he afford to wait most of the day to get it sorted, rather than Fred from IT popping up in ten minutes to rectify the fault ?
...

I've lost track of the number of times the receptionist has collared me on my way in - Prof. Plum is having trouble with his powerpoint in front of a 200+ capacity lecture theatre. Sometimes one of us might go around to Prof. Plum's house to sort out a problem with his BT broadband. Another time Prof. Plum brings his daughter's laptop in - can we help him fit more memory etc. All that'll soon stop!

I'm now stopping every academic I pass and saying "farewell and best wishes for the future!" and then painting them a dire picture of the future. They have the power to stop this, if we can stir them into action. :beers:

RailGooner

Quote from: Malc on November 28, 2018, 02:12:39 PM
The trouble with outsourcing is that there is a lot of underbidding to get the job. Our in house team worked out a cost doing a job. The bids came in at £50k cheaper, so we allowed staff to take redundancy as well as applying TUPE. At the end of the first year of a 2 year contract, the winner said they needed another £50k to do the job. They didn't get it and didn't get the contract the following year. In regard to the TUPE, the contractor had several sites about 20 miles away and moved most of our staff there and brought in cheaper staff. Because of all the travelling the majority of our old staff left after 6 months.

I've been through all this just over a decade ago. And that experience played out pretty much as you describe Malc. Last day of work inhouse, we swapped the backup tapes at the end of the day and turned out the lights. First day of work for the outsourced lot, I and 2 other server admins plus our old manager were shown into a call centre and given headsets "welcome to your new jobs as the world's best paid call loggers!". We were only allowed to log calls mind, we were explicitly barred from offering the caller solutions! Within a year we'd all left with varying degrees of mental ill-health.

I'm much wiser and aware of my rights this time around. :beers:

guest311

Quote from: RailGooner on November 28, 2018, 04:19:50 PM
Quote from: class37025 on November 28, 2018, 02:31:19 PM
..
when Professor Plum's computer fails, can he afford to wait most of the day to get it sorted, rather than Fred from IT popping up in ten minutes to rectify the fault ?
...

I've lost track of the number of times the receptionist has collared me on my way in - Prof. Plum is having trouble with his powerpoint in front of a 200+ capacity lecture theatre. Sometimes one of us might go around to Prof. Plum's house to sort out a problem with his BT broadband. Another time Prof. Plum brings his daughter's laptop in - can we help him fit more memory etc. All that'll soon stop!

I'm now stopping every academic I pass and saying "farewell and best wishes for the future!" and then painting them a dire picture of the future. They have the power to stop this, if we can stir them into action. :beers:

WAY TO GO  :thumbsup:

some jumped up admin [person] decides he/she can score a few brownie points by saving a few £s, ok will probably cost £1,000s in the long run, but WTF, so give it too them big time.
when the real customers realise the true results, perhaps he/she will get his/her due deserts and an INFORMED decision will be made.

fingers crossed.

Malc

Unfortunately it never works like that. I've worked under a couple of bosses that came up with hair brained solutions. They don't stay in the job more than 2 years. They can blame their predecessor for the problems for that length of time, then they move either sideways or more usually up. This is because they can say they have saved the department £x,000, so get a better job, where they repeat the process. There is no justice in this world I'm afraid.
The years have been good to me, it was the weekends that did the damage.

Ian Bowden

It's all part of the outsourcing game. The new company makes certain that existing staff don't remain on site so there is no experience to fall back on if the client ends the contract. They might cherry pick the best but move them to another customer, but that is getting scarcer.
I worked for a council where they employed a consultant to improve the services. The method used was in each department get rid of the highest paid and claim efficiencies made. The fact that the ones got rid of were often carrying the department was never a consideration.
A good example is we developed an automatic link from a member of the public logging a problem to it being sent to the correct department. In the interests of efficiency it was replaced by a phone app where someone printed out the reports and then emailed the department with the wrong information

Newportnobby

Quote from: Newportnobby on November 16, 2018, 12:36:33 PM
This is more a 'feeling sorry for myself' post but I've been to the dentist this morning to have 4 temporary crowns which involved 3 injections in my top lip. I am now many pounds poorer, am sat drinking coffee through a straw and with kitchen roll handy, and feel like I've been punched in the cakehole while I wait for the swelling to go down. In two weeks time I have to go and get the 'proper' ones fitted and will be even poorer after that. OK, I'll have a nice smile but C*******s has had it.

2 more numbing injections and the temporaries chiselled off, the permanent porcelain crowns are in place. More coffee through a straw until about a couple of hours ago but settling down now.
Total bill just under £1600. C*******s is definitely  :censored:
That's almost 6 Farish coaches :doh:

dannyboy

6 Farish coaches cost £1600  :o :goggleeyes: ???. Just think though Mick, you will have a lovely smile now.  ;)  :thumbsup:
David.
I used to be indecisive - now I'm not - I don't think.
If a friend seems distant, catch up with them.

Newportnobby

Quote from: dannyboy on November 29, 2018, 09:33:33 PM
Just think though Mick, you will have a lovely smile now.  ;)  :thumbsup:

As the old song goes "Fangs for the memory"

Quote from: dannyboy on November 29, 2018, 09:33:33 PM
6 Farish coaches cost £1600  :o :goggleeyes: ???.

Yes - I was just joshing but mark my words ;)

Please Support Us!
March Goal: £100.00
Due Date: Mar 31
Total Receipts: £82.34
Below Goal: £17.66
Site Currency: GBP
82% 
March Donations