Re: Contractors
 

Because in a few years it's likely my job will be under threat because of it. I can see the day when they get rid of all in-house engineers and go the all contractor route which scares the crap out of me!

Plus I feel the present contractors have been rushed out (possibly with not enough training) and themselves are being pressured from their management. The result of this is a LOT of faults created in the network and many mistakes being made.

---------- Post added at 14:43 ---------- Previous post was at 14:41 ----------

Can you explain what you mean by replacing faceplates with Vodafone ones that makes no sense to me. Thanks.

Re: Contractors
 

the problem in my experience is that about 95% of engineers that are working on out sourced contracts like kellys for VM or BT do not give a toss about the product or the customer, its all about cutting corners to get home a decent time. After 4 years of Avonline doing the VM contract this is all I and most of my colleagues were doing cutting corners to complete the work and get home a decent time, so now BT is on the out source wagon they are recording 'a LOT of faults' so back to the start of my reply........
Again in my opinion until the likes of VM and BT take an interest in how the contract company engineers operate out on filed not just on paper then they should be prepared for (in my experience) years of high faults..

Bristol had or still has huge fault figurers for telco, VM naturally wanted these numbers much lower so we started having meetings about it and stickers for the telco cabs with the techs number on and a small money incentive. These steps were supposed to cut down the fault numbers but instead the faults went higher!! why was this you ask well it quite simple the engineers working for the out sourced contractor (Avonline) didnt give a shoot about the figure's just about getting home at a decent time.
I am still in contact with some old engineer frineds who now work for Kellys and they say its all exactually the same as when Avonline had the contract but they earn about 40 quid a week more but still have the same amount of work as before so although the engineer is on more money the attitude towards the job has not changed infact it maybe slightly worse cus Kellys said when they won the VM contract that the work would be less but in fact is exactly the same

Re: Contractors
 

Yes, and the contractors generally only pick up install jobs so they don't necessarily know that they are causing faults. That all depends on their training and of course past experience. So generally I wouldn't blame the guys doing the work. It is the in-house guys that have to deal with the faults.

Re: Contractors
 

yes i guess the training or lack of obviously does have an impact, but there is a underlying attitude with the majority of out sourced engineers weather they are fully trained or not and that is they don't really care for the job or its product....its just a job its been the same for years and will continue and this is because the out sorced contract company doesn't give a hoot about the tech and will load up the engineer with jobs regardless and then expect him or her to complete everything to the standard VM sets. now I maybe wrong here but in house techs including service are able to not do jobs once they have reached daily hours limit or there abouts, I guess thanks to a union which contract companies are just not interested in. This was never an option for me (contractor) you were out till you were done. My minimum day was 10 hours! and this was 5 days and then 6 with forced overtime. When quite often I used to work out the hours I worked against the weekly pay my hourly rate was comparable to someone on a minimum wage and that is no bs. so cutting corners had become part of my tech skills... laughable until you realise that most other techs do the same on every job.

When will someone from these large companies take on board that continually giving an engineer lots/too much work will result in major corner cutting to a level where the engineer incorporates this attitude with every job he completes. This is a result of overworked and undervalued engineers and the fact that this is how the industry has operated for years and I don't think it will change soon.

Re: Contractors
 

I totally agree with beller, when I was on VM we were permanently laoded with work and long hours. Since I have been with Kellys on BT I am never over loaded, so I get plenty of time to do everything right. I was speaking to my manager about our fault rate and ELFs on BT compared to VM and he told me that we are doing a great job, our faults %s are tiny. he said that there is a misconseption amongst Openreach engineers that the faults are high because we do not have access to the complete network, for example we dont enter into UG joints, only OR engineers are allowed in there, so we refer those jobs back. Some OR guys think that they are our faults, but they are not, its just the rules that we have been asked to follow!! If openreach want us to access the the ug joints we are already accredited to do it!! dont understand why we are not allowed to finish some of the jobs! but thats the rules

Re: Contractors
 

I second everything beller has said. Cutting corners is the only way to get the job done and get home. VM need to take note and bring it back in house, look after the guys etc.

Re: Contractors
 

Someone posted earlier about modem installs etc. I have just heard for my manager that Kellys have won a huge contract with BT to upgrade old modems to faster ones in readiness for fibre to the home. he said they are in the process of hireing and training an additional 300 techs to carry out the project over the next 12 months. He said average salary for 5 day will be 20k. I cant see that any of the installers on kellys BT install will be interested in moving over to do the modem work as we are all on more than 25k now for 5 days, but it might suit the guy in the earlier post above who is still on cable tv work, hope this helps

Re: Contractors
 

Hi can anyone tell me me if Kellys are recruiting in Scotland for the BT Openreach contract? I used to work for Mcnicholas on Virgin Media and ive heard kellys contract is a good one. Also can anyone tell me whats involved with the BT contract? and would I be suitable as I only worked with Mcnicholas for 8 months

Re: Contractors
 

I work for fujitsu just now and I wish mc nicks still had the contract to be fair! I am thinking about moving to Kelly's I no 12 people left to go to them in a week

Re: Contractors
 

I wasnt too keen on mcnicholas I worked in glasgow on the old cabletel network which I liked compared to the telewest one money wasnt to bad but long hrs just didnt stack up and working every saturday starts to grind tou down. I would like get a start with Kellys as soon as , so any info would be greatly appriciated!!;)

Re: Contractors
 

am wanting to get a start with Kelly's aswell you get 4 jobs a day on 21k do any more ur on like 24 to 28k, it can't be as hard is working virgin, the health and safty is high with Kelly's

Re: Contractors
 

well the job i just started is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare doing sky with lots of weekend work leaves me no family or social life. Kellys defo seems to be the way to go so if you here anythin let me no or vice-versa mate! do u stay in scotland

Re: Contractors
 

yeah i stay in scotland mate, you? kellys have the contract for edinbugh and gl;asgow and m j quinn have fife and dundee but they are self employed. Only probs with kellys is they only have year contracts with bt as thats all they do

Re: Contractors
 

Aye a stay on the outskirts of Glasgow the most a know just now is ma mate who worked way me at virgin had his master socket installed by kellys a few months ago and he reckons they are gonig to ramp up recruitment after christmas fingers crossed! he said the fibre thing way bt is goig to take off big time apperently but if a find out any more i'll let u know

Re: Contractors
 

i have a number for kellys to get a job if you say u work for virgin you will get a start, the training is in coventry and you have to get your own way down but they give you a van for traveling home in and pay for your hotel and stuff