Re: Directors pay rise
 

Agree with some, disagree with other parts. Reduction in staff numbers, and a massive reduction at that has been absolutely necessary and a natural part of consolidating so many companies into one. I will say however that some of that reduction has come in the wrong places.

Centralisation is a vital part of getting more economies of scale out of the company, there's no point in having callcentres all over the UK, it's simply a waste of money and uneconomical from the point of view that one region can be absolutely caned with calls another idle. Cable companies of comparative sizes elsewhere have 12,000 or less staff - ntl at one time was massively massively overweight .com boom and all that and is still a little heavy. Financial security is an essential thing to look after, while ntl still suffers under a fairly large debt burden you have to expect financial restraint to be an issue.

I think Escapee the people you talk to must be the ones who are having the real issues and are actually undermanned / having bad times of it, because they've never ever had anything positive to say, which makes one wonder why they are doing a job they hate so much when you yourself I believe left it and immediately got a better paid one elsewhere?

People who are already 'urinated' off are rarely unbiased judges of anything new. At the same time no doubt in their opinion there's nothing to be happy about. Some no doubt remember the good old days with the original cable company that built the network.... and would probably now be very very much bust if it hadn't been acquired.

Re: Directors pay rise
 

Yes ntl is still overstaffed in some areas, the department I left had no work and that situation three years on is still the same. There are other departments running in very similar circumstances and its a delicate balance because paying people to do nothing is sometimes the best option because their skills could be needed in the future. Some people have built up skills in certain areas over a number of years and getting rid of these people will cause a big headache further down the line.

yes again, I do know people in ntl who are very negative. There was a big move in the networks department in my old region a few years before the planning for growth fiasco when the company lost some good employees in the networks department. We cant generalise on the ones that are left in the department but I can say morale has over the last 12 months or so spiralled downwards. I know two technicians that were both exceptionally keen (I really mean that) they were very thorough and could always be counted on to work awkward hours when there was an emergency.
Both these employees are now off work with stress as a result of treatment by a manager who has no understanding of handling people and quite frankle held the position of "Storeman" in ntl not to many years ago.

The field operation managers are controlled by a guy who was previously a switch technician, I never ha dto work with the guy myself but everyone complained about his lazyness and unhelpful attitude. This guy was on a disciplinary for not carrying out a task that caused ntl a lot of money in lost revenue, as a result he went sick with stress. He returned to work and was given a supervisors position when one became available.

its just ironic that this same person is hounding technicians and has actually been warned for listening in on technicians phone calls whilst they clear them with the faults department. his latest idea is apparently to get the headend technicians out into the field working on faults, this will only result in the increase of time to clear headend faults as they have to travel back from the network. He has taken this decision because of the amount of network technicians off work with stress/sickness, perhaps if he had the sense to treat them a bit better he wouldn't be in this situation.

The company has trodden the network/service departments into the ground, they have slowly removed perks such as Fuel, Cars, use of phone, decent bonus and forcing lower grade technicians onto callout with the threat of disciplinary procedures even though their contract says different. The company has used bully boy tactics because they know in the current climate there are very few oppertunities for these technicians to go elsewhere. Some of these guys are approaching retirement age and are just riding it out, others have asked for redundancy but there were too many on the list asking for it when the last redundancies were carried out.

Yes, I did leave ntl for a job with more money. I also found it funny whilst bumping into some ntl people who were having a leaving drink one night, one of these was a former HR person and for once an HR person was telling the truth as we all knew.

I could of stuck it out, I wasn't in the slightest worried about redundancy but more worried about ending up working for some pr** of a manager as the one mentioned above. I was listed on three organisational charts and decided I had no intention of working under 2 of the people listed. I'm sure if I had stayed, I would of been demoted and ended up back out on the network where I started because of a skills shortage due to very few suitably experienced engineers.

I think its much different in the forward support roles to office based, I guess one callcentre or tech support job is the same as the next no matter what company. The guys on the networks these days are not getting the support of their managers, the managers are just jumping on them at every opportunity.

PS: I understand the one tech who has recently gone sick with stress in my old region, did so because his manager boll****d him for still being in the headend after 9.30am when the guy was actually working on a faulty piece of equipment in the building. I understand he was told there was no exception to the rule! Do we expect a storeman to understand the technicians job! :rolleyes:

Re: Directors pay rise
 

That's what they have been tasked with - it's not going to please everyone (I'm a customer too and I'm still not pleased with their service), but these guys work for the shareholders not the customers.

There's no doubt talking to people like yourself that there are many issues that still (after many years) need addressing - and it sounds to me like you're better off out of it :)

Re: Directors pay rise
 

Nice one. :tu:

Typical of big companies, instead of using the money they have saved to improve the network, they line the "gold diggers" pockets instead.

Who are we to argue? We are not shareholders, we are just your customers. :)

Re: Directors pay rise
 

We are all "stakeholders" in the company customers associates shareholders.

If we voice our concerns usually with most companies they take notice of the customers.

Re: Directors pay rise
 

But is NTL like most companies? :)

Re: Directors pay rise
 

:D

Re: Directors pay rise
 

i agree with everything in your last statement and can confirm everything about the "storeman" and "switch tech", it was unbelievable when S.T was b...ocked for being in the headend working. i heard this week that another network tech has resigned for being disiplined for making two phone calls on his company mobile to tell his manager he would be in on monday and the other to arrange a lift off another tech!!!!!

Re: Directors pay rise
 

If that is true then the fool who disiplined him should be disiplined themselves for total idiocy and incompetance. How stupid can you get. :rolleyes:

Re: Directors pay rise
 

I am glad you have backed up my claims, too many times in the past mainly on .com but here as well, I'm sure my posts have been treated with contempt and sometimes rubbished by other ntl employees who are not in departments experiencing this sort of treatment.

I understand certain techs have been singled out and being watched for things like mobile calls, all because there face doesn't fit or their particular manager happens to be a b*****d to work for. The service and network techs seem to be treated like little kids these days, a far different approach from when I worked in that department.

You will probably agree with my view that S.T. (not the manager) is or should I say "was" a very good worker, his keen attitude and willingness to undertake all that he was asked of made him a valuable asset to that department. The other guy who was/is off with stress F.M. is/was another good guy, he was always noted for doing a thorough job but unfortunately thoroughness takes time, and getting the job done right first time so there is no repeat calls to that fault does not count in ntl's attitude to running what is essentially a maintenance department on statistics. These Network Technicians are employed to maintain the network and my opinion is maintenance people having to run around while there managers act like headless chickens shows there is much wrong with the organisation.

I have not heard about the other network tech resigning but as the jobs market picks up it will surely happen more often, the network techs will start leaving as opportunities arise as they did about 4-5 years ago.
We all know the least capable employees are not going to be the ones leaving in that department, when it happened last time it took a few years to encourage and train new suitable people to move up the ladder. I don't think that will be as easy now with morale on an ever downward trend.

How the h*ll did the worst employees in those departments become managers :erm:

Re: Directors pay rise
 

It is a well known phenomenon called "brown nosing". :D

Re: Directors pay rise
 

Yes I know, the two latest additions to my department/company are fantastic at it, It amazes me how my boss can't seem to see straight through them!

I'm afraid it's not one of my qualities, if my boss comes up with a crap idea I just tell him straight. :D

Re: Directors pay rise
 

I always find it annoying that when a company is doing well the "fat cat" bosses are quite happy to take high salaries, bonuses and pensions but when a company starts to do badly they still take the high salaries and bonuses and make cuts at the expenses of other people's job, salaries and pensions.

One thing very rarely heard is a boss admitting that the parlous state of their company is his/her fault and it's even less rare to have a failing boss tendering a resignation.

In many cases, unlike lower ranking sacked employees, they have a golden handshake deal, which allows them to retire in comfort often well before the statutory retirement age.

Isn't it time we had a fair deal for ALL the workers?

Re: Directors pay rise
 

Update!

That single small department now has 1 person long term sick and 3 others off with stress.

The person who resigned is a seperate item, this was another example of poor treatment and the unwarranted discipline was just the final straw for this person.

They have lost another good, well experienced guy. :erm:

Where will it all end, will management ever realise they can't go on treating people like **** without them hitting back.

ntl managers :td:

Poorly treated service/network techs :tu: Give them crap managers hell!

Re: Directors pay rise
 

Think we need to really look at who makes the money for the company the workers or directors