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Originally Posted by Pierre
I think everyones getting a bit carried away here. Who suggested ntl was going under???
ntl is still generating very good revenues.
It would appear that there have been 2 cock ups recently that have had 2 impacts.
1. the Met Police Contract = current redundancy program
2. field operations reporting = current overtime ban
The company is trying to save as much cash as possible because of the above. Which is prudent so that they "don't" end up the financial creek.
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I have not picked this thread to reply to cos an ntl employee has posted, it just covers 2 issues close to my heart in the past.
The met police contract was obviously a big c**k-up, that's nothing new in ntl, more projects were wrong than right with the biggest offenders being the business department. ntl always employed plenty of "project management" types, and not enough people who actually knew how all the nuts and bolts went together.
I think the big difference now and a few years ago is money, ntl used to get into deep trouble on contracts and they would always use the one card they had up their sleeves when things went wrong. "Throw money at it" and "Give it the customer for free because we have made such a big hash of it"
The good skilled engineer type employees were always thin on the ground in ntl, I noticed most started leaving from corporate positions around 1998-1999, we saw the same happen in our region with some very good guys walking away. When things get bad the first to go are the ones who can find a better job, and the company is left with the unemployable ones. I do not generalise with that statement because ntl obviously has some good engineers still working for them, but the overall standard of skills compared to 5-6 years ago is definately lower due to people leaving and lower qualified and skilled people moving up to take their place.
The field operation situation is only the tip of the iceberg, those departments have been treated very badly for a number of years. They have undergone changes to working hours and practices and some I know have even been threatened with the sack if they question for example "why they are paid a few grand less than anyone else in the deaprtment" The latest redundancies in my old region of Wales, has meant they are able to get rid of 2 guys that have been off long term sick and were quite frankly long overdue for disposal, but they have also lost another 2 that have taken exeption to the latest shafting and gone out to find themselves another job.
Unfortunately for ntl as a company and it's customers, the 2 guys who have decided that ntl can stick their job where the sun doesn't shine are 2 of the best employees I have had the pleasure of working with on occassions. one guy was always very keen and very intelligent, his father was even an ntl manager and he had enough a while back and decided it was time to get out of the sorry place. The other guy had been with ntl from about 94-95, and was a very hard working guy. I understand he has left due to problems similar to my own when at ntl, he just had no work to do!
To correct that, there was plenty of valuable work for him to carry out but no budget for it to be done. I understand he has left because he doesn't want to carry on sitting on his backside taking the money every month whilst waiting for a bit of work to come his way.
Money problems aside, ntl is in one big hell of a mess
