Restructure anyone?

[Escapee]

I have spoken to three ex-collegues who work for ntl this week, all apart from one were on the lookout for a job.

Apparently there is yet another restructure in their department, and some of the senior managers were having interviews after applying for their own jobs today. Apparently they will find out before the end of the week who doesn't have a job when the music stops.

I was very surprised to find that one of the Telewest senior guys seems to be taking control, its a good thing in Engineering/networks as he is very experienced. I had the fortune of working with him very closely many years ago in the cable industry (I used to sit next to him) before CableTel, United Artists etc existed. He is a professional guy and a real engineer. He should be able to sort out the wheat from the chaf when it comes to some of the engineers, unlike many before him. I was pleased to hear he already has some cards marked for some who he has dealt with in the past at Telewest and have survived at the expense of many good engineers in ntl.

Lets hope he makes some improvements.

[sollp]

Yes i had read up on this guy,(if it is the same one) and thought the same, it's about time someone in a senior position really knows about the Engineering/network side of life. Up till now all or most of these positions have been taken by ex bankers financiers ect, there only goal has been the restructures and the eventual merger of Telewest and NTL. I believe that this has been the focus for the past few years, concequently the real knowledge and and drive to run the company, I.E to make it work has not really happened.

Most of the management is again going through the mill of having to reapply or wait to see what restructures that are happening will affect them. So basically everthing is up in the air again.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I have spoken to three ex-collegues who work for ntl this week, all apart from one were on the lookout for a job.

Apparently there is yet another restructure in their department, and some of the senior managers were having interviews after applying for their own jobs today. Apparently they will find out before the end of the week who doesn't have a job when the music stops.

Well hardly suprising after a merger isn't it?

Yep we are now down to HoDs level of division. Then after they've been appointed (should be by the end of this week) there will be a long hard look at the way the field forces are structured.

You can expect the 90days announcement around June I'd say.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Well hardly suprising after a merger isn't it?

Yep we are now down to HoDs level of division. Then after they've been appointed (should be by the end of this week) there will be a long hard look at the way the field forces are structured.

You can expect the 90days announcement around June I'd say.

I was told yesterday that my old boss a HOD based in South Wales (running a national group) has been successful in keeping his job after an interview early last week. If the successful candidate had been chosen by the usual ntl method he would of probably been out of a job. Certainly the decision to keep him and not the other candidate is a positive step for the company, and possibly because the Telewest people seem to have some power in decisions about technical positions. lets hope its a sign that they are at last making decisions based on ability and its not a one-off fluke like the way things happened in the past.

I think your right about the 90 days, since having two guys ask me about jobs where I now work, another sent me a text asking the same. I thought at least two of these guys were in fairly safe positions, but it looks like people are starting to worry.

The bad thing about many redundancies before was not just the terrible situation for those affected, but the decision taken on who was kept and who was offloaded was a joke. I always said that if I named the top 10 useless people that I came across in ntl when I left nearly 5 years ago, at least 50% of them are still in a job there and a few have been promoted to the level of their imcompetence.

[scrotnig]

The above is very true. I was reshuffled out a year ago. There was nothing for me with five years experience in all aspects of the industry, yet the same old useless incompetents are still there screwing up calls day after day.

The company never did want anyone with any initiative...too much trouble. Only subservient yes-men are wanted, anyone else is "managed out of the business" - as I was!

[Pierre]

Most of Networks 1st line management (i.e reporting to HODs) were placed on 90days notice as of yesterday.

The structure under the HODs has, in the main, been sorted out so there will be quite a few redundancies in this round.

Then it's the field guys etc. By my watch will be around July time.

[orangebird]

All those who are under threat need to look at it positively. There really is life outside ntl. I'm testament to it.

Originally Posted by orangebird

All those who are under threat need to look at it positively. There really is life outside ntl. I'm testament to it.

And me

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by orangebird

All those who are under threat need to look at it positively. There really is life outside ntl. I'm testament to it.

There are a few in the group affected though, who will be very worried. Some of the people affected have got to positions they have no hope of achieving again if judged on skills and ability.

I'm afraid ntl was very much a company where the weak people stuck together in tribes, to back stab the good guys. Redundancies are never easy to swallow for those affected, but this time around it seems like decisions are being made for the good of the company at the expense of the hangers on.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Most of Networks 1st line management (i.e reporting to HODs) were placed on 90days notice as of yesterday.

The structure under the HODs has, in the main, been sorted out so there will be quite a few redundancies in this round.

Then it's the field guys etc. By my watch will be around July time.

I met up with a few ntl network guys on Friday night, they indicated that service technicians and even network are likely to be outsourced before very long. Apparently it was on the cards and almost implemented but held off because of the (then) impending merger.

The next level down from the HODs in some departments have already been given the nod if they have a job or not. (I also met one of them Friday night) he says there is a family tree out with 7 regional HODs TBA, apparently there are currently 15.

[James Henry]

Stupid idea outsourcing the network techs, I can think of the odd cableco who tried to cut down their network tech numbers and rather rapidly reversed it.

I can't think of any that have outsourced entirely though. Presumably ntl is a cableco that doesn't like the 'cable' part of its' description and just wishes that data went between itself and its' customers by magic.

The biggest cable company in the world, Comcast, has *thousands* of network techs, not outsourced. No outsourcing in any of the North American cablecos as far as I'm aware. I think they have a point.

Would have thought the high standard of outsourced group IT would have offered some insight into why this wasn't the greatest idea. Although someone at Manpower / IBM has probably managed to find some 'stats' to massage and present that make it look as though outsourcing is the second coming, and we know how much your ntl love their stats.

[hairy_mick]

how would you outsorce network and service do you mean make them all redundant and start them back under new contract if your position is redundant then the jobs gone if thats the case then they will do it by bit by bit instead of on mass chip away at it bit by bit i remember a department in ntl that had four people working for it they made them redundant and gave the work to the contractors they were told that they were not cost effective but it costs more money with contractors they in my opinion got away with it as the lads took the money and ran because they werent unionised ntl get a way with a lot.

[James Henry]

There aren't *that* many network techs you know, and service techs are already in some areas outsourced. I can remember an outsourced service tech resolving an issue I had with telephone service.

What about the headend bods I wonder?

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by James Henry

There aren't *that* many network techs you know, and service techs are already in some areas outsourced. I can remember an outsourced service tech resolving an issue I had with telephone service.

What about the headend bods I wonder?

One of the guys out Friday is a Headend tech, it sounds like they will be the same. I dont know how it will work, I wonder if they will appear to carry out the same job only working for an outsource company.

One of the managers was saying that he couldn't see how they can make any big cuts after this one. He said all they have done is made people redundant and spent nothing on the network for 5 years.

They were also discussing the fact that they dont think there will be as many cuts in the latest restructure as senior management would like, and the main reason is probably because job roles between the two companies vary a fair bit. They are waiting to see a rumoured change to contracts, as it is thought they will try to align the job responsibilies to bring Telewest and ntl jobs inot line with one another, some seem to think cuts would then be easier to make.

One of the managers affected told me he felt his group had only kept their job this time around because there due to the different company structures were no roles in Telewest (they have all the power this time) that were similar to take over responsibilty.

[injuneer]

A lot of the voice switch engineers in Cable & Wireless got outsourced to Nortel Networks soon after C&W sold off "Consumerco" to Ntl. Some did alright out of the move but others haven't had a proper pay rise for 5 years, only 1 off bonus payments, plus they had to change pension plans etc