Crash and Burn, all managers and waterside staff
May I make a couple of points and ask a question or two?
a) Its strange to see that you have so much time to browse Pprune at work - I see you managed to post at 10.55, 12.45, 13.03 and 13.52 that’s a 2hr 57min lunch break! I suppose though that that’s probably a little on the short side for Waterworld?
(Eeehh when I were a lad and working in t' City sandwich 'n' can o' pop at the desk was all we had - writing wit' one hand and eating wit' t' other.)
b) Also interesting to note that in your profile you list "Proffesional layabout" as your occupation, that’s nice seeing as you say you earn £30k - £40k. Please don't quip that this is a wind up since in your post you ask us to get to know you and find out what you do - this doesn't help.
c) I'm concerned with the quality of some of the people working in important roles within our company.
i) Could I ask whether in your opinion, people with excellent qualifications surround you? I remember meeting a course of new joiners to the ********* dept (self moderated) and asking which Universities they came from gave a list of Colleges of further education and Polytechnics. High flyers do not apply to BA - why is a whole different can of worms.
ii) Do they have proven track records in their fields? Or perhaps some have had no experience and just fancied a change of jobs after browsing Jobscan. I've heard about ex Cabin Crew with no relevant experience that managed to attain positions in Finance, Marketing etc.
iii) Accountability, is this a word used in your office. Sure, the sales people are partly responsible for filling planes with people, if times are good I'm sure they take a pat on the back, in bad times its all down to a "soft" market. World economies have enjoyed the longest run of growth and prosperity in history, only recently has it wavered, yet for years BA has described the market as soft. In the meantime low-cost operators have emerged and other majors are stealing a march on us e.g. Lufthansa who flew more people than we did last year.
d) I assume that you are a manager; you say that you have a MG, SM and GM above you. This is one of the problems with BA - too many layers of management that leads to slow decision-making and poor accountability. Flatter structures and companies that have grasped the nettle and adopted them are far more successful than those that haven't. Even Rod said we have to get rid of layers and complexity, but as has been stated his hands are tied.
e) What about the chap responsible for ordering the retro fitting of the B777 bunks? Boeing quoted a figure of $ x and a weight of Y kg; Joe Bloggs Engineering Salesman quoted less $ and kg. Our chap, without securing a guarantee of product, orders Joe Bloggs to do the work. Guess what? It ends up costing more and being heavier than the Boeing quote, net result was higher initial cost and ongoing higher fuel costs. A manager in the fuel dept related this story to me. It shows how some people are clearly not up to the job in BA and should be got rid of. As a pilot I am put through the simulator twice a year, route checked once a year, given a thorough medical once/twice per year and have SESMA (black box spy) looking over my shoulder every time I fly. If I don't perform in any of these areas then I lose my job - simple.
f) Did you hear the one about the monthly safety team meeting in Waterside being turfed out of their meeting room because it had been allocated to a Feng Shui meeting? Quite funny that cos it highlights the lack prioritisation and also the absence of inter departmental communication and understanding.
g) Is it true that people were employed in Waterside to fill the copiers with paper and toner? When I worked in an office that was for the secretaries and also whoever used it.
h) Last year at the dentist in Waterside, I got talking to a new Graduate entrant who'd started working for us and told me of her frustration at not being given any work to do except running to the tea machine and menial photocopying and filing. Hopefully that changed some time soon after her initial 3 weeks.
j) The length of the working day 9 - 12 hours. Disputed by some people. Obviously, some of you guys do long hours and get results, thank you. But equally you must admit that there are some that don't - turn up at 10 leave at 4 etc. To quote one of my colleagues, "I honestly say that pilots don't leave work only - it’s a bloody long way to fall." Just for the record, this month of august I will have 232.5 hrs away from base (and home), not bad you think as this works out to be about 50 hrs/week. BUT I had a weeks leave so the figure is more like a 65 hr week. This is not a particularly heavy month for me and I am certainly not the hardest worked pilot in BA.
I think I can speak on the majority of pilots when I say I don't have a problem with paying and rewarding effective and successful managers. Its far better to have 1 chap earning £100k doing the job, getting results, putting in the graft than 5 layabouts earning £20k.
To summarise...Once again, to any managers that are out there who do get results, are effective in managing and putting the hours in - thank you. To the dossers - do the decent thing and resign.
Cheers
