Rolls-Royce to cut 2600 jobs

[Hodd]

BBC News - Rolls-Royce to cut 2,600 jobs

I joined Rolls-Royce as a graduate trainee in the 1990s. Back then it was a decent employer and you were surrounded by solid experience. Over the years, the levels of project management and what I call indirect fringe positions has increased, and it's now rare to do any engineering at all.

I saw the way Rolls-Royce was heading and left to work there only as a contractor now and then. I see only negatives in being a full-time employee of this company now, and it gives me no satisfaction to see today's news rather proving my point.

The QF32 incident in 2010 was hopefully a one-off event, and to be fair, Rolls-Royce publicly admitted their shortcomings, and I would imagine steps were taken to ensure this never happens again. However, if you look at the published facts, this was caused by a basic low-tech manufacturing error. In a company with so many program managers and so much bureaucracy, it's shocking that this happened.


These latest job cuts are engineering roles mostly in the UK. Profits are of course essential in any business, but where is the social responsibility here? I’ve seen it all before, but I feel for newer graduates and wonder how Rolls-Royce hope to recruit engineering graduates in the future.

[mixture]

Profits are of course essential in any business, but where is the social responsibility here?

Whilst I appreciate your comment about the necessity to keep new blood flowing into the business (graduates) and the desire to maintain the existing engineering expertise, at the same time you have to see the problem for what it is.....

In any business, staffing costs are a significant proportion of your expenditure, that is no different with Rolls who spent 2991 million pounds on staff last year, forecast to go up to 3179 million in this year's accounts !

The outlook for Rolls in 2014 is flat, 15-20% shrinkage in defense business and only modest growth in other areas, Rolls is also anticipating 3% drop in sales in 2015. Rolls is facing competition growth and slow demand in marine & power systems. As for the jet engines, their high visibility masks the R&D and operational risks involved in designing them... much risk remains lurking on the TrentXWB project. Profit margins are also decreasing in Aerospace.

Given the lack of growth anticipated in 2014 and 2015, there are very few options available to Rolls apart from cutting costs if they want to show a flat profit rather than a loss in the accounts !

Basically you're going to have to accept the fact that cost-trimming is going to be the order of the day for the next few years .....

[highflyer40]

since when in the last 20 years or so has it been a companies problem to deal with "social responsibility". a companies "responsibility" is to create wealth and employment.... end of.

[Hodd]

I couldn't agree more, but the fact is Rolls-Royce will need good new engineering graduates every year in the foreseeable future. If you were about to graduate with an engineering degree, would you want to start in a company which has just announced such huge job cuts with more to come? As the UK doesn't have many other engineering options, I'd work in finance and who could blame me?

It's off topic for this thread or even the entire forum, but the UK doesn't even have enough electricity now, and there is a real risk of power cuts in future winters. Maybe someone thought wealth and employment was more important? Rolls-Royce and similar companies may well have a similar shortage of engineers in ten or twenty years.

[mixture]

As the UK doesn't have many other engineering options, I'd work in finance and who could blame me?

Yup... I know one or two people with first-class Aeronautics degrees from top-tier universities who are working in finance !