We were just told that the budget for operation was cut, and that if we didn't cut OT by 40-50 percent, then they would be forced to have mass layoffs for techs. Those working MLK day in some areas, were told not to work it, can't pay Holiday Pay. Just heard they had a cut fiber in FL yesterday, and they sent all the techs home at 5pm-6pm, had the contractors splice the new fiber repair, and put a salary engineer in charge and once the fiber was restored, he called and cleared things with the NOC's instead of the NT's that were in charge of those areas. Some are having to get approval just o come in and do maintenance window work, just so that the OT can be "justified". They are wanting to get contractors to come in and do maintenance window work if they can, just to save on the OT numbers.
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We were told that they had to cut OT by at least 38% across the board, if we didn't want to see mass layoffs. But yet our director and VP over our area said they had no problem making us work "forced" OT and that working 50-60% OT for each employee wasn't that much to ask. We have techs ranging from 400 + hrs this past yr to some with over 1000 + hrs OT for the year, and the director feels we should all be in between there somewhere. If you have a family, too bad, this job isn't for you then. You must be at their mercy and work just as much OT as you do normal hrs in a week. Work until the bucket is clear......No problem working you 2-3 hrs extra a day, and if they don't get all but a full crew to "volunteer" to come in on Saturdays, then they schedule and force the whole crew to come on on Saturdays. So I see this cut back on OT as lasting all but 2 weeks....we are in 2020 money now.
Each Dept has a budget. WS isn’t cutting OT Unless it’s necessary for you to have it.
"As you might be aware we are in bankruptcy. We have a negative cash flow. Each team has this thing called a 'budget' and once this 'budget' gets expended they have to make cuts. Would you rather have OT cut or have your job cut?"
If the LR 5 mo–ns took the job cuts first, then the company would be in a far, far better position, and morale would improve 1000%!
I'd rather have the job cuts starting with the Evil AR 5
As you might be aware we are in bankruptcy. We have a negative cash flow. Each team has this thing called a 'budget' and once this 'budget' gets expended they have to make cuts. Would you rather have OT cut or have your job cut?
I am not eligible for OT. But I would rather see some techs get the money as opposed to the putrid AR 5. Just dont expect too much from me since the return on any efforts of mine continue to diminish
- forgot to add the 8 hours for New Years on there....i will hit 70 hours this week now
thats weird to hear about the OT...I already have 22 hours OT as of this morning
If overtime is being cut, I see that as a red flag. Get your resumes up to date now.
No mention of OT cut for our team today. Was this specific to field techs?
I get it with the above example, this has happened a 1000 times. Not sure
how we are saving money by off shoring our support? Typical management move
that sounds great on paper and poor on execution.
Sure hope you are banking all that $$ - you will need it
- I.P. Windstream
I wish they would cut my OT. Easily 20hrs every oncall week due to repair and NOC incompetence. I was in a collo on a T1 trouble at 3am due to a bad mux port. Tech from repair only knew one thing in english “i loop smartjack” . Then I reply “no no, I have a loop facing you, do you see it?” Response was “i loop smartjack”. They couldnt change DCS xconnects either. So after I move wiring and change DCS xxonnects from the collo i ask if they see the ckt up now.....response was naturally “i loop smartjack”. Customer was down for nearly 3 weeks and trouble was called out to Verizon 6 times and a bus tech was rolled to the prem 4 times before they rolled me to the collo at 3am on a tuesday smh.
Good, it's about time. Overtime is rarely even necessary. Employees do nothing but abuse it.
It's about reducing operating costs, which makes the numbers look better, which helps ensure that the Little Rock 5 will get their massive KEIP/KERP bonuses.
It's not about the customer, nor the customer experience, nor meeting customer expectations.
If you want to catch up with your workload, Uncle Tony expects you to to use your own time.