Hat Tip: Stephen Withers of ITWire. Brisbane and Launceston helpdesks of Telstra are being closed down – or ‘boned’ (Telstra employee words, not mine). Nothing too unusual I guess – redundancies happen- just odd that Telstra have what… 14 bloggers? This is the second one to be booted. Conversation over Technical Difficulties:

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine…

by Nic Frankpitt, Friday, 08 June 2007

This post contains an angry person ranting. I thought you might like that as a warning, first of all. If you don’t want to read it, that’s fine by me. In the end, nihil vere est maximus.

In case you hadn’t heard, Telstra is in the middle of what’s described as a massive transformation. It was launched by Sol Trujillo in October of 2005, as a five year plan to transform its networks, services and systems to take it forward into the 21st century.

What nobody really seems to mention are the job cuts that invariably go with these kinds of ‘transformations.’ Call them what you like, transformations, reformations, downsizing, consolidation, rationalizing, they end up, invariably, costing jobs.

Whether that’s a function of change, or whether it’s just a cost cutting shortcut seems irrelevant to me right now, even though it directly relates to me. I might question it later, possibly, after I get over the shock. But for now, all I’m wondering is why us?

You see, I’ve just been told today that the Brisbane Helpdesk is closing in six months, and when that happens, I no longer have a job with Telstra.

It’s all come as a bit of a shock, really. Off the top of my head, that’s 300 odd jobs just there, and we’re not the only centre to be closed. We’re a tip of a large iceberg. And this after being given a AAA rating in our HSE inspection, a high rating for our level of service to our customers, numerous thank-yous for the great job we’re doing from people up the management chain, etcetera, etcetera. Well it all just feels a little sour in the mouth now.

And it’s not just for myself that I feel a little sour for. When Telstra closes Brisbane, it seems like they’re pretty willing to throw away some damn fine people. My boss, Bianca, is one of the coolest people to work for I have ever met. Our Centre Manager, Simon, has just taken over from our previous manager, Anita, who’s gone on maternity leave to have twins. Both are awesome people who have put a lot of years into the company, and done a lot of work for us, and for the company. From top to bottom, Brisbane’s helpdesk is full of people who deserve better than this.

Call me cynical, call me hypocritical, I don’t mind. I can see that for myself. It never really affected me before, now it’s personal. Now I’m concerned about things. Sure, there’s other jobs out there (like I, rather ironically, mentioned in my last blog entry), but that’s not the point. At any point in the next few days, I could probably waltz into a couple of offices and place an application and make it there, but that’s still not the point.

I LIKE my job, and that sometimes seems rare in today’s world. I enjoy my job a lot, and I do my damndest every day I step through the front doors, even on days when I don’t feel 100%, even when the calls are nasty, even when every system seems like it’s falling over and it’s the end of the world.. I still come in, and work hard. And now I’m getting, in the immortal words of Eddie Maguire, “boned.” Like I said. Sour tastes in mouths.

Oh well. I guess c’est la vie, that’s the way things go in today’s world. My dad told me that in his father’s day, it was common to work for the same company from the day you left school to the day you retired. I never really expected that, but having said that, I would like to keep doing a job I enjoy, but I guess someone has decided that someone elsewhere can do it better than I can, so I have to live with that.

Well, it seems like the end of the world, fortasse erit, fortasse non erit (maybe it will be, maybe it won’t be). Stercus accidit. (I’ll let you Google that one). Never fear, I have six months more with which to blog, unless I get a really nice offer, in which case, I’ll let you know when I bow out. It’ll be fun talking about the job which I will be losing soon!

I feel kinda numb, now, after writing this. A bit of a catharsis, I guess, this whole blogging thing. I’ll go through the rest of the emotional spectrum, I suspect. But for now, having written in anger, I shall now go work on harnessing the emotions, and get working on that novel I always wanted to write. Maybe now I have the incentive I need.

Responses range from :

Wise Man

Wednesday, 13 June 2007

Are you guys all 20 or something? Redundancies happen, jobs go. It’s not the end of the world. Get over it, you’ll be happier in the long run.

to:

Paul Elliott (telstra)

Friday, 08 June 2007

Nic, feeling much the same way, we were told Wednesday that out center (Launceston) will be closing late Feb., gutted really but I suppose its back to looking for work again, at least trying to find a job before the other 256 consultants in the Launceston center are looking in the classifieds. I look forward to grabbing a copy of your novel of the shelf of a book store some were..

Note to Telstra: choose your corporate bloggers with more care, or perhaps open it up for more staff to blog. Sacking 2 out of 14 inside of a year can be tricky to handle, PR wise. BTW does anyone else find NowWeAreTalking pretty, well, juvenile? Mostly Blogtoon‘s and the media/PR people? The normal employees seem much more mature…

If you need excellent CSR staff in Brissie, I reckon grab Nic Frankpitt and friends, quick-smart!