Qinetiq results out Thursday – Beware the Johnson Factor

I’m sure all you shareholders are looking with great interest at the news reports for Qinetiq, and are seeing promising reports. The results are, I’m told, expected to be good news for shareholders. This is different, of course, to them being good for the workforce. The employees are basically expendable carbon bags, to be tossed out when the upper management deem them to be of no further worth. But one carbon bag in particular appears to still be in favour, despite his fundamental, foreseeable (and publicly foreseen) errors that have hit the Qinetiq bottom line to the tune of multiple millions.

That carbon bag is, of course, Chris Johnson. He of the Qinetiq Workspace debacle, otherwise known as QW, although some say this now stands for “Quietly weeping”, “Quinn Wanting”, or “Quickly Wasted” (I’m sure you can do better than that…). His errors, in deciding that practically the whole company can get by on the Unclass network, must surely be responsible for a big hit in the company’s profits. But will he suffer? Of course not. Johnson has, because he once impressed Quinn in a previous company, joined the elite band of henchweasels that can now do no wrong, no matter how much wrong they actually manage to do. My guess is that he is overlooked for the hatchet because he’s willing to dole out ipads, or whatever other new toys the weasels want, on demand. Lets hope one of them asks for 3000 webcams.

So, Johnson will survive, and even prosper. He’s in the right club. The results won’t mention this particular purchasing disaster, and everyone will be happy. Pay particular attention in the annual report to the report of the remuneration committee. That will have lots of confusing, unclear statements about how the highly complex bonus payment formula means that “Shareholder value” (why not just use the rather straightforward measure of share price?) is way up, and hence so is the bonus for Quinn, Mellors, and the rest of the crew. Go Quinn and the Weasels!

Sent from my ipad.

Qinetiq Management Get Slated by Even the Tory Press

It’s hard to believe, but (as pointed out in a comment to the last posting) Uber Tory rag The Telegraph has managed to work out that Qinetiq’s management aren’t worth the MBA certificates their names appear on. Many of Leo Quinn’s henchweasels seem to bask in their Mixture of Bullshit and Attitude.  Adam Palser, Sanjay Razdan, Neville Salkeld, and I’m sure others as well are full of it – just listen to them for more than 30 seconds and you’ll be internally shredding your temporal lobes.  From their voice holes can frequently be heard enough of the B and A to simultaneously fertilise the Sahara, and turn Gandhi into a homicidal maniac.

Well, Charles Moore of the Telegraph has been in touch with Qinetiq employees past and present, and of high level, and produced a rather insightful article, which I heartily recommend to you.   Take a read of it here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/9260245/Bloodless-bean-counters-rule-over-us-where-are-the-leaders.html

This paragraph, which quotes the wise Qinetiq employee, sums it up rather effectively:

Managerialists, he [the Qinetiq employee] says, are “a group who consider themselves separate from the organisations they join”. They are not interested in the content of the work their organisation performs. They are a caste of people who think they know how to manage. They have studied “The 24-hour MBA”. There is a clear benefit from their management, for them: they arrange their own very high salaries and bonuses. Then they can leave quickly with something that looks good on the CV. The benefit to the company is less clear.

Those first two sentences are spot on – a perfect description of the Us and Them attitude that management/worker divide has become since Quinn took over, which is purely, purely due to him.  Quinn, I’m sure has already read the article, cancelled his subscription, and got on the phone to chew Moore’s balls, but he, and the Weasels, should take note.

Incidentally, has Quinn got an MBA?

Qinetiq Welcomes Yet Another HR Henchman

If there’s one thing that Qinetiq can’t get right, it’s HR directors.  Neil Watkinson mysteriously disappeared; the pitiful Andy Brierely was just terrible, and got demoted to Optasense, before being demoted back into the role (every move is a demotion for him, as he completely fails in the previous role).

And so the Qinetiq workforce welcome Dave Bradley.  I hope he’s better than Brierley.  The workforce will, I’m sure, await his first actions with great interest.  Does anyone have any background information on him that they’d like to report?  Anyone with experience of him at other companies?  I’ll not be surprised if he turns out to be another former underling of Leo Quinn, like the ever growing band of henchmen that infest A1 these days.  But, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.

Qinetiq’s Leo Quinn Attacks Pensioner

Well, that should be pensioners, plural, of course.  And his own employees.  And all the ex-employees who still have a stake in the DB pension. By retrospectively changing the index the DB scheme tracks, Quinn has managed to reduce everyone’s future pensions by a significant degree.  If you claim currently, or intent to claim on the DB scheme, then your future income is now being cut just so that Quinn, Mellors et al can have a bigger bonus.  Your money is feeding Leo’s racehorse.

I understand that many people specifically signed up, quite clearly, to a scheme that used RPI as its tracking index.  This contract has now been ignored, and the trustees and Quinn are welshing on the deal.  Surely, surely, this is not legal – it’s theft by another name.  I hope the unions are looking into the matter.

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps Quinn forgot his glasses and misread the agreement. Maybe someone should just point out the relevant paragraph in the agreements signed, and he’ll immediately see his mistake, and change his mind.  After all, he’s promising to be open and honest with his interaction with the EEG, so surely this will extend to the pension, and to all other employee issues.  But this is Leo Quinn we are talking about here, of course, and you will know from the reports of union meetings with Quinn, and comments posted, that he acts like a spoilt brat (reported to me as, Union: “Why didn’t you mention you were planning to create the EEG when we last met?”  Quinn:  “You didn’t ask”).

If that’s the level of honesty and debate the EEG have to look forward to, then its few supporters may finally have their eyes opened for them, and realise their naivete.

And while I’m here (and changing the subject slightly), what is the point of Chris Johnson?  I hear he’s wasted millions on the QW IT debacle, and still he keeps his job.  Can anyone think of a use for this Johnson in Qinetiq?

 

Qinetiq’s Employees are Revolting

It seems, that, inevitably, and regrettably, the enragement group fiasco is continuing.  The final day  for nomination is, I believe, on Monday.  As I’ve previously said, if I were you I’d have nothing to do with it.  But, if you do insist on engaging with the engagement group how’s this for an idea:

I challenge and encourage those that feel they have to engage, to stand for EEG nomination, to provide a protest vote for the huge majority that feel it’s a case of the turkeys voting for Christmas. I’d be very impressed to hear of someone standing under the manifesto of No Engagement with the EEG”.  I’ll write a draft manifesto here.  ” I hereby stand for nomination to the EEG, on the basis that I will take no part in engagement,  and will not represent any view to the Management other than Union recognition and collective bargaining be brought back”.

I’d salute anyone brave enough to stand under such a manifesto.  I suspect they’d be voted in with a landslide, where voting is actually going to take place.  You may get more of a whipping than that dished out to Quinn’s horse, but you’d get a hell of a lot of kudos too.  For those contemplating leaving anyway, there’s little to lose.

You have a day or so to think about it…

 

Qinetiq and Qinetiqette – some snippets

This blog has had over 130,000 hits since it formed – currently averaging around 600 per day – and its popularity (perhaps not the word  the directors would use) is increasing.  It’s aim is to help make Qinetiq a better place for the employees, not just a better place for the shareholders (many of whom must be ruing the day they invested) and senior management.

The blog relies on the commenters – it’s you people who make it a dynamic, interesting read (I hope) – I urge all readers to check the comments, and contribute.  The comments are where it’s at.  Posting is anonymous, and gives you a chance to say things you can’t say to the boss, or in the “Town Hall” meetings that Quinn used to do, before he became an oligarch.  Remember, keep the comments legal – do not make overt libelous statements, and it goes without saying that no classified information should be posted.

Redundancies at Qinetiq continue apace, by all accounts.  Please email me with details (numbers and areas, not names), and I’ll ensure it gets known by a wider audience.

If anyone wants me to publicise any wrongdoing of the management, or raise any issue, then send me an email at the address on the “About” page.  I recommend you don’t send it from your work address. Someone in the comments to the previous post mentioned the QW issue – email me some more details, and I’ll post.  Any good information on the management is also much appreciated.  I’m sure there must be many a Machiavellian plot going on up there.

Qinetiqette

 

Qinetiq Bosses redefine “Engagement”

The workforce at Qinetiq have put on a sterling display of unity over the management’s union bashing debacle. CEO Leo Quinn is attempting to introduce a new “Employee Engagement Group” to replace the unions, whom he regards as biased and undemocratic. So, the replacement, the EEG, is going to be, er, more biased and less democratic.

In response to this, the employees have hijacked a page on the company’s intranet, and started an “I am Spartacus” style movement, with people posting comments stating their support of the unions. The page is actually open for any employee to post any opinion they like, but at the last count, there were around 650 people in support of retaining union recognition, and around ZERO wanting to remove the unions from the picture. This is around 15% of the total UK workforce.

Qinetiq management have engaged with this by, well, by totally ignoring it. Not one missive has been posted acknowledging the strength of feeling the workers have on the issue. It rather shows how “engaged” they will be when it comes to listening to 30 odd “representatives” of the new EEG scheme.

This again shows that the opinions of the workers will be completely ignored, if they go against what the management wish to do.

I encourage all employees to boycott the whole EEG. Do not vote. It’s a pointless exercise, as no matter how good the people are who get in, they will be dictated to by Quinn, and his muppets Salkeld, Palser, Johnson etc. The EEG is a toothless body and does not deserve the endorsement that voting might suggest.

Qinetiq’s Top Brass in “Dishonesty” Row

Senior management at top UK defence company Qinetiq were said to be feeling the pressure these last few days over allegations that their latest initiative in employee relations, the so-called Employee Engagement Group (EEG), was built on a lie.  Mounting evidence is coming to light that Focus Groups held to sense the employees’ feelings towards representation, were in fact a sham.  Attendees of these meegings  have been posting on internal Qinetiq bulletin boards that the summary conclusions of the Focus Groups bear no relation to what was being said within them.

The management responsible for the EEG (which is being sold to the staff under the motto “Making Promises, Keeping Promises”)  have been left dumbstruck by the anti-EEG sentiment flowing through the company.  Union membership is reported to be increasing at such an extent it’s been joked that the unions are actually the masterminds behind the de-recognition plan.

This news only piles the pressure onto CEO  Leo Quinn, coming soon after allegations of contractual shenannegans taking place in his own backyard.  (As Quinn might say to his racehorse, ” Don’t sh!t where you sleep, neddy”).  With this, and rumours of mutterings among those below him vying for his job, and the unexplained absence of his own HR director at this vital time, the poo seems to be moving from the stables and into A1.

Qinetiq Kisses Goodbye to the Unions – and to it’s Last Shred of Decency as a Responsible Employer

Qinetiq has, for the last five months or so, been threatening to withdraw its recognition of the unions.  As you are all aware, it’s now come good on its promise.  Leo “the Lyin’” Quinn can occasionally be relied upon to keep his promises. It promised that the QEF would be listened to when reporting the concerns of the employees – Ah, ok, it didn’t keep that one; it promised to provide a decent, honest, appraisal system – ah, you fooled us again Leo.

It’s now promising to give the workers the “representation” they need – an independent representation that covers all employees, not just those that decide to join the union. I’ve seen a copy of the Spotlight, and a greater load of arrogant, misinformed, factually incorrect nonsense (I would use stronger words, but want to get through the firewalls) I’ve not seen for quite a while.

Quite how those voted onto the EEG (Employee Enragement Group) can be independent, and can have teeth isn’t comprehensible, give they will have no negotiation powers whatsoever. I understand the newsgroups are alive with discussion on the topic, but that will no doubt be shutdown at some point, or the workers will feel, quite wisely, reluctant to raise issues in such a forum visible to the management. Ironically, in the anonymity of a public blog such as this, they can do so.

To anyone thinking of applying for a job at Qinetiq, you should consider carefully what you are getting into. The mistreatment of its workers by management has been going on for some time (see various previous posts in the blog), and, following the changes Quinn is enacting, this will increase massively. When they go round putting individual contracts in front of people, and threatening them with the boot if they don’t sign, it’s harking back to the days of the coal mines in the 1800′s. Be prepared for less leave, less pay, cuts to your pension, sick leave and redundancy, more working hours, reduced travel allowances, and more, each one no doubt granted with a saccharin sweetener of a tiny bonus. It says something when you can’t even keep your own HR director on side.

Leo Quinn, you and your toadies are arrogant fools, and a tragedy for the company.

Qinetiq’s CEO Quinn and renovations of the FRN site

I’ve received an interesting email regarding some building work that is going on in A7 – apparently a substantial bit of renovation or construction.  It seems that Leo has some questions to answer regarding the awarding of the building contract, and any personal relationship he may have with the owner of the company involved.  I am being a little guarded for libel reasons – I have no desire to libel anyone, and I’m not personally aware of any facts, so I’ll keep the names out of it at the moment, but there is enough information here for the perceptive inhabitant of the Farnborough site to get the gist.  But here are a few questions Leo might like to ponder on:

Does Leo have a brother?

Does Leo’s brother (if the answer to the above is “Yes”)  have a building company?

Who is the company involved in the building works at A7?

What was Leo’s involvement in awarding any building contracts?

Sounds like something for Private Eye to get it’s teeth into…