Preponderance of government/govt. agency ads

[madisona]

What makes you think that the FR has outsourced existing jobs? I'd bet a fiver that these call centre roles are new, as the FR itself is new, and its consumer advice service is even newer. So no existing roles have been outsourced.

ok. lets take another case. The ESB which is not a new company has cut existing jobs at its unionised call centre and shut down its existing store network. All these jobs have been outsourced to a much cheaper non unionised callcentre. Fact.

 

[rabbit]

All these jobs have been outsourced to a much cheaper non unionised callcentre. Fact.

Good news, and not before its time. Is the average salary in the ESB not something like 60,000 euro per annum ? Are our electricity prices not among the highest in Europe, if not the highest ? Think I read someplace they are one and a half times the average. Look at electricity prices in the UK, they are much cheaper are they not ?

 

[RainyDay]

ok. lets take another case. The ESB which is not a new company has cut existing jobs at its unionised call centre and shut down its existing store network. All these jobs have been outsourced to a much cheaper non unionised callcentre. Fact.

The store network was sold off, not outsourced, so it has no relevance to this discussion. I don't think that anyone hugely misses yet another white goods outlet, in particular one that specialised in extortionate (22.9% APR) credit rates.

In relation to the call centre, could you be referring the tender to outsource overflow capacity at their customer service centre from last year. Google can't find any other reference to ESB outsourcing (except in cases where international companies outsourced some of their operations TO the ESB e.g. Spain.

Perhaps you could point us towards a news article or Dail question which would have inevitable with such an outsourcing? Are you saying that the ESB made staff redundant? or transferred staff to the external service provider?

 

[madisona]

The store network was sold off, not outsourced, so it has no relevance to this discussion. I don't think that anyone hugely misses yet another white goods outlet, in particular one that specialised in extortionate (22.9% APR) credit rates.

In relation to the call centre, could you be referring the tender to outsource overflow capacity at their customer service centre from last year.


Are you saying that the ESB made staff redundant? or transferred staff to the external service provider?

The store network was not only a white goods outlet. The staff there also answered customer service queries. many older people preferred to go into a store and discuss an issue there rather than phone. As far as I know it is no longer possible to speak with someone face to face with customer service issues.

"outsourcing overflow capacity at their customer service centre" is accurate. I doubt whether anyone has been made redundant but what the ESB are doing is not replacing staff who leave or retire and transferring some existing staff to other roles. This results in an ever increasing permenant "overflow" which is dealt with by non unionised workers at an outsourced call centre. ESB technicians went on strike last year over the outsourcing of jobs but the current ESB customer service outsourcing program is proceeding successfully and has not been challenged. There has as far as I know been no Dail question or newspaper article.

Many people will feel that such outsourcing of public sector and semi state company jobs is fine. I just happen to have a different ideological view and do see it as a race to the bottom. The people who are now answering calls for the ESB and on far worse pay and conditions than the ESB staff members who were answering the same calls a year or two ago.

 

[collieb]

ok. lets take another case. The ESB which is not a new company has cut existing jobs at its unionised call centre and shut down its existing store network. All these jobs have been outsourced to a much cheaper non unionised callcentre. Fact.

Its also relevant to remember here that the ESB is not a Government Department or State Agency - is it a company where the majority shareholder is the Government, and which we can expect in the medium to long term that that shareholding will get smaller. Also, the ESB must gear up for competition - and im sure we all agree that is a good thing, so it makes sense to trim costs in this way. Did we grumble too much when Aer Lingus cut staff numbers to remain competitive?

I think State agencies/Govt Departments are a different kettle of fish. I am not aware of any civil servants employed in these areas who have been let go to facilitate outsourcing. New agencies recently set up are slightly different to older ones in that there is a wish among gover (d/finance) only to snaction the minimum number of jobs to allow the agency function and to outsource other posts - for example cleaning jobs will always now be outsourced. This is in line with public wish to keep a lid on the number of new posts being created in the public sector. You will notice that a lot of these agencies with ads referred to earlier have been set up in the recent enough past and I would imagine this sort of thinking applies to jobs that could be considered non-essential.

Older departments and agencies will continue to operate in the normal way. If you ring revenue (if you get through) you will still get through to an Irish person based in Ireland, while social welfare have no intentions of closing their local offices in favour of asking customers to ring India. Of course, all this could change again in the medium to long term, but his is just my opinion on current situation..

 

[madisona]

Older departments and agencies will continue to operate in the normal way. If you ring revenue (if you get through) you will still get through to an Irish person based in Ireland, while social welfare have no intentions of closing their local offices in favour of asking customers to ring India. Of course, all this could change again in the medium to long term, but his is just my opinion on current situation..

If you ring Cork County Council to pay your refuse charges you will get through to an outsourced call centre. If you call An Post to pay your TV licence you will get through to an outsourced call centre.

 

[ajapale]

If you call An Post to pay your TV licence you will get through to an outsourced call centre.

When I called the TV licence people recently I got through to an old fashioned office (sound effects consisted of paper shuffling and sidebar conversations with colleagues) in Birr Co Offaly.

 

[ubiquitous]

Of course the wonderful thing about outsourced call centres is that their staff never have paper on their desks nor do they ever talk to their colleagues while at work. The wonders of modernity...

 

[Oilean Beag]

I think its far worse in the North for Governmental/ Agnecy sponsored ads.

They always seem to be telling people what to do on UTV....... don't throw litter....... get the metro......... don't forget the battery in smoke alarm........ don't attack fire services/ambulances........... keep away from train lines.


All have a very valid message, don't get me wrong. My point is that if you watch any UTV ad break, there will be at least one of these ads if not more. Surely over time , they lose the effect they have on people & they become desensitised. I know I find it very annoying myself, being constantly told by the NI gov & its agencies what to do & I don't even live in NI !