BT's outgoing CEO: He's officially gone, but he'll score £1m in pay, pension until Oct Oh to be on the executive merry-go-round: BT CEO Gavin Patterson left his post on Friday, but will continue to rake in filthy lucre from the corp until the latter part of October – seven big ones to be precise. That is assuming he doesn't take up a job with a rival in the meantime. Patterson, who served his notice from 25 …
> I thought EU employment law made that sort of thing illegal?
> Or are CXOs not covered because of their seniority?
Yes and no. What's at work here is that Mr. Patterson is on gardening leave. He's still employed by BT - thus he can't work anywhere else - but he's not allowed to do anything. And BT can have him twiddle his thumbs as long as the check is paid every month.
What you meant are restrictions after your current employer stop paying you. Those are problematic.
>He's still employed by BT - thus he can't work anywhere else
Depends on how the contract is worded, most allow the employee to volunteer their time to the charitable sector or do unrelated work such as being a classroom helper (classroom assistants are often paid positions, but you or I can volunteer to help kids to read, do maths, play sport etc.)...
needs huge changes made. Lots of senior management in Adastral/Ipswich/Leavesden with no views on the wider BT. People waiting for their pensions to come to fruition with little want or need to change behaviours and stifle any optimisation on how they operate.
Needs changes to customer process and the tools that support it.
People waiting for their pensions to come to fruition with little want or need to change behaviours and stifle any optimisation on how they operate.
I'm unsurprised. I work for a business that many decades ago was public sector. Virtually nobody now is left from those days, but the culture is enduring - obfuscation, delay, decision-aversion, and waiting for (still) generous pensions, or the very generous severance terms available every time there's a modest cull.
Changing the entire culture of a large business is easy to describe. It starts with transparency at the top, clear leadership, well defined and well communicated targets, all incentives linked to performance of those goals, and holding all senior managers to account - no excuses, no waffle. I've work for decades in this space for a range of different sectors and businesses, and I can assure you that it really is as simple as that. On the other hand, actually implementing that, now that's VERY difficult, which is why you rarely see it done, and instead underperforming behemoths like HP, IBM, BT continue to lumber on, saddled with over-paid boards possessed of no real strategy other than sacking staff, and hoping that they can buy their way out of a rut of low growth and decline.
When you do see culture change done, it's almost always because somebody has a very strong personal financial interest in the outcome. Half of me says that the new boy has to be better than Patterson, but he'll need a very strong constitution to make BT a modern business, and sadly I'd put my money on the corporate culture (and entrenched senior managers) winning, not him. And we have to remember he's only paid to make shareholders better off. He's only on the hook for improving Britain's telecoms infrastructure or BT service if those deliver a better outcome for shareholders.
A thought experiment: A million quid cash salary sounds a cool number (with two or three times as much as bonus, maybe). Would you take on a gig like CEO of BT? Never far from the headlines; Laden with obstructive recidivists in your own management, and belligerent unions; Your every move and decision scrutinised; Your commercial hands tied by a vast pension fund deficit; Every time something nasty crops up your senior managers just pass it straight up the tree; Forever having investors, other companies, charities, politicians, journos all demanding a slice of your time with promises that its in your own interests; And probably a sixty hour minimum working week, every week. Not something I'd want.
I worked at Martlesham - the culture you mention - obfuscation, delay, decision-aversion only came in with privatisation. We had technology there that BT would love to gave now but they filled the place with accountants and introduced and internal market et voila "Your every move and decision scrutinised"
The pension fund defecit was their own making - they could have put money into it - they would have just had to pay a little tax but they knew the moronic tory government that had privatised BT had said they would cover any defecit of all the people like me they made redundant.
Your rant is so far from the reality I remember I can only guess you got it from the tory handbook of making up shit.
Exactly the same experience at the BBC. A thriving organisation (when I joined in the 80s) was utterly destroyed with the arrival of John Birt (darling of the tories) filling it with accountants and consultants ... followed rapidly a ridiculous internal market and everything being monetised ...
I’m at a loss as to how anyone thinks this way of running companies actually does any good . It always seems to destroy so much , apart from line the pockets of a few .
The BBC is a husk now and costs even more to run than it did before they started .... well done bean counters !
To answer your question: Sure, where do I need to sign up?
The big advantage of being a CEO (or other high level manager) is that you can't do wrong, as long as you don't draw the attention of the SEC / Feds / Inspector Knacker. Today I'd add the risk of #metoo to that list.
Even if you do wrong, you always have the the following list of valid excuses:
- Your predecessor. (Works only for a limited time)
- The competition didn't do better
- Unions / EU-legislators blocked all the cunning plans from being a success
- The Chinese / online companies entered the marked and ruined it
- It's a recession / tsunami / Brexit or some other reasons why punters don't consume enough
And what happens in the end? You get the boot and a golden parachute allowing you to retire or you get hired by another clueless company needing your experience. Worst case you become a speaker for hire on various junket-conferences.
All you need is a thick skin and the capacity to spout enough buzzwords per minute (bpm) to keep the vultures from landing.
If you're marginally competent at the game, you'll do a big reorganisation, merge with or acquire some other big business in the same dire straits as you. Failing this, you can also spin off various division or sell them. All this makes you look active and leader-ly while making sure last years numbers can't be compared with next years.
Some 30 years ago (thereabouts, doesnt time fly?) there was a true case where an ordinary geezer somehow blagged himself a very, very top job with Nissan UK without any necessary credentials or experience. AFAIK he didn't provide any fraudulent documents, he just winged it.
It was 10 months before he was rumbled as not being fit for purpose. IIRC by his own admission, he hadn't done much at all in that time and was surprised it took that long. Must've earned, well been paid, a good wedge in that time.
BT CEO for a million quid? Absolutely, bring it on immediately. I'd only need to work 3 months then i'd be out of there.
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