When I first got offered my position with Manpower at IBM Greenock i was filled with genuine excitement at what I thought was going to be an excellent career move in an industry i had been looking to gain experience for a number of years.
Let me just Clarify the employment status of new employees at IBM Greenock:
You are NOT an IBM employee, you are not entitled to any of the benefits of an IBM employee, your sickness cover is different, your holiday entitlement is different, your employee status is entirely different to regular IBM employees.
You may think that by coming here and working hard will get your proverbial "foot in the door with IBM", it wont! There are people here who have been manpower contractors for 8 years.
If you come to IBM Greenock thinking that you will get a reference from IBM, you wont! They are not your employer, any reference will be provided by either Manpower or Adecco (whoever you may be employed by).
The Greenock Campus itself is located approx 30 miles west of Glasgow and is serviced by its own train platform, you may think this is very conveiniant, but do not be fooled by this. There is only 1 train an hour from Glasgow and this particular train line is prone to short notice cancellations, frequently late and very expensive to use.
The Campus is in a isolated position, there are no local shops, bars or restaraunts near by, there is a canteen on site but this is not even run by IBM, it is outsourced to the Compass group. Canteen prices are unusually high for a staff canteen and the availability of hot meals is very limited, if you take your lunch break anytime after 1pm you will not be consuming anything hot and you will be fortunate to even be able to purchase a sandwhich which are very poor quality and grossly over priced.
Working conditions are very poor, the office block I worked in is cramped, very noisy (making it difficult to concentrate), dirty, poor toilet facilities, the desks are seperated by high wooden partitions from the 70's making it very difficult to communicate with your fellow workers.
In IBM's customer service centre, they support a wide variety of high profile accounts; BP, DEFRA, Bradford & Bingley, The Insolvency Service, Equifax, Lloyds TSB. All have their own particular issues but the 2 things all the support desks share are:
1. if you are lucky enough to recieve any training on the systems being used and the methods to support the account, consider yourself to be lucky and if you are lucky enough to recieve any form of training it will be on an adhoc basis, will be very poorly organised and will be peformed by a demoralised analyst who would much prefer you to be sitting with someone else. There is NO dedicated training team there to advise you or guide you through your initial period of employment, you really will have to figure things out for yourself and when things go wrong or there is something you are not aware of it will be you that will be criticised and possibly disciplined.
2. Poor leadership - Each desk has a service leader some are unfortunate enough to have 2! The Service Leaders are not there to help you, do not think that they are, they are non technical people whose only concern is to monitor your statistics ie; your time available to take calls, how long you have been away from your desk for your breaks and toilet needs, wether or not you are late (which will be often if you are using public transport), organising your rota (a simple task you would think but even organising a rota for a small team is a challenge which they will often get wrong and it will be you who picks up the pieces). If you are faced with a situation where you have a difficult customer on the phone, they will NOT step in to assist you, the best you can hope for is dealing with it yourself and sending your service leader an email about it later. They are blissfully unaware of what actually happens on the accounts they are supposed to lead, they will often ask you how a process or procedure should be carried out and if you do not know you will be expected to find out for them.
There is a general "us & them" feeling on various different levels:
1. Between the analysts and the Service leaders, in general the analysts have little respect for their service leaders as they are generally viewed as being incompetent and "yes men" to Manpower human resources.
2. IBM regulars & Contractors. The contractors are fully aware they have less rights, less pay and benefits and will be treated far more harshly than any IBM regular ever would be even though it is the contractors who do most of the work!
3. UK citizens and Europeans, they generally do not mix and work seperate from each other.
4. Greenock locals & Non Greenock locals. This particular divide is perhaps the most apparant, 2nd only to the divide between IBM staff & contractors. If you are not a Greenock local you are viewed as a outsider, you will have less opportunities for career enhancement, you will come 2nd for any role that you may wish to perform if you come up against someone from Greenock. Nepotism is rife. It pervades through every level, you only have to look at the amount of incompetent service leaders from Greenock in comparison to the very capable and skilled analysts from outwith Greenock.
Greenock town itself is no picture postcard view of Scotland, it is infact a very violent town with high levels of alcoholism, drug addiction and poverty. It is a former ship building town that through the years has gradually decayed further, although at present the local council does appear to making an effort. If you visit Greenock town center on a Friday/Saturday night be prepared to avoid groups of bored teenagers high on alcohol or drugs who will be more than happy to relieve you of your posessions.
If your in any doubt about what I say, feel free and apply for a position with IBM Greenock but remember this is not the only report on this site about IBM Greenock, read those also, check out the facts about Greenock before you move here, if you dont investigate fully what you are getting yourself into when you come here you may well find yourself in a very difficult position you find hard to get out of!
Anonymous
Greenock
United Kingdom
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