Interview with Eircom? whats the work environment like?

Oceanbunny

Hi There,
I have an interview with Eircom, working on the Finance side. Would anyone there have an idea what the working hours are like? is flexi time standard? work life balance etc?

also having seen the recent redundancy announcement and union issues, what the atmosphere like?

Thanks,
OB

AARRRGH

A friend of mine works there. She hates it.

Apparently it's full of "civil service types" who try to do as little work as possible. Sounds awfully close minded as well. Also, very political.

From what she's told me it sounds horrendous really...

Note that she works in IT. Finance might be different.

J.S. Pill

dublindude wrote:

Apparently it's full of "civil service types" who try to do as little work as possible. Sounds awfully close minded as well. Also, very political.

Ah yes, for some people it will always be the department of P&T

Oceanbunny

Thanks for the posts. any other opinions out there?
OB

MonkeyWrench

I'm a contractor in Eircom and have been here for a few weeks now. All I can say is that I would never apply for a permanent job in Eircom, its full of the civil servents types alright who do f£ckall all day and it takes eons to get anything done. I have a constant headache just trying to get myself set up with and ID badge and access to certain apps and folders I require to do my job but i'm surrounded by this ridiculous incompetence on a daily basis. It really is soul destroying stuff. I'm in the IT area but I can see that it is probably rife in all areas of Eircom. Stay well clear my friend.....well clear!

flash harry

OP if you've a finance qualification or experience - the world is your oyster. Loads of jobs out there.

as for eircom - personally wouldnt go there, but thats just because if I ever have a problem with phone, they're a nightmare to get anything done

calsatron

Speaking as a finance contractor in Eircom it also took me about a month to get set up with swipe cards and folder access and the guy I share an office with lacked a telephone and a pc when he started so I was considered to be doing quite well.

On the other hand everyone I've dealt with is nice and friendly (in general of course) and its a pretty relaxed environment. Informal dress code, tea breaks and a casual approach to flexitime are the order of the day.

If your the kind of person who finds needless red tape and horrendously outdated work practices hard to deal with then it'll drive you mad but If your just looking to come in, sit at the desk and get paid then its probably one of the better places to work due to the relaxed working environment.

I'd imagine everybody here is talking about the office on the Green though as they also have an AP section down in Portloaise, don't have any idea what thats like.

Oceanbunny

Thanks guys for the feedback.

I suppose I have been told that they are trying to change the company and having been involved in change management/consultancy before, this side seemed interesting.

OB

fret_wimp

dublindude wrote:

A friend of mine works there. She hates it.

Apparently it's full of "civil service types" who try to do as little work as possible. Sounds awfully close minded as well. Also, very political.
.

thats a terrible thing to say. I have a friend in the civil service, and she works incredibly hard. she also gets paid buttons for it. 22k a year in dublin for a CO, with no chance for promotion for at least 3 years.thats how they do it. horrible job and i admire many of the people there, listening to every so and so comming in saying " I pay your wages, so do this NOW". Dublindude, your an outright idiot.

seamus

fret_wimp, whatever your own friend's situation, the civil service in most countries is reknowed as a place where most people get in and then spend fifty years scratching their arse and doing nothing until pension time.

This is slowly changing - we now have some great Government bodies, but by and large, public companies/departments are bloated and inefficient because of the "civil service types" who populate them. These people have no interest in developing themselves - they come in and do the bare minimum, and get their yearly pay rises. This drags the morale of everyone else down - why would you bother working your ass off when the guy who does nothing gets the same mandatory pay increases and promotions that you do?

I've long thought that if you're interested in a career, don't join the civil service (with the exception of a few specialist divisions).

And this is the way that eircom and many other companies are stuck at the moment. Full of people who have no interest in developing themselves, instead just coming in day after day, getting their mandatory pay rises, and striking when their paperclip quotas are reduced.

It's four years since I spent six week there (that's all I could handle) and it sounds like nothing's changed.

fret_wimp

my friend left also, but only after taking months of abuse from folk saying they paid her wages so she must do as they say. There were people there happy to float along doing nothing, but thats no reason to paint them all with the one brush. thats all that annoyed me, the scale of the genreralization that implied that all people in the civil serice are wasters.

BluesWeeper

from what I hear morale in eircom is at its lowest in years amongst the "arse scratchers" as its latest owners are shaking the trees...

Not supposed to be a nice place to work by all accounts , was in the past but if are going in as a consultant it should be good moneywise; as far as I know, the consultancy rates are top class.