RE: Happy workers theory - TechPersonTechPerson, so far I am very disappointed - you are indeed ducking my challenge to show how happy workers results in not only happy customers but also more profits (dividends for me).
I laid it out in great detail why I think this simply can't be done in the current extremely competitive telecommunications environment.
Maybe you better read more carefully what I posted earlier and then give us an equally detailed outline of how your happy workers theory could be implemented by Telus management.
And Sysaphus, since you are one of the unhappiest Telus workers out there, perhaps you can help TechPerson out by letting him know what would make you a happy worker once again/
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TechPerson, I most certainly agree with you that ultimately thecustomers are the most important factor with regard to how well anybusiness fares since they are the primary source from which investors,the company, and the workers all get their piece.
ButTechPerson, you are dead wrong in suggesting that customers are in thesame boat with the investor, the company, and the workers! Customersare a fickle bunch and can freely come and go whenever and whereverthey want with their cash/buying power. They definitely are NOT in thesame boat!
However, not that many decades ago the customers ofboth BC Tel and AGT - prior to the creation of Telus - indeed were inthe same boat. They had NO choice since both of these telephoneutilities were the ONLY provider of communication services for manydecades. And they were NOT happy with this, thus the governmentstarted the ongoing de-regulation process which basically allowed wideopen competition by companies trying to retain the now 'freed from theboat' customers.
TechPerson, you said that ''Happy workersusually mean happy customers and that usually translates to profits"Once again, you are dead wrong since in the real world it is VERYdifficult to have multiple parties ALL happy at the same time. Theycould be, but human nature and their weaknesses make this outcome verydifficult to achieve - basically greed on the part of all parties.
Thelast time that the Telus workers were happy would have been back a fewdecades ago when the BC Tel and AGT provincial monopolies were the soulproviders of communication services. The reason they were happy backthen was that they had a captive customer base who had no choice. Thuswhenever the unions demanded much more for their workers, managementfairly readily agreed to the union demands and simply increased thebillings to all their captive customers.
So you can see wherethis is going eh TechPerson? It didn't take too long for the customersto get more and more unhappy - in direct response to the workersgetting more and more happy. And these are the glory days that toomany current Telus workes still long for - and you obviously supportdon't you?
Continuing on with your ''happy'' theory, let's lookat what has happened once the governments, in response to the veryunhappy telecommunications customers, de-regulated the industry. Weall have agreed that the customers are the most important group right?So what HAD to happen, and is still a work in progress, was managementHAD to start making the customers happier again - and that meantproviding much more choice and much cheaper billings.
So thisbrings us to the last part of your "happy" theory - company profits andmy cash dividends. Now how do you suppose company management was goingto make their customers happier and at the same time keep the profitsup, thus shareholders happy with their dividends? No surprise here -management HAD to start playing hard ball with the union demands - nomore roll over easy as soon as a strike was threathened. Furthermore,as the competition for customers intensified and services becamecheaper and cheaper, management HAD to start aggressively downsizingthe total workforce - and yes - even start outsourcing - all in aneffort to keep customers happy AND maintain profits by controlling thespiralling total payroll/benefits costs.
So TechPerson, can younow see how it is folly on your part to suggest ''Happy workers usuallymean happy customers and that usually translates to profits"? Itsimply can't be done! That is unless the unions forget about theirglory days a couple of decades ago and accept the realities of thecurrent business environment. Put aside all the bruised egos and pastbitterness about past strikes, etc - that is all in the past and meanssquat now!
The most pathethic thing about all this is that therestill are far too many Telus workers from that glory era of a couple ofdecades ago - and they are VERY unhappy. Which would be OK since theywill soon, finally, all be out to pasture where they can reminisceabout those good olde days. However, right now they still basicallycontrol the Union direction and worse of all, they continue to poisonand indoctrinate all the fresh, eager, young, and HAPPY workers cominginto the Telus workforce - quickly turning too many of them into lesshappy workers.
Thus TechPerson, in my view it actually ispossible in theory to end up with your ''Happy workers usually meanhappy customers and that usually translates to profits" - but, and thisis a BIG but - this will be mainly up to the Union themselves sincenone of the other players can make the changes necessary. Not thecustomers, not management and certainly not the hard cold balance sheetnumbers.
Only the Union can make their workers happier bysimply accepting the permanent changes that have, and will continue tobe made. But I can't see that happening any time soon - things have tofirst get as bad as in the auto sector before such realities areunavoidable. And for sure ALL of the remaining glory day Telus workershave to get out and retire in order for the ones coming in to have anychance whatsoever to change how the Union will deal with this in thedecades ahead.