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    What Do You Think, Nortel Employees?

    By Mark Evans | February 29, 2008

    Given about 50% of this blog’s readers are Nortel employees, I’m curious about how they feel about the current corporate landscape in the wake of the disappointing financial results and the elimination of another 2,000 to 3,000 jobs.

    Is there any sense of optimism these days? Do you have faith the management team is leading the company in the right direction? Is there still more restructuring - extensive jobs cuts, a reduction in R&D spending as well as SG&A costs - to be done before Nortel can find stable ground?

    What do you think? Leave a comment or, if you feel more comfortable, a poll answer.

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    Topics: Financials |

    Viewing 36 Comments

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      Why hasn't the worthless Mike Z and his GE cronies been fired yet? His five year plan has done nothing but further destroy Nortel. GE is also sinking fast and the sick sigma management style is doing nothing to keep it afloat, just like it is doing nothing for Nortel. Maybe the sick sigma black belts should turn into ninjas and take Mike Z out in the middle of the night. That at least would justify the expense of the sick sigma program at Nortel.

      Since Mike Z hasn't been fired, doesnt this mean that the board is also part of the grand scheme to fleece what is left of Nortel...

      Mike Z should have at least been fired for the content of the following article:

      http://www.billingworld.com/news/briefs/struggl...
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      Nortel is investing too heavily in Asia and are setting
      themselves up for disaster.
      The chinese will cheat, steal, copyright/patent infringe and pull the rug right from under them.
      Z will leave the carpet and be airborne with such torque twist and force due to the sudden yank he could probably drill a hole in Beijing Bobs Skull. All at the expense
      of the North American Employees.
      I thought Nortel were building that huge R and D campus over there because the Chinese were buying nortel gear and signing contracts? Looks like all that dried up, but the building continues over there and the investment turns softer and softer. What a crock.
      If Nortel want to make headway, fire the marketers they
      have now and get some innovative commercials and advertising that feature COMEDY. You know laughter, the universal language. They also need the Canadian Government to put some more pokers in their fire. After all isn't Nortel suppose to be Canadas Crown Jewel of Technology? The gov't treat it like a Crown Royal. And what good did John Manley ever do on the board?
      Anybody?
      I know one thing.
      Nortels best prospects are definitely not in China, Mexico, India, Poland or God knows
      where they'll be looking next...North Korea?
      Outsourcing is a traitorous choice.
      If they let got the right people in North America they have a chance.
      Ditch the suits, the under achieving marketers, salespeople, admin, poor market
      strategizers, managers that aren't managing their employees, a meaningful
      project or something progressive, and the plethera of idiots that Z keeps promoting or hiring for dumb ass positions and programs like black belt, sigma six, ethics and all that other crap.
      Nortel need an intellectual go getter home grown Canadian like Don Cherry with
      the proper knowledge to succeed.
      Maybe Canada should get out of NAFTA and Alberta and it's oilfields should
      be the capital of Canada. Definitely not Ottawa or Toronto.
      We'll see what happens..We'll see....
      I disagree with the India/China Comment.
      Outsourcing has shown to have the opposite effect of that which was desirous.
      China is no longer a low cost center.
      It has become too westernized and the average salary per engineer head between
      the Two countries is NOW LESS than 2:1 and the gap is rapidly closing.
      China has not shown they can make a profit for Nortel and in fact it is a losing
      endeavour. Many Chinese leave nortel after basic training along with stealing
      technology so they can go peddle their wares at Huaweii or other Chinese Companies. The chinese can do manufacturing (so long as we are not
      talking about anything too complex) but design, engineering and
      even support is another story. They fail miserably at that. If nortel continue to invest
      these skillsets in China and India and other cheap
      markets that simply cannot turn over a profit the company will slip into oblivion.
      Mexico and Poland (particularly the quality of workmanship from Mexico) will
      have disastrous effects on the bottom line if Nortel cotinue their investment
      in places like this.
      Here is how Nortel Needs to Get Fixed:
      A/ More subsidies from the Canadian government. The government talks how
      important Nortel is To Canada. They should put their money with their mouth
      is rather than have John Manley walking around like he is doing Nortel a favour
      which they deserve based on their history and contributions to the telco world.
      Talk and suits (unless you are Don Cherry) are cheap.
      B/ Massive re-org to cut the fact from JCI-4 positions and up. Promote JCI 1, 2 and 3
      to managerial positions if they want it and save a ton of money with better informed
      more eager people who know how things really work at all levels.
      B/ Immediate salary freeeze on anybody earning over 100k unless they have patents
      in their name and are one of only a few who can do a particular job at Nortel.
      Nortel have to start looking at how much people earn and what kind of job they are
      doing. Administration salaries over 70k/year is ridiculous. SG&A on the whole
      over 70k is ridiculous.
      C/ Instead of outsourcing to cheaper markets that don't deliver they need to clean up
      their own house with respect to overinflated salaries paid.
      The scientists, researchers, designers, engineers, support and people who
      are hands on, doing the working, contributing to revenue and saving money by
      doing more than the job they are paid for are the ones they have to keep and
      compensate accordingly. If they make the right choices they can salvage the place.
      But historically this just does not seem to happen.
      Lean sigma six and black belt is a crock.
      Let the young experience people who work on the floor and are directly responsible
      for revenue come up with ideas they can be compensated for.
      Overcompensating managers who should be gone with ridiculous programs like
      this is a huge waste of resources and money.
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      Incompetance, gets rewwarded!!! Get rid of the first line managers, now!! They are a bunch of deadbeats!!
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      test
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      Nortel employees should post their opinions here as well...

      http://www.jobvent.com/companyBrowse.php?Compan...
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      sounds like the party is over and hope doesn't linger on.
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      the popular word within the company is No for everything.

      it does not matter whether least effective or most effective. the lean six sigma ironically is to make the company leaner. so irrespective of how one performs there will be a layoff coming almost every quarter. each manager will to identify one person. even if there is a ton of least effectives somewhere else it does not matter.

      that is process a bunch of bean coutners.
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      I saw a comment below the least effectives have been fired and most effective (top guns) left doing the work.....well last year I saw 3 MEs go involuntary and 2 LEs kept, how is this possible you say?? simple....the LEs were in products where growth was
      forecast, namely Wimax..the MEs were in Optical, and that oh so old fashioned CVoiP.
      Guess what happened to those MEs? they got hired by Ericsson and Alcatel within 1 week on higher salaries than Nortel....thats the Nortel of today...mediocre and blinded by stats...
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      I'm leaving Nortel for anther vendor. During more than 3 years working for Nortel in R&D and now in Global Services, it's now really sad to say that " It's enough for Nortel, I can not stand it any more... manager ->bad, priorities process -->suck... although I was commented with Most Effective but it's worth nothing. No career development, so future. Time up for Nortel
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      I look at people at work and I think they are suffering something similar to
      battle fatigue. They are tired of the retoric and propaganda of Mike Z and his
      GE cronies.
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      I will find a new job in another company.
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      Each of the managment leaders Zman hired (ex-GE guys), brought in their own people. They come in; blow hot air and re-org after re-org (make-work-project to show something is being done) and hundreds of so-called 6sigma Master Black Belts hired the last couple years to make/measure key metrics so that can show operation margin improved this that to get their undesrved bonus...
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      Anyone know how the Nortel's CALA office in Sunrise, Florida will fare with the announced layoffs and job transfers?
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      I left last year of my own volition. I don't think Nortel has the internal capability to be anything more than moderately successful in any market through anything other than luck. In more than one market would be miraculous. Maybe it could succeed as a niche player but not as a Tier-1 vendor. Each CEO from Roth onwards has promised big and disappointed. Dunn - focussed on accounting, not products, and look how that worked out. Owens - seemed like a desperate (brilliant, if it worked) appointment and he had ideas that revitalized morale a bit, but not a lot came from them. Zafirovski - Nortel used to be about a carrier-grade culture - that was driven by engineers who took pride in their products. Now its a top down six sigma culture - except with more R&D constraints, more cost cutting, outsourcing decisions which many believe has resulted in declining quality, low onshore morale, turnover of good engineers to 'greener pastures', constant exec changes and increased competition from outside it seems we can measure how bad we suck, not how good we are. Sure, six sigma might result in process improvements but I am extremely sceptical that the products will ever be as good as they used to be when employee engagement was much higher , when there were less resource constraints, when the best people were working there and when overall, people were happy. Zafirovski was very vocal when he came in and I think most employees bought into his vision. But it hasn't materialized. I lost my respect for that mgmt team - not just through what seems like failed execution but because of what seems like arrogance on their part, Hackney notwithstanding. I hope they can succeed but I don't think it's in their fabric any more.
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      Hey, competition! I'll check it out.

      Thanks.
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      get your money and run while you can. they cannot afford to pay a lot. too much fat that costs a lot.

      if NT were a patient it would be high cholestrol, blocked arteries, heart attack, major bypass and stuck on life support until organs are harvested.
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      I am current and these are the views of an R&D insider. I start with the bottom line: Life here sucks. Plain and simple. Let me explain why...

      - low employee morale and lack of trust of execs
      - fear of outsourcing/training your replacements
      - no career growth potential
      - regular benefit cuts
      - constant fear of layoffs (for some)
      - no tolerance for innovation, managers want to play it safe and save their a$$
      - did I mention low morale?

      On a bright site, I, like so many others, am hoping I get the notice soon and walk away (while I still can) with my retirement.

      Cheers
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      New management supposedly fired all the non-performers long ago, so now there are only the top guns left. - and, of course, management itself. Why is business still sucking?
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      i'm hoping for a notice.. this company is upside down on their retirement fund to the tune of 2.9 billion. i want to grab my lump sum and run.. i can see a bankruptcy and a loss of all retirement funds..
      why does nt have to be a global company when the market is so different around the globe? nt-na, nt-eu, nt-asia etc...
      6 sigma. own it, are only buzz words that say to me ' i ,upper management, will not take responsibility for anything bad that happens". i challenge you to show everybody where these phony plans have worked with out pain to those that really produce.
      MZ and his cronies don't have a clue. out source engineering to mexico, half a** engineering is the result. out source supply chain to ??? where are the parts..
      i have been on a job since week 1 that was to run 4 weeks. i am still there and will be for 2 more, reason, incomplete engineering, parts have still not been delivered. gosh, somebody pony up a credit card so we can buy the parts.. we can not survive waiting for parts..
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      A New Hope puts it very well. Indeed you bring out the other part of the textile business analogy - that there are still jobs in the West for 'brand-marketeers', and unfortunately Nortel cannot define a brand. Hyperconnectivity is just a long word and doesn't do it. It has tried to cover all bases and isn't big enough. So indeed it is time for a gamble on a new product, and bow out if it doesn't fly. The alternative is a slow death even with outsourcing (making products cheaper is still no good if they are not wanted).
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      I left in November, but it's sad to see this continuing news anyway.
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      got my notice yesterday. thank god. out of here. no point sitting around in fear.

      luck favors the brave.
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      I would have to say congratulation, I tried to get them to lay me off and they would not do it. It was such a great relief to say I quit and not go home thinking about Nortel work on a daily basis. My stress level has dropped to near zero now if I could just do something about my 12 year old daughter but that is another story.
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      I agree with Wondering and A New Hope. Part of the telecom market has become a commodity. Like it or not, and despite how hard they are trying not to be, the large carriers are now simply bit-movers. Nortel is still focused on making pipes for the bit-movers to buy to move the bits through.

      A recent poll shows that 78% of iPhone users are VERY SATISFIED with their experience. I bet if you include SATISFIED and VERY SATISFIED it would be well above 90%. What do users like about the iPhone? Is it AT&T? No, AT&T is the necessarily evil that brings phone calls and slow data rates. The iPhone revolutionizes how people connect to and use information. AT&T gets in the way but there's no better way to deliver ubiquitous voice calls at the moment.

      Nortel needs to figure out how to align with the iPhones of the telecom world rather than the AT&T's. Selling pipes to AT&T is a commodity business, and whoever makes the cheapest pipes wins. See Huawei.

      I don't see how we (Nortel) are getting out of the pipe making business, so my hopes are very low right now as an employee. We're doing yeoman's work cutting costs. What are we doing about growth?
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      I remember when Mike Z first came to Nortel....He was respected, treated like a savior (a god)...Everyone for the most part gained a sense of enthusiasm and optimism......

      Now I have to say..he sucks...the managment team he created (ex-GE guys) with the bull crap 6 sigma have not done anything and have not brought anything other than their bloody EGO's.

      You have to dig dip into the "working class"....ask about the Operations...ask about how people really feel.....it such a mess, and only thing they are conerned about is making the key metrics so they get their undeserved bonus.....

      How can a company survive when the "people" don't respect their Mgmt team. So, its doesn't surprise me how disappointing the results are......
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      this is what will set Nortel employees off. Execs have delivered on less than 50% of their goals yet get rewarded. i wish it worked the same for Sales people...

      http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/busine...
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      The sales people get commisions for selling the same old stuff to the same old customers. No extra rewards for selling new stuff to new customers. The 1st dollar of sales gets the same commision as the last. The sales folks in Nortel have it really easy - they always get 80 to 150% of their sales bonus. The technical staff only get bonuses when the corporation pays a corporate bonus, the last full corporate bonus paid was in 2003, with no bonus in 2001, 2002, 2004 and only partials lately.
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      Wondering has it wrong about the British textile business; Nortel's trying to become a fashion house, not a textile manufacturer.

      The problem it has is that it's been unable to capture the telecoms zeitgeist and set a differentiated "fashion trend" in an industry dominated by simultaneously niche and volume players. It's being choked out of the market. Nortel is also hamstrung by a peculiar North American xenophobia to globalisation and a lack of understanding of markets outside NA.

      It's too easy to say the economy is slowing down or there's an industry specific downturn in telecoms. Ultimately, around the world, more is being spent on comms now than last year. And it will be more again next year. Mobile comms is booming, consumers and enterprises are crying out for decent converged voice, data and multimedia applications and services. Why would MSFT, HP, Dell, Apple, etc. all be trying to break into a declining market?

      Nortel has three basic problems:

      1) It has been bad at exploiting truly growing markets, relying on NA for far too long.

      2) It's been poor at converting innovation into new market opportunity (PBT a possible recent exception).

      3) It has no vision of where comunications is heading and what the world should be aiming for in a way that global societies or its carrier and enterprise customers can relate to.

      Allied to this are contributary factors: tinkering with it's organisational structure when what was needed was a wholesale revamp of it's complex matrixed organisation ever since it shed 60,000+ employees in 2001/2; competition between it's different business units with carrier and enterprise sales going after the same end customers with different business models; a fundamental lack of understanding throughout the organisation of what the huge changes in communications with the advent of the Internet and widespread mobile communications from '92 - to the present day have meant for their overall business model; and a failure, despite loud noises in the right direction, to become a services lead business.

      Is it too late to turn it around? I hope not.

      But decision making needs to be vastly accelerated and some real bets made on the future of the company. Every current manager in the company should be tested on their understanding of Nortel's business fundamentals, where the communications markets in different parts of the world are headed and what sort of behaviours will mean success (specific behaviours, not vague tenets such as "Focus on the customer").

      The problem is that, once they do this, they could find only a handful of people truly qualified to work there.
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      Outsourcing textile businesses is fine, plastic trinkets "made in china" is fine, too, but you don't export the hi tech our lives increasingly rely on to Third World countries to "save" a quick buck or two.

      Thats lousy mangement.
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      Great polling idea. I am an employee and am "Somewhat Optimistic." I was shocked to see the overall doubt your poll suggests. As unscientific as it may be, this blog provides great information. Thanks and keep us informed!
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      I share the same view as Wondering.

      Still, I'd rather like to know how employees feel about that story:

      http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/busine...
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      There are a few simple facts to remember here. Stock Grants and Options vest over a 3 year period. This means that they have zero cash value until they vest. Also, there was no statement as to the strike price of the grants and options. Given the recent severe decline in share price, it would be easy to assume that these grants and options are under water. However, Mike Z did receive $2.52 Million in cash compensation.

      It's funny when the press makes bold statements without stating the actual facts behind the statement. Stir the pot a little more please.
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      somehow - I don't think I am going to get a 20% raise
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      Except lay off some jobs, I can't see any improvement in the business. There are some new activities brought from management team, but can't take any effect. Managers just followed the orders from the higher level managers, and the employees are wondering about their future. That is what I see in my department, I hope the situation is better in other department.
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      The story that Nortel keeps hoping is true is plausible at first glance -- big corp takes a ducking and sheds some staff, revitalises and comes back to win. It's a story of rebirth that resonates deep in the human psyche. But it's wearing thin and here's what I think is actually happening. The Nortel business is going in the same direction as the British textile business (and other manufacturing industry) went the 20th century. It's simply being done cheaper elsewhere. There isn't anything that cannot be done cheaper in India/China etc than in NA/Europe. Job cuts and outsourcing are not a temporary measure before a bounceback recovery, they are a continuous process, which will probably accelerate.
     
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