Training your replacement

sovietspybob · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:04

Just after a bit of reaction to what you would do in this situation.

I'm currently working in IT at a fairly large site and have done the same job here for the last 14 years, IT was outsourced 7 years ago and now a new provider has won the contract they've decided to let all of the site staff go and rely on field engineers instead as a cost saving. They're wanting us to train these field staff up asap so they can get rid of us.

Would you be happy to train said people? We're feeling rather put out by this and doing a big of an (unofficial) go slow on the training until we can find something better ourselves.

Initially they were offering us retention bonuses until the dust settled and everyone was up to speed but that's now been pulled away.

What would you do and how would you feel about being asked?

Quartz · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:08

That bites. Are you not covered by TUPE?

Terminal_Boy · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:14

I’d not be breaking any productivity records training my replacements up and I’d be devoting my main energy to finding another job.

Is this training on top of your regular duties or instead of them?

Thekwango · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:18

surely unless your contract requires you to provide training to new starts/colleagues etc you can tell them to do one?

sovietspybob · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:19

We're all contractors here so no TUPE

they've been promising permanent jobs for 7 years just to string us along seemingly.

Yeah training is all on top of whatever we're doing currently.

I did bring it up with my boss that we're not that happy about training the new guys (as i can't see anything in my contract about it), i was told i was lucky he was such a nice guy and didn't forward my email any further up the chain as they'd have me thrown off site within 24 hours... lovely bunch of chaps i work for...

dan958 · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:20

I'd do it while I was looking for another job. As soon as I got accepted for another job, I'd be out of there.

weathmatth · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:21

If it were me i would straight up refuse, but its probably not the best advise.

Quartz · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:28

sovietspybob said:
We're all contractors here so no TUPE

So be professional. You might want them to employ you in the future.

Yeah training is all on top of whatever we're doing currently.

"Okay boss, training Jane is going to take time, so which of my current jobs do you want me to deprioritise?" You are a contractor so should have no problem training someone as long as they're paying you. But your manager needs to know that this will cause a resourcing issue. And that's her responsibility.

thenewoc · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:28

Surely after 2 years of working for them you could have them on constructive dismissal. I would seek advice.

Thekwango · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:29

sovietspybob said:
We're all contractors here so no TUPE they've been promising permanent jobs for 7 years just to string us along seemingly.

Yeah training is all on top of whatever we're doing currently.

I did bring it up with my boss that we're not that happy about training the new guys (as i can't see anything in my contract about it), i was told i was lucky he was such a nice guy and didn't forward my email any further up the chain as they'd have me thrown off site within 24 hours... lovely bunch of chaps i work for...

jesus. how the **** have you stuck it for 14 years?!

touch · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:36

Quartz said:
So be professional. You might want them to employ you in the future.

This.
Cost saving by getting admin/engineering/some other type of vaguely computer-related staff to cover the IT support is common. It never works out well and they'll be looking for new support staff soon.
Stay polite + professional and increase your rates when they ask you to come back.

d_brennen · 18 Jul 2019 at 16:43

Quartz said:
So be professional. You might want them to employ you in the future.

"Okay boss, training Jane is going to take time, so which of my current jobs do you want me to deprioritise?" You are a contractor so should have no problem training someone as long as they're paying you. But your manager needs to know that this will cause a resourcing issue. And that's her responsibility.

What this man said.

IvanDobskey · 18 Jul 2019 at 17:28

I was in this situation earlier in the year. I did negotiate an extra 5k to my redundancy package before agreeing though.

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Jul 2019 at 17:33

I did the exact thing, I took Voluntary Redundancy and I tried the person who took over my role for 3 months. Was perfect as I got another 3 months wages + redundancy.

Terminal_Boy · 18 Jul 2019 at 17:36

touch said:
This.
Cost saving by getting admin/engineering/some other type of vaguely computer-related staff to cover the IT support is common. It never works out well and they'll be looking for new support staff soon.
Stay polite + professional and increase your rates when they ask you to come back.

Any company that took cost saving seriously wouldn’t employ contractors for 14 years.

LuckyBenski · 18 Jul 2019 at 18:40

Terminal_Boy said:
Any company that took cost saving seriously wouldn’t employ contractors for 14 years.

Unless they're paying them employee rates but no benefits like holiday, pension, healthcare etc. And no PAYE paperwork too.

Honestly the employer, and the IT folks sound rubbish. Find a new job and sack them all off. Unless you desperately care about the company's wellbeing or your personal pride, do the bare minimum to train replacements. It can be be their circus and their monkeys to try and keep in line once you're gone.

DarrenM343 · 18 Jul 2019 at 18:42

sovietspybob said:
We're all contractors here so no TUPE they've been promising permanent jobs for 7 years just to string us along seemingly.

Yeah training is all on top of whatever we're doing currently.

I did bring it up with my boss that we're not that happy about training the new guys (as i can't see anything in my contract about it), i was told i was lucky he was such a nice guy and didn't forward my email any further up the chain as they'd have me thrown off site within 24 hours... lovely bunch of chaps i work for...

I was going to support you until you said you're a contractor having been there for 14 years.
You're providing a service to the company, you're not a permanent employee. Either get with the programme or serve your notice and look for another contract elsewhere. No go slow, just get it done and get out of there and stop thinking like an employee (I hope youv';e been inside IR35 all this time?

)

I've done a lot of contracting too. Be professional and don't take it personally (not an employee). Being there for 14 years makes no difference.
I'm helping out an org(client) at the moment and just after getting a six month extension they pulled the funding. Many were given a weeks notice. That's contracting. I was happy to go but ended up being required on another project.
One of the joys of contracting is moving around, not being stuck in the same place and expecting to be treated like an employee. Persoanlly I always embraced the end of contracts

.
Good luck in finding a new challenge!

iamdjdz · 18 Jul 2019 at 19:09

I've been in the opposite position kind of, I was brought in to a small IT team in a company that was subsequently taken over. They offered me a field engineer job and got the guy who was my ex manager to train me. He knew he was on borrowed time in his employment and he was very gracious about it. We were friends (despite me being 30 years his junior) and we still occasionally keep in touch. I was there the day he lost his job and the rest of the team went and it was sad for me too.

If I were you I'd be looking for other jobs, even in work (on personal devices) but still try and train the new guys, you might even need some training in your next job. Don't neglect yourself and don't tell your manager etc that you're spending time looking.