ok, I'll vent.

[utiliquesternomo]

I'm one of those Luziana locators that UtiliQuest sent on their merry way Nov.1st. I can live to be 100 years old and I'll never understand how UtiliQuest corporate did NOTHING to help Louisiana. "Oh, I know, we'll have a conference call for EVERY liable damage EVERY thursday where we can slam the DPS. We can listen as some supervisors throw any and all of their DPS' under the bus for a 25pr.", was their only answer. For MONTHS they watched (and yes, they watched) the ticket loads grow to 300-400 per locator (yes, it's true) in New Orleans and did nothing. They watched the emails come in about ANOTHER liable damage that was caused by the DPS not getting to the ticket in time because he had 200 red tickets in his load and REFUSED to hire more locators. Actually, they did do something.They added the Cox contract in New Orleans and E-Sketch at the same time. And of course, if the DPS turned on his PC ONE minute before he said he did or he ate a snadwich in his truck while hitting a pothole, he had to leave the field to drive to the office and sign a form and leave some blood. Nooooo, signing them all at once on a Monday morning or something just wouldn't work. It was as if they had a death pool going for Louisiana.
Bitter? Some.Aggraved? Hell yea. I love the locating world.It's what I do. Watching men that have never touched a can of orange paint damage it makes me sad.

[ProfessionalLocator]

I'm one of those Luziana locators that UtiliQuest sent on their merry way Nov.1st. I can live to be 100 years old and I'll never understand how UtiliQuest corporate did NOTHING to help Louisiana. "Oh, I know, we'll have a conference call for EVERY liable damage EVERY thursday where we can slam the DPS. We can listen as some supervisors throw any and all of their DPS' under the bus for a 25pr.", was their only answer. For MONTHS they watched (and yes, they watched) the ticket loads grow to 300-400 per locator (yes, it's true) in New Orleans and did nothing. They watched the emails come in about ANOTHER liable damage that was caused by the DPS not getting to the ticket in time because he had 200 red tickets in his load and REFUSED to hire more locators. Actually, they did do something.They added the Cox contract in New Orleans and E-Sketch at the same time. And of course, if the DPS turned on his PC ONE minute before he said he did or he ate a snadwich in his truck while hitting a pothole, he had to leave the field to drive to the office and sign a form and leave some blood. Nooooo, signing them all at once on a Monday morning or something just wouldn't work. It was as if they had a death pool going for Louisiana.
Bitter? Some.Aggraved? Hell yea. I love the locating world.It's what I do. Watching men that have never touched a can of orange paint damage it makes me sad.

It's not that corporate did nothing, they did all those things you complained of and more of the same. What happened in your neck of the woods is the inevitable result of their ideas being implemented. If they had done more than things would have gotten a lot worse a lot quicker.

I do not think they can turn around that firm, too many bad managers. It reminds me of Russia in WWII. The Russians had a huge army to use as cannon fodder. But Stalin feared anyone who may be a potential threat to his hold on internal power. So a great many of their officers, very high ranking officers, were killed or imprisoned at Stalin's orders. This left them without much in the way of "management" level soldiers.

One I heard about was a General whose armored units were running up against the new German Tiger and Panther tanks. The armor on the tiger was very heavy and the Russian T-34 could only defeat it be charging at it to get close. The use it's speed and maneuverability to try and get a shot in at the weaker rear of the Tiger. This of course led to a high loss rate among the T-34's and their crews. So this General had the T-34's report the position of the Tigers they ran into and then fall back. He then sent over some of the latest Stalin series heavy tanks to fight along side of the T-34s which led to destroying the Tigers with fewer losses. The Russians took that General, put him against a wall and shot him. While very effective that General did not comply with the order to never fall back from enemy forces even though he held his sector and was defeating the Germans.

In any organization management tends to recommend and hire managers that are like themselves. So if you have an aggressive, well run firm they will hire aggressive and competent managers. If the firm is poorly run then they will generally hire incompetent managers. Part of this is hiring people like themselves and another part is not hiring people who could be promoted to take their jobs from them.

This is not to say that good managers do not get hired, just that if they act like good managers they will get fired like that General got shot by the firing squad. These good managers are battered into submission and the long term effect upon them is that they will likely cease being such good managers. Slowly the bad way of doing things gets ingrained into them, similar to the mental process of institutionalization.

I have observed that UTiliquest had become a training ground for other firms, other firms hire their locators away. Not so much as hiring them away as those UTiliquest locators are just leaving that ship. I have also observed that there has begun a similar action by Utiliquest managers, they also have begun to leave the ship.

I imagine the Utliquest clone USIC is in a similar state.

[Wingfoot]

In any organization management tends to recommend and hire managers that are like themselves. So if you have an aggressive, well run firm they will hire aggressive and competent managers. If the firm is poorly run then they will generally hire incompetent managers.

Right on Pro! Years ago I worked in the finance field. I found making loans to a particular class of people always draws in more of the same - good or bad...........

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[brittany]

ok UQ, usually I keep my mouth shut but if you do the math you know where I am about to start heading on this. I agree totally. Been there, seen it all with my own 2 eyes. Begging and pleading to no avail. What do we get in return, a swift kick out the door. Endless tickets, ranting customers and contractors, working 7 days a week and hoping you get one day off next weekend. These things all drove us crazy. But, the "death pool" is no more, it has been packed (just FYI).lol. Saw that today too!

[utiliquesternomo]

Sorry, I have to dissagree. Corporate did absolutly nothing. We didn't need e-sketch and god knows we didn't need another client. We didn't need locators working months with only a day off every now and then. We didn't need bonuses for weekend work. We needed more locators, simple as that. They went from 9 to 24 in New Orleans AFTER the damage was done. Incompetence. Plain and simple incompetence.

[ProfessionalLocator]

Sorry, I have to dissagree. Corporate did absolutly nothing. We didn't need e-sketch and god knows we didn't need another client. We didn't need locators working months with only a day off every now and then. We didn't need bonuses for weekend work. We needed more locators, simple as that. They went from 9 to 24 in New Orleans AFTER the damage was done. Incompetence. Plain and simple incompetence.

I view the inaction as an intentional choice. Inaction, to do nothing, is in business just the same as action, a decision on what to do and then acting upon it, in this case do nothing in certain areas.

I agree fully with your assessment of incompetence. Their basic idea that skilled and motivated locators and foremen could be replaced by technology, and draconian rules and punishment, is not applicable to this industry. This lack of management ability, competence, is like using a wrench for a hammer, you do not drive the nail well and break the wrench.

They also failed to recognize the difference between machines and employees. A machine can run 24/7 which only burns an employee out. It is common in this industry to work long and hard during the months from Spring to Fall. Still when it is longer than 8 hour a day with no weekends off it becomes excessive. I find the Winter months are a recover period where the light workload allows the locator to recover both physically and mentally, come Spring I am ready to go it again.

They also failed to recognize that the locator is a skilled position demanding good training, experience which is an extension of training and to foster a good attitude among these workers. Utiliquest has a long history going back to their Byers Engineering days of thinking that any warm body can fill that position. This is among the many bad ideas and attitudes that are entrenched at Utiliquest.

You will find a similar situation at the more recently formed USIC which copied the Utiliquest model of how to operate a locate firm. This is why I call USIC an Utiliquest clone.

A manger at Utiliquest was telling me he had no fear of losing his job, Utiliquest was too big and had been around too long to fail. That contracts come and go and losing these contracts was not a problem, I hold a different view. While failure may not be sudden the road to such a collapse has been laid and followed and the effects have already begun.

Losing contracts more and more nationally has produced a number of reduced size Utiliquest offices.

Lose too many contracts and an office closes or lays off a lot of locators. Lay off locators and foreman's groups are reduced in size so they recombine the groups resulting in fewer groups and fewer foremen. These foremen will be knocked down to locator or just shown the door.

Lose too many contracts and your remaining clients begin to wonder just why they are doing business with you and begin reviewing your performance with a more critical eye. After all, their competitors and peers find it better to do business with someone else, there may be something to that.

[Wingfoot]

Hey nomo - USIC needs experienced, competent locators badly in Houston. Houston ain't that far from Narlings, We-see-Anna! And the climate is about the same in Houston as Narlings. Check it out: USIC Careers - Select the State of Texas.

If it's true that UtiliQuest is an USIC clone, it will be more like a job transfer for you. If you become a USICer, it would be like you never left the "Blue Bayou!"

Luv Ya Man!

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[sprayandpray]

Houston also needs a new DM and Claims Coordinator. Seems like the DM transfer from CLS (Sean Cash) didn't last very long.