Jonah

[Tasslehoff]

I have had 4 contracts now and each and every one has had an element of staff redundancy

1st one they canned the entire consultancy and brought it in house
2nd one new Head of IT came in and canned all contractors
3rd one two company's merge and all contractors put on notice
4th one (current) all permies being canned and dev functions being outsourced (I am helping with transition)

Is this normal and part and parcel of the contractor lot or “YANCOTBAC”

[d000hg]

Normally anywhere I work just shuts down.

Now that's what I call being a proper Jonah.

I bring my own whale.

You partner up with MF?

[NickFitz]

Standard for British business. Managers get raises/bonuses/promotions/new jobs by saying "I did X, Y, and Z", and nobody enquires too closely into whether any of it actually needed doing.

Change the culture so the job goes to the chap who can say "At my last place, I could see that nothing needed doing, so I left well alone."

[EternalOptimist]

I've seen a little bit of this, but not as much as you or this fellow

'We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation'

Caius Petronius-Roman Consul AD60

[Jubber]

I've seen a little bit of this, but not as much as you or this fellow

'We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation'

Caius Petronius-Roman Consul AD60

You love a gladiator don't you ?

[JRCT]

Standard for British business. Managers get raises/bonuses/promotions/new jobs by saying "I did X, Y, and Z", and nobody enquires too closely into whether any of it actually needed doing.

Change the culture so the job goes to the chap who can say "At my last place, I could see that nothing needed doing, so I left well alone."

It's interesting you say that. I've said in more than one interview that one of the best things I ever achieved in my last permie role was persuading the FD NOT to implement a new software solution and just to use the one we already had a bit better.

It took some doing, but eventually she agreed. Saved them thousands - not that I got any thanks for it. F%^&*£$rs!

[TestMangler]

I've seen a little bit of this, but not as much as you or this fellow

'We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation'

Caius Petronius-Roman Consul AD60

Fairly sure he's now IT Director at Lloyds

[Gibbon]

I've seen a little bit of this, but not as much as you or this fellow

'We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation'

Caius Petronius-Roman Consul AD60

Ahem.

In recent times, a popular quotation (actually by Charlton Ogburn, 1957[1]) on reorganization is often (but spuriously[2][3]) attributed to a Gaius Petronius.

His satire on the vulgar excesses of the the ex-slave Trimalchio is worth a read though. He was also a close confidant and adviser of fashion to Nero.

[EternalOptimist]

Ahem.

In recent times, a popular quotation (actually by Charlton Ogburn, 1957[1]) on reorganization is often (but spuriously[2][3]) attributed to a Gaius Petronius.

His satire on the vulgar excesses of the the ex-slave Trimalchio is worth a read though. He was also a close confidant and adviser of fashion to Nero.

yikes. you are probably right. In any event, I found a great site called quote investigator

[OwlHoot]

Change the culture so the job goes to the chap who can say "At my last place, I could see that nothing needed doing, so I left well alone."

With extra kudos if the chap's or chapess's last place was the House of Commons.

(My impression is the House of Lords already mostly has this highly desirable culture.)