From Clive Russell.
I’D like to draw attention to the human face of redundancies and ask the general question of what is ‘business’ all about?

Last week I had occasion to use Jersey Telecom’s fault service, suffering a crackly line and, worst of all, the broadband dropping out at crucial moments.
Although the waiting time was irritating, the call handling was really good, giving me an expected time that an engineer would contact me, what he was likely to do and how they could help in the meantime.

Sure enough I was called by an engineer who sounded competent and thorough. He told me that he would try everything outside my home first and only disturb us if he had to. Unfortunately, my fault was tricky and he called back to say: ‘I’ll need to get inside, can we meet?’

I was at work, so I tentatively suggested one o’clock, expecting the traditional: ‘No. Sorry sir, it will have to be anytime between noon and 8 pm.’ Not a bit of it, he would delay his lunch and meet me.

When in the house, he changed what he needed to, explained how things worked and was the most knowledgeable, helpful and experienced representative of any company you could wish to meet. This is real customer service, not that pretend stuff where you’re assured your important and then fobbed off.

We then turned the conversation to Telecom’s redundancy plans, which he may feature in, how little he knows and how worried he is, how overworked he and his colleagues are and how they can’t understand what’s happening around them.

It seems the harder they work, the better the service, the more profit they make – and it’s not enough.

My point to this letter is that JT is very obviously not a failing company and it has talented and good people working for it, individuals who live and contribute to the Island economy, not just with consumer spending and taxes, but with talent and service.

Politicians should be very, very careful when their vision is short term and their eyes are clouded by immediate profits and balance sheets. I urge politicians (bearing in mind that I don’t live in the real world and I can’t possibly be clever enough to understand the complex arguments) not to accept the easy options of redundancies.

Look for alternatives, make that talented senior management board work for their status, demand another solution, challenge the easy options – stuff competition if it’s only big business and the wealthy that enjoy the outcome.

To my engineer and his colleagues, thanks and good luck. If the worst happens, take your skills and the redundancy and then sell that talent back to them as a freelance or as a competitor.