British Gas fire and rehire part of their work force

[Newnamefor2021]

Today a unknown number of engineers were given their notice, they will be fired without any redundancy in the 14th.

The reason is they want to introduce new contracts. Which is fair enough. But the CEO put in place on day 3 of negotiations a fire and rehire notice. They were told, accept or be fired.

The contract has some major flaws and some big asks, the major problems are;

SAFETY- they will time jobs I.e. 20 minutes for a service, if this takes longer the engineer will owe the company this time and have to come in on days off or work in to make back. Engineers say this is unrealistic and will impact safety and customer satisfaction.

So many unknowns - when questions are asked the company says they haven't worked all the issues out yet. There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of surprises. The company has told engineers they need to put their trust in the company, a company that issues a fire notice before they and even discussed the terms.

Increased hours - minimum 3 hours, plus first and last 30 minutes of travel is your own time, so that's an extra 1 hour a day. Plus with the hours they may owe plus dynamic rostering which means the combat can inverse their hours on a given week if they need more cover.

Less pay - increased hours without the pay for it, loss of bank holiday, weekend, night payments, overtime cut etc etc

Engineers have taken a battering to their pay and pension the past decade, they are always told to trust and this will be the thing that saves the company. They took a massive cut to their pensions a couple of years ago, they were promised it would help the company and they were promised the company would employ new workers/apprenticeships but they didn't. So now after years of not meeting their promises they are not really trusting management.

They also works throughout the pandemic, like so many and went the extra mile, they delivered food parcels for the trussel trust to promoters company, all the time being told they company was doing fine.

Anyway, sorry for the long post.

Just so annoyed it's happened, it's been allowed to happen and that it's an easy and legal way to get rid of employees without redundancy pay. What this may mean to all of us. It's too late for British Gas, but the rules around this sort of action need to be changed to stop the abuse of this legal loophole.

Its disgusting big companies get away with this.
British Airways sacked some of their staff last year. Those who stayed have taken a paycut.
BA are now in talks with Tottenham Hotspur about sponsoring their stadium for £250mil.
How is this fair??

Firing people without cause or redundancy should be made illegal, if it isn't already. Are these engineers considered employees or contractors?

I hope the bit about 2O minute services gets well-publicised. Let the customers know British Gas is willing to compromise on safety and service to squeeze every penny out of its workers.

@Blimeypinkers

Its disgusting big companies get away with this. British Airways sacked some of their staff last year. Those who stayed have taken a paycut. BA are now in talks with Tottenham Hotspur about sponsoring their stadium for £250mil. How is this fair??

I thought BA pulled the fire and rehire at the last minute after the staff had given in and signed the subpar contract? The CEO of Centrica actually criticised BA s handling of fire and rehire. It's unbelievable.

@EsmaCannonball

Firing people without cause or redundancy should be made illegal, if it isn't already. Are these engineers considered employees or contractors?

I hope the bit about 2O minute services gets well-publicised. Let the customers know British Gas is willing to compromise on safety and service to squeeze every penny out of its workers.

They are direct employees. One of the only direct employee models, which the company needs if they want their staff duel skilled in renewables as well as domestic gas. A lot of other companies recently made their staff redundant and took them on as contractors which BG employees would have been happy to do.

The entire counter argument from the CEO is;

1. They have to make cuts to save jobs.

This is fair enough, no one is arguing that cuts don't need to be made, it's the way they are doing it that's the issue. Plus the engineers have been told this for almost a decade with no improvements, so they aren't really trusted when they say this is now the thing that will save the company. Engineers will make compromises but in a negotiation not a bullying tactic.

1. Engineers are already paid £40,000, which is more than a junior doctor.

Firstly that's a lie. It may have been possible to earn that with overtime etc but since they are reducing overtime significantly and hourly rates of pay and bank holidays, nights etc etc then it's not possible. Plus a lot of engineers could only dream of earning that amount. Job adverts evidence that engineer earn between 34-36k.

The second bit if this is that the CEO talks about how it's a high salary, a generous salary and they should be happy with it, the fact that is isn't that is a while other story, but even if it was, the CEO earns more than £750,000 plus millions in bonuses and other benefits. Hmmm. That's more than the prime minister. How can someone earning 750k plus bonuses claim that 40k is very generous, is he not embarrassed by his own salary? Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge him his salary but if he's going after other people's salary then he needs to explain why he earns 10x more than the prime minster and millions I'm bonuses when in the entire 1 years he's been CEO he's destroyed the company.

1. He was given dodgy legal advise about fire and rehire and promises he won't use it again ... after this time.

Like there will ever be any trust after this. He argued he needed to increase a million more hours from engineers hence increasing their productivity and hours, but they are firing engineers, it makes no sense. He argues that people are happy to sign when they have all done under duress. The company morale is rock bottom and they have record numbers off with mental health illnesses due to stress.

It's just bizarre how they can get away with it. I would say how do they sleep at night but the point is they sleep well as their wealth protects them. I feel like I've gone back in History as I didn't think this sort of behaviour would have been allowed in this day and age.

I worry what this means for all of us, seriously, why would any company negotiate pay and conditions or give redundancy going forward?

I want to cancel my contract with BG but will have to pay to come our of the contract. This news story makes me sick to my stomach.

There are some things I agree with. First and last 30 minutes of travel are your own time - that’s reasonable, nobody gets paid for time spent commuting to work. Min 3hr shift - also reasonable, it’s pointless going to work for less than 3hrs. Less pay - not ideal but they’re within their rights to reduce the salary, many people have taken a pay cut due to Covid. Not paying extra for working on weekends - also legal and very common, most people who work weekends don’t get paid extra. Only 20 mins per job - dangerous and could lead to rushed and shoddy work if someone knows they’re eating into their own time.

@bonfireheart

I want to cancel my contract with BG but will have to pay to come our of the contract. This news story makes me sick to my stomach.

Just switch when your out of it, it seems cheaper to switch anyway. We have been with them for years and our contract is out so will switch now. I didn't think they would have actually done it (not that it excuses the bullying they have done).

It's shocking and terrifying. There are so many poor business practices but this fire and rehire really erodes away workers rights.

I agree with the travel time, the first and last 30 mins are your normal commute to work.

But 20 mins for a service, good grief. Our company allow up to an hour for a service, we make it clear to them that as Gas Safe registered engineers it's their backside on the line if they certify something unsafe so its best to be thorough.

How can this be legal?

@ClearMountain

There are some things I agree with. First and last 30 minutes of travel are your own time - that’s reasonable, nobody gets paid for time spent commuting to work. Min 3hr shift - also reasonable, it’s pointless going to work for less than 3hrs. Less pay - not ideal but they’re within their rights to reduce the salary, many people have taken a pay cut due to Covid. Not paying extra for working on weekends - also legal and very common, most people who work weekends don’t get paid extra. Only 20 mins per job - dangerous and could lead to rushed and shoddy work if someone knows they’re eating into their own time.

Rules are different from work from home or no fixed location workers but yes, I agree.

It's less about the conditions and more about the tactics to push them through.

I don't know the actual timings, and neither do centrica, they pushed this through without making decisions about what the conditions would look like which makes the whole thing even more outrageous.

Plus, I think engineers would have taken a hit, but it's a awful lot of hits all at once. So your right, people have faced pay cuts but not many people were forced to work more hours and take a pay cut and lose over time, weekend payments, bank holidays etc etc which will signification impact their ability to work back that money.

They don't get options on where their first job is, some engineers may get jobs on the same street everyday and others have over an hours drive, so the 30 minute/1 hour thing will affect people unequally. Which is the same if you live close to your work place, but you have more autonomy in that decision.

A lot of engineers usually work in excess of 48 hours during the busy winter months, which is lower hours compared to some business I appreciate, but they get 30 minutes unpaid lunch and then times and tracked the entire time. Physical jobs which require skill and hopefully not blowing houses up. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a nurse, we worked horrendous hours next to junior doctors who worked horrendous hours on less pay than some engineers, so I'm not saying engineers have it the worse. What I'm saying, is engineer as asked to take a huge impact, it's so many aspects which will dramatically impact their hours worked and their pay, as well as their job satisfaction, customer satisfaction and safety.

I think British Gas are known for being the most expensive service out there and they are still profitable because they are seen as a quality service. Engineers regularly change light bulbs and batteries and other little jobs to help, usually elderly, customers. Customers love the engineers and it's one aspect that drives the profits for British Gas. frankly the engineers have been the face and saving point for British Gas and if they ceo had asked engineers would have found ways to plug the 1million extra hours. Now they are going to be short on 3 millions hours plus due to the actions of this fire and rehire bill.

Fire and rehire is the issue. Terms and conditions change and evolve, they could have easily got reasonable changes but they chose to use bullying tactics.

@Comefromaway

I agree with the travel time, the first and last 30 mins are your normal commute to work.

But 20 mins for a service, good grief. Our company allow up to an hour for a service, we make it clear to them that as Gas Safe registered engineers it's their backside on the line if they certify something unsafe so its best to be thorough.

How can this be legal?

Times haven't be confirmed. They say as the industry leader gas safe takes British Gas timing as the bench Mark. They say if engineers are doing it too quickly and therefore not safely than that's their own fault they expect it to be so quick. They have only been given as examples. For example, they get more time allowance if they SELL a boiler lead than they do for actually servicing a boiler.

They haven't decided what it's going to look like yet, they have been asked to sign and told engineers need to put their trust in the company.

They are told these banked hours mean if they finish everything quickly then they can leave early. The reality as I'm sure you're aware in this industry is that jobs take as long as they take. Some are relatively straight forward and others are complicated and that's jo fault of the engineer. It's just the job.

The CEO liked to compare their salaries to that of junior doctors so if we use that comparison it's like saying, this surgery takes this long, you can't take longer but if you do it quicker than you can leave earlier. This is not going to lead to quality or safe outcomes.

Gas is a serious business. You are playing with peoples lives.

@Comefromaway

Gas is a serious business. You are playing with peoples lives.

Exactly. People pay for contracts for that reason, so it seems completely counter active to time safety jobs. Who wants a timed service? I mean they were always timed and slow engineers were always pulled out and dealt with, but owing the company that time really changes things dramatically.

Apparently those who signed have now been rewarded with a surprise unlimited compulsory overtime. Talk about wanting to own your workforce. Union say it was slipped in at the last minute. Engineers say they never say the contact. Company never discussed it when rolling out the terms.

So yeah, 20 minute services.

@Newnamefor2021

Apparently those who signed have now been rewarded with a surprise unlimited compulsory overtime. Talk about wanting to own your workforce. Union say it was slipped in at the last minute. Engineers say they never say the contact. Company never discussed it when rolling out the terms.

Unbelievable!!

@ClearMountain

There are some things I agree with. First and last 30 minutes of travel are your own time - that’s reasonable, nobody gets paid for time spent commuting to work. Min 3hr shift - also reasonable, it’s pointless going to work for less than 3hrs. Less pay - not ideal but they’re within their rights to reduce the salary, many people have taken a pay cut due to Covid. Not paying extra for working on weekends - also legal and very common, most people who work weekends don’t get paid extra. Only 20 mins per job - dangerous and could lead to rushed and shoddy work if someone knows they’re eating into their own time.

Yes, not paying a premium for weekends is legal, and indeed many people do work them for no extra pay but if BG engineers previously got extra pay it's not really relevant what other people in other industries do. If they joined the company based on X conditions it's not unreasonable for them to be appalled that the company is now forcing Y conditions on them.

So glad I’m not with BG. And now never will be.

I know that our lads wouldn’t even get out of bed for less than time and a half on a Saturday (double on a Sunday). Plus we pay either a retainer to be on call at weekends or if we ask someone to go out on an emergency they get a call out fee on top.

It’s a terrible thing because it’s putting profits before safety. Puts me off using British Gas.
(Although, I loathe the use of the term ‘engineer’ here...I wish that was a protected title. I did 5 years at university to become an engineer, and I don’t fix boilers! No disrespect to gas technicians, it’s a skilled job and I valuable one...but it’s not engineering. )

@Comefromaway

I know that our lads wouldn’t even get out of bed for less than time and a half on a Saturday (double on a Sunday). Plus we pay either a retainer to be on call at weekends or if we ask someone to go out on an emergency they get a call out fee on top.

On call assistance jobs will be normal time and £20 per job. From what was £20 retainer and double time.

@SweetPetrichor

It’s a terrible thing because it’s putting profits before safety. Puts me off using British Gas. (Although, I loathe the use of the term ‘engineer’ here...I wish that was a protected title. I did 5 years at university to become an engineer, and I don’t fix boilers! No disrespect to gas technicians, it’s a skilled job and I valuable one...but it’s not engineering. )

Totally understand and agree, but industry wise that's the job title regardless. Should be gas technician.

Very worrying precedent being set by BG. I encourage anyone with them to leave.

@Comefromaway

I know that our lads wouldn’t even get out of bed for less than time and a half on a Saturday (double on a Sunday). Plus we pay either a retainer to be on call at weekends or if we ask someone to go out on an emergency they get a call out fee on top.

Unlimited weekends although protected for the next year. No extra for weekend payments and overtime is time and 1/3 unless of course they "owe" the company time as the service has taken longer than 20 minutes.

You can't properly service a boiler in 20 mins!

@Brazilianut

Very worrying precedent being set by BG. I encourage anyone with them to leave.

I agree. I went on you switch last night and switched my electricity and saving a huge amount apparently. Now need to switch my electrical applicants cover.