Conference 7.286::digital

    
    
    Yes.  I don't see how it could get any better than this...
    
    Nick Bartoo
    DEC Co-op
    

    Yes. It can get better, sure, but all in all, I prefer working for DEC
    to the opposition.
    
    	- andy

    You haft'a define "best", and it all depends on what your personal 
    agenda is.  If valuing differences is your thing, you'll love it in
    DEC.  If you want to be part of a well-managed, disciplined
    organization with clear goals, and a future....well I've got my doubts.

        I think  if DEC is included in the "100 Best" we shouldn't expect
        it to be  for  the  same reasons that it was included in the last
        version, published in 1984. 
        
        Very little of that write-up comes back to me now, but there were
        a couple statements/ideas which come to mind:
        
            * "At DEC it is  not  unusual  for  a manager to be paid less
            than the engineers working in his group"  ---  HA!   I wonder
            how much truth there is to this _now_!
            
            * There were also lots of general statements made  about  the
            engineering  environment.  At that time DEC was very much  an
            "engineer's" company;    I  don't think that is true anymore,
            and  even traditional  "engineer's"  companies  like  HP  are
            becoming less engineer-oriented.
            
        Obviously, this "100 Best"  list is somewhat subjective.  But you
        will find a healthy mixture of large  and  small companies in the
        list --- by their book, (100 Best).NEQ.(Fortune 100). 
        
        Along  the  same  lines,  _Electrical_Engineering_Times_  does  a
        survey every year  of  electrical  engineers  and managers in its
        readership to identify the companies  that  its  readership would
        most like to work for.   HP  is  almost always, if not always, at
        the top, with IBM way up there  too.    Digital  _used_to_  be up
        there, but has been slipping fast.  I'm  sure  the evaporation of
        the  "no  layoff"  policy  will have something to do  with  thise
        year's voting...
        
        Have a GREAT one!
        
        John

    To note 4: from a non-engineer point of view, moving the focus of this 
    company from engineers and engineering is not a bad thing.  The time was
    that if you wern't an engineer you wern't valuable--now the company
    acknowledges that you need more than good engineers to make a
    successful business.
    
    For me, this company falls down heaviest in the maintanance of
    its employees.  I don't mean EAP, benefits, or compensation, but
    the way it keeps it's people informed.  I am overly tired of reading
    of achievements, disasters or change in this company in the local
    paper.  Not everyone has access to Live Wire or the time to play
    with it.
    
    Employees are usually a company's biggest investment, but can be 
    it's greatest enemy.  They can destroy a company by apath alone.  In spite 
    of this, DEC does a poor job of looking after people in change.
    For the lack of a little communication, stress is heaped on stress; in 
    the present climate of change, whole groups may not know where their 
    jobs are going or who they even report to.  This isn't good.
    
            

re .5:

Not to start a rathole, but how would you suggest the company keep its
employees informed if not through Livewire?

    re .6
    
    	A good communication session from above without the BS would be
    nice.   A manager who knows his people, what they do and how they do it
    would be nicer....what ever happened to MBWA.
    
    
    DLM

>    This book will be republished next year.
 
    The book is out. There was an article about it in this week ends
    Sunday supplement. Digital did not make the list.
       
>    Should DEC still be included?


    	Given the criteria there is no way we could have made the list.
    It calls for things like tops in the industry pay and benefits. And
    of course I've had managers tell me for years that "tops" was not a
    goal - "competitive" is. The makers of the list also call for good
    two way communications paths and it seems to me we can use some work
    there. The biggest hit though was in the area of layoffs.

    Companies with no layoff policies got the most points. Companies that
    had layoffs could still get points if the layoffs were handled well.
    Many of ours were handled very well but antidotal evidence would
    suggest that many of our were not handled so well.

    I wonder if being a great place to work is a company goal? Anyone 
    know?

    			Alfred

            <<< Note 1491.8 by CVG::THOMPSON "Radical Centralist" >>>
              -< IBM, Tandom and HP made the list  - DEC did not >-


>    I wonder if being a great place to work is a company goal? Anyone 
>    know?

>    			Alfred

Interesting question, Alfred - I thought the same thing when I read the 
article.  Interestingly enough there is a book out by the president of
one of the companies that did make the top ten list - Rosenbluth -
entitled "The Customer Comes Second and Other Secrets of Exceptional Service".
Mr. Rosenbluth's main contention is that, for service companies, you need the
hearts of your employees. Once you treat them properly, customer satisifaction
follows.  The company is growing enormously.

My first reaction on reading the book was that they are a company I would
pay to work for!!

	re -.1

	Was the company in question Virgin sometingorother, parent of Virgin
	Atlantic airline and Virin records? I've heard similar views
	espoused by that company's founder and CEO.

	It was an eye opener for me to read the article, particularly the
	criteria on which companies were ranked. Pay and benefits,
	communication, corporate spirit, job security - all areas in which
	Digital *used to* rank right up there. And may of them areas that
	have eroded slowly, bit by bit. It can take an article or book like
	this one to make one notice how far things have declined.

	Roy

    DEC can still be one of the best.  DEC employees can communicate very
    well with each other.  They are free to discuss openly all issues with
    each other and with management that involve the company.  And, they can 
    push through valuable changes -- without having to resort to unionization.  
    We have management that, for the most part, supports this open communication
    and will at least hear serious issues out.  It IS a flawed system, but
    with the resources available to the average Deccie for change, there is
    no reason that serious "shortfalls" in the company can't be addressed.
    True, morale may be low now.  But, we have it within ourselves (and
    without having to resort to unionization) to bring forth positive changes 
    in the company.  If we really want to be listed in next year's top 100
    it's pretty much up to us.
    
    BTW, I've worked in a union shop.  IMO, it's the WORST.  What you
    effectively get is TWO complete organizations of managment to work through 
    and LESS say in ANYTHING that goes on with EITHER form of management.  
    I MUCH prefer DEC!
    
    Steve

    
    I read the listing and one thing struck me.  I saw a couple of Airlines
    and a couple of Retailers on it.  These are two industries that have
    had more than their share of problems in the past 5-10 years.   
    
    Yet dispite the fact that they are in industries that have problems
    they are able to be outstanding examples of good companies to work for,
    where the employee was valued etc.  So, my conclusion is that even
    though the industry your company is in, it doesnt necessarily mean that
    you cannot have a company that is ranked the best to work for...
    
    
    KO

I think these books are more of a gimmick than a valid assessment of which
companies are truly good to work for. Some parts of some of these companies are
probably excellent, but the same could be said of many other companies, also. 

I know someone who works at one of the "100 Best" companies and I'm awfully
glad I work at Digital instead of at his company.

Vicki Meagher

    i heard on the way in to work yesterday,  the authors of this book.
    they said employee attitude was most important,  then things like mgr,
    pay and bene's  etc.   they also said that they went back to the
    original 100 then to an additional 47 companies to get the 100.
    
    just some of what i remembered from yesterday morn.
    
    Derek

    The article I read said that they looked at over 400 companies.  Some
    companies even nominated themselves.  
    
    
    Mike

    Did anyone see the list and count how many were computer related
    companies?  And the answer is.....12....
    
    Not bad eh?
    Rick