back to article Vultures circle crash-landed UK giant 2e2 after top brass axed

The vultures are circling fallen channel giant 2e2 with an asset sale expected for the UK biz in light of the hefty redundancies made yesterday. As reported yesterday, debt-saddled 2e2 Group laid off 22 per cent, or 319, of its 1,442 workers in Blighty, and placed ten UK subsidiaries into administration. The Channel can today …

COMMENTS

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  1. Ex-BenhamBoy
    Thumb Down

    Redundancy certainly not - more like instant dismissal.

    No Notice period

    No January salary

    No Redundancy

    No payment for expenses incurred

    Employment Contract T&C's not honoured

    No 'garden leave' or grace period for cars, phones IT equipment, etc. No use of facilities.

    Not even a letter - just a mass conference call which kept cutting out thus losing much of it.

    (The presenter had to cut it short with questions still outstanding due to 'another appointment'.)

    What a way to end decades of loyal service!

    1. Arrrggghh-otron

      Re: Redundancy certainly not - more like instant dismissal.

      "No January salary

      No Redundancy

      No payment for expenses incurred"

      Does that apply to the execs as well?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Redundancy certainly not - more like instant dismissal.

      It was awful for those people who were, well basically, given the boot.

      Poor folks. Feel extremely sorry for them.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not sure what they are trying to sell now

    For at least some parts of the business the value was in the team - dozens of technical consultants, chargeable and booked out for weeks ahead were just TTFO as above. Good luck to anyone wanting to take on any of the major projects without any technical handover or input from those guys. And don't expect to re-hire them - many are already signed up elsewhere, and for more money (it wasn't like you stayed at 2e2 for the financial reward). These administrators seemed completely uninterested in assessment of value and more interested in destruction of value as fast as possible - not unlike the management team they replaced.

  3. G R Goslin

    Forgive my ignorance

    Forgive my ignorance, but what did 2e2 do? I don't know why, but the old saying "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

    And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.", comes into my mind

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Scumbags

    OK, as one of the "lucky ones" to keep a job, it now appears that the 2e2 administrators haven't bothered to pay anyone on my team.

    The didn't even have the decency to tell us, just didn't put the salaries through!

    These administrators are absolute fucking scumbags and have now left us in complete limbo - apparently employed but not being paid

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Scumbags

      Absolutely unbelievable. Surely a large quantity of legal pain swinging in the administrators' direction now. I'm looking forward to assisting in the instigation of this, oh yes!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Scumbags

      Got forwarded an email stating they would pay us Tuesday night so sigh of relief. Last night told that they don't know and then this morning no money but all my direct debits including mortgage have tried to come out.

      I'm fairly certain that this is a breach of contract and therefore my contract and that pesky non competition clause is null and void.

    3. rocketlass1
      Thumb Down

      Re: Scumbags

      They sure are! Nothing surprises me - when we were given our marching orders on Tuesday, someone asked about the guys staying on would they get paid come Thursday and the Administrator wouldn't comment on it and kept saying 'will try our best'. At least we had a head start and completed the IS claim form that day - what's the position now for you guys walking out with your laptop under your arm and claiming - are you officially redundant as they have not paid you?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Scumbags

        I spoke to the redundancy payments service this morning and they basically said we have to wait to see what the administrators do. We could claim constructive dismissal and walk out, but I'm guessing that would mean even more delays before getting any money. Effectively we're stuck until they make us redundant officially.

        I can't see how this can be legal!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Same here. No notification, no money, no nothing. Another two days stolen, on top of the rest of January. Looks like the game is up now: what is there left to sell?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Anonymous cowards

      My husband was one of those that went on Tuesday and I have looked into it a little bit. You cannot be expected to work for no salary and the company are indeed in breach of contract so if you want to walk then do it and take as much as you can with you in lieu of salary. We do intend to take it further but at the moment the priority is (like you) paying outstanding bills that were due to go out this minth.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My client has told me that if I am not paid by tomorrow I cannot return to site as a 2e2 staffer. I would represent too great a risk in the eyes of security and compliance.

    Fingers crossed they will be able to offer me a short-term contract or similar.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No Pay for some but not all

    I’m in the same position as many above, no pay for January’s work so far.

    To add insult to injury some arms of the business have received January’s pay packet.

    There has been no information at all from the administrators as to if or when we may be paid.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    been coming a long time

    I used to work for Morse before 2e2 bought them out, thankfully only for a short period of time. Not the best experience I ever had as an employee, thank god I went contracting for the next 5 years.

    My general feeling was Morse was a company with a confused business model, management trying to find a strategy that worked with very mixed success. Morse tried to enter new markets where we had no competitive advantage (education / PFI? what was that about!), and at the same time we relied on bread and butter services business with banks etc - but a lot of this was reselling contractors and taking margin, which to me was never a real business anyway.

    Not surprised at all to see it end in tears, but feel sorry for the real workers who will suffer further.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pay

    Just to put a different spin on things. Everyone in our office (it seems) has been paid as per the administrator's written assurance.

    The office has pulled together, and those of us who remain onsite are trying to keep our customers' services running as best we can.

    Fingers crossed for a buyer - otherwise we'll all be in the dole-queue.

    KUTGW Everyone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pay

      That does sound good, can you tell your colleagues which team or product group you work for?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pay

      I guess they worked out what areas they could sell and then worked out who to pay. Still waiting for my pay to arrive. In some ways I hope it doesn't so that they're in breach of contract and I will move as a direct contractor at the client site I'm on.

  10. Flyingmag

    I was employed by Norsk Data, Nextra, Telenor and then it became 2e2. The guys that worked there on the customer service side were excellent engineers. Sadly the management, middle and top, were dinosaurs. The communication between the shop floor and management was inadequate at best. Middle management often complained that senior management wouldn't listen to them. Training was infrequent and often cancelled, Engineers cars broke down often because they were not getting replaced and 2e2 ended paying for repairs to leased vehicles. Engineers dreaded the announcement of the phone conference, because circa 2005 it has ALWAYS meant getting rid of people. Short term poorly paid contracts from the Sales team - a collection of personnel lacking in skill and purpose - meant that most contract jobs engineers attended were free. 2e2 had accepted the cash lump sum for the contract up front, the terms of the contract had not been researched enough and there was often more than 50% work to do then was actually budgeted for. After more than 10 years I left for pastures new, less stress. I hope - almost- all of the current 2e2 staff get the redundancy they are entitled to. I hope the senior management who have hung around for years doing nothing for their staff get what they deserve too.

  11. Ginger whinger
    WTF?

    Still technically a permi, but no pay, no communication as to why no pay. Others workers in same position have email of pay about to be due in their account. Only communication is a conference call for this Friday, this sounds like the same thing for the ones made redundant on Monday...so I expect to be made redundant. 2e2 & administrators have no balls...just be straight with us!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Got a mail last night from the administrators saying I would be paid today and guess what no pay so still in limbo.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pig's ear

    The administrators have made a right pig’s ear of this one - not that they or the 'directors' will care after all they'll all get rewarded.

    Both customers and suppliers will have to kiss goodbye to 100's of millions thanks to this saga - suppliers losing out for services and goods provided and customers bailing out now because enough is enough and they'll walk with realising that they too will now have to make the most of a bad job. Partners put on a brave face and say they'll support what's left only because they'll effectively be admitting they were duped getting into bed with 2e2.

    As for the staff - good people have gone and good people are still there but for sure they are all are in an equally dire situation. Those that were dismissed didn't just leave penniless - they were robbed and raped first and then cast aside. What on earth is the point of employment law when companies can ride roughshod over all?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2e2

    2e2 engineers at our site were invited via text to a conference last week and were told by a automated message that they were being made losing their jobs, only to get a text a few minutes into the call saying please put the phone down as they were not included. What a way to tell your staff after all the years of service in a job. Laws have to change to stop this!

    Today they were invited into another conference call and told they have lost their jobs and wont be paid.

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