I joined BT not long after it was privatised ... and left about 15 years later when it was clear they would, sooner or later go down the toilet.

Not because I was particularly bright - but spending 18 months working on a range of fanciful projects at the labs - that even if they had worked there was no clear market for was soul destroying.

that didn't stop a whole bunch of workers there riding the wave of free cash.

Did it all start to go wrong with Bonfield ?

I have no doubt a long list of rants will follow about crappy BT customer services etc. But the bigger picture is (yet another) british institution going down the toilet.

...before various people start getting messages from their managers "recommending" that they take reduced hours packages.

I got out three years ago when it was already becoming an unpleasant place to work; I've yet to speak to a former colleague still inside the wire who thinks I did the wrong thing.

Sadly, BT has gone from a company mainly run by people who understood and cared about its business to just another company run by people who think having an MBA is all they need, and who think the company exists for them to screw millions out of for their own benefit, rather than looking after the shareholders, staff or customers.

and create a new board from the ones below, that will save some cash.

sounds almost too good to be true. I hope they don't then get rid of the jobs through reorganisation and grow that redeployment pool... nah me too cynical to believe that?

..nuff asked..

The cca 4000 useless people who are sitting on the "Bench" or "Transition Center" are ruining the company at the moment. They cant be laid off as it would cost a fortune to pay them thanks to the Unions, and their efforts to make UK people impossible to fire. They keep those useless fossils and generally worthless people around as the company cant afford to pay them to leave.

All the people who got hired by BT around the world to cut costs, are getting handled like disposable 3rd rate citizens and getting laid off on a daily basis, as they are cheaper to fire than an UK guy sitting on the bench doing nothing. BT is in trouble and is mismanaged yet again and the results wont be pretty.

So, if BT have plenty of people knocking around looking for something to do, how come we have two customers waiting on leased lines that have both had the installation date on their lines knocked back to twice the quoted lead time?

They're both down the same road as well so if they did them at the same time they'd be on to a winner!