Road to recovery? CWU urges caution on Telstra rewards programme
As part of its effort to clear its current backlog of customer orders, Telstra is introducing a rewards programme to sweeten the move to scheduled overtime.
The CWU understands that rewards in the form of Zing points will be available on both an individual and team basis for achieving certain levels of “uplift” over current performance measures e.g. reduced assurance and activation cycle times, fewer customer complaints etc.
In other words, what Telstra wants is for employees to work both longer and harder over the eight weeks of its “recovery” programme. But there is a limit to what can be squeezed out of the workforce.
While the CWU does not opposes “incentive payments”, as long as they are over and above the set wage rate (as in Workstream arrangements), it would urge members not to sacrifice work quality or compromise their own health and safety chasing rewards that may be modest – especially after the taxman has dealt with them.
And for Telstra itself the exercise will be self-defeating if it simply pressures employees into the short-cuts that have led to many of the existing network problems.
Members should report any such pressures to the union.
