Work only pays for Y - techniques for better class (not ripping company off)?

[cmon0005]

The worst I saw was a friend of mine who works for a global IT company, they got a multi-million $ project to implement new hardware and support services to a Telecom in Canada.
The IT company here chose a few of their staff for the project to do the implementation over there for a 4 week period in Y! My friend told me as well that that flight was over 29+hours Melb to USA to Canada with only small stop in between.
They expected him to start work on the project within 2 days of arriving!! My poor friend was so tired, sore and exhausted it took him over a week to recover.
Y+ was available the whole way, but this company is so cheap its Y all the way unless you are an exec, meantime they're trying to deliver a multi-mil $ project properly and ontime and packing highly skilled engineers who are worth their weight in gold in Y....

 

[rtyuiop]

Y+ was available the whole way, but this company is so cheap its Y all the way unless you are an exec, meantime they're trying to deliver a multi-mil $ project properly and ontime and packing highly skilled engineers who are worth their weight in gold in Y....

The whole IT industry (in my experience, at least) operates that way. Just the way it is!

Cheers,

Danny

 

[TonyHancock]

I have just booked MEL-SYD-PVG-SYD-MEL in Y. I tried the health and safety angle with the man responsible for our travel policy and he said "suck it up princess". I didn't take any further because arguing with myself is not the most productive pastime.

 

[Flashback]

The whole IT industry (in my experience, at least) operates that way. Just the way it is!

Cheers,

Danny

You're working on the wrong IT projects then! All my travel is J.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using AustFreqFly

 

[rtyuiop]

...because arguing with myself is not the most productive pastime.

I dunno about that, I've passed many a long haul flight arguing with myself.

Does tend to upset whoever's sitting next to you though !

Danny

 

[rtyuiop]

You're working on the wrong IT projects then! All my travel is J.

Probably true - I do have a history of ending up with employers who either go out of business or get bought and then disappear!

Is your employer an IT company, or are you in the IT department of someone in another industry?

Danny

 

[Flashback]

Probably true - I do have a history of ending up with employers who either go out of business or get bought and then disappear!

Is your employer an IT company, or are you in the IT department of someone in another industry?

Danny

IT company who works in the right industries

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using AustFreqFly

 

[Moody]

All my long haul, business or pleasure, is in economy. The only exceptions to this were a couple of Jetstar ODU's and the odd Op-Up. I find that status and lounge access cures many of the woes of spending the best part of 24 hours (sometimes longer) in the bus seats. If you arrive on the plane early, comfortably numb, and often with an empty seat beside you, then it's not so unpleasant. It is when I am travelling on an airline with no lounge access or status that economy can be a drag. It gets "interesting" down the back of a tier-2 plane.


And the comment about "only" being allowed to arrive 2 days before commencing work amuses me. In my two upcoming long-hauls I will arrive at 2pm the day before on one and 7:30am on the day I start on the other. Some people need to harden up big-time!

But I know a colleague who gets quotes from our travel agent for economy and then either upgrades on points or books a JASA and claims back the economy fare. So far he has kept platinum this way while the rest of us struggle to make gold, but I shudder to think what it is costing him.

Horses for courses

 

[cmon0005]

And the comment about "only" being allowed to arrive 2 days before commencing work amuses me. In my two upcoming long-hauls I will arrive at 2pm the day before on one and 7:30am on the day I start on the other. Some people need to harden up big-time!

Sounds like you work for a small company/business? I felt like this too when I worked with a smaller company always happy to help out.etc, but once you hit multinational corporates you get that don't give a cough about you feeling, and J travel becomes a must for your own sanity, comfort and worth.
Remember if it worth sending a staff member overseas its worth sending them properly in J, otherwise if its not worth sending them in J, its probably not worth the companies time/resources doing whatever it is they're getting sent there to do (no return).

Saying that I do all my Leisure/Holiday travel in Y, on occasion J with points or if cheap enough purchased.

I already do many late nights staying back at work for no extra pay for the greater good of the company, I'm not going to risk my health and reputation for quality work for the sake of 'hardening up' and busting my boiler flying up to 20+hours in Y only to go straight into the office.
I've already burnt out once before from overworking due to company demands and hectic travel schedules so it pays to look after your 'money makers' your travelling staff all the more.

 

[TonyHancock]

Sounds like you work for a small company/business? I felt like this too when I worked with a smaller company always happy to help out.etc, but once you hit multinational corporates you get that don't give a cough about you feeling, and J travel becomes a must for your own sanity, comfort and worth.
Remember if it worth sending a staff member overseas its worth sending them properly in J, otherwise if its not worth sending them in J, its probably not worth the companies time/resources doing whatever it is they're getting sent there to do (no return).

Saying that I do all my Leisure/Holiday travel in Y, on occasion J with points or if cheap enough purchased.

I already do many late nights staying back at work for no extra pay for the greater good of the company, I'm not going to risk my health and reputation for quality work for the sake of 'hardening up' and busting my boiler flying up to 20+hours in Y only to go straight into the office.
I've already burnt out once before from overworking due to company demands and hectic travel schedules so it pays to look after your 'money makers' your travelling staff all the more.

I think you might need to update your profile, because with the long haul J you are flying you must have status with one or more airlines.

Oddly I know of several multinational businesses that operate a Y only travel policy. The multinational I work for does not have a travel policy and I set a local policy for Asia.

 

[cmon0005]

I think you might need to update your profile, because with the long haul J you are flying you must have status with one or more airlines.

My Qantas status is my leisure status (I prefer QF for personal flying and have Qantas club for lounge access and silver I just requalified which is now updated. My SQ (work travel) SQ Gold status has now been updated, I was just short last year for PPS club. I only use SQ for personal when QF are far too expensive or the frequency timings suits better.


Also I wasn't saying every multinational has got a J policy, I meant they should have a J policy for long-haul flights for their staff and health & safety/productivity reasons, anyway each to his own.

 

[rtyuiop]

Before this thread turns into a war between those who think J is justified on business travel and those who don't, let's try to remember that it's different for all individuals! Some people deal better with long haul Y than others, whether it's due to temperament, comfort with enforced proximity to strangers, or just simple height or shoulder width! Some people also have to be more careful about working while fatigued than others - most of us can take it easy for the first day after arriving on site, but I really, really hope my next airline pilot or surgeon didn't just hop off a long haul Y flight...

So let's keep it civil, and remember that different people have different requirements!

Danny

 

[TonyHancock]

My Qantas status is my leisure status (I prefer QF for personal flying and have Qantas club for lounge access and silver I just requalified which is now updated. My SQ (work travel) SQ Gold status has now been updated, I was just short last year for PPS club. I only use SQ for personal when QF are far too expensive or the frequency timings suits better.


Also I wasn't saying every multinational has got a J policy, I meant they should have a J policy for long-haul flights for their staff and health & safety/productivity reasons, anyway each to his own.

No problems, not having a go. I don't list my QF status because the QF offering is so embarrassingly poor.

 

[ozmille]

I think you might need to update your profile, because with the long haul J you are flying you must have status with one or more airlines.

Oddly I know of several multinational businesses that operate a Y only travel policy. The multinational I work for does not have a travel policy and I set a local policy for Asia.

Our global travel policy is J for trips over 4 hrs or departing before 730AM. Which seems great except for that we here in Oz have a local more restrictive Travel Policy which overrides the global one

 

[cmon0005]

No problems, not having a go. I don't list my QF status because the QF offering is so embarrassingly poor.

All good, I didn't mean to sound over the top too, I guess working for my previous company and getting burnt by them working me to the absolute core for no extra money got me bitter and passionate about making sure staff are looked after properly.

rtyuiop hit the nail on the head, different individuals/companies have different preferences and objectives and I respect that.

Have a good day all, I need a holiday! thankfully I have a holiday planned end of this week phew!

 

[TonyHancock]

Before this thread turns into a war between those who think J is justified on business travel and those who don't, let's try to remember that it's different for all individuals! Some people deal better with long haul Y than others, whether it's due to temperament, comfort with enforced proximity to strangers, or just simple height or shoulder width! Some people also have to be more careful about working while fatigued than others - most of us can take it easy for the first day after arriving on site, but I really, really hope my next airline pilot or surgeon didn't just hop off a long haul Y flight...

So let's keep it civil, and remember that different people have different requirements!

Danny

I'm not sure this thread is even remotely close to turning into a war. I think everyone here would love to have a J only policy for business travel. I know I would. Unfortunately it is not always possible.

 

[rtyuiop]

I'm not sure this thread is even remotely close to turning into a war. I think everyone here would love to have a J only policy for business travel. I know I would. Unfortunately it is not always possible.

Having re-read the thread, I probably did over-react. What can I say, my coffee hasn't kicked in yet!

Cheers,

Danny

 

[burmans]

Before this thread turns into a war between those who think J is justified on business travel and those who don't, let's try to remember that it's different for all individuals! Some people deal better with long haul Y than others, whether it's due to temperament, comfort with enforced proximity to strangers, or just simple height or shoulder width! Some people also have to be more careful about working while fatigued than others - most of us can take it easy for the first day after arriving on site, but I really, really hope my next airline pilot or surgeon didn't just hop off a long haul Y flight...

So let's keep it civil, and remember that different people have different requirements!

Danny

You haven't mentioned size of ego in the individual "requirements"?

 

[Timtammi]

Interesting thread. I own a small business that you could say is in the IT industry although its a specialised area. We have a lot of travel mostly in Asia as that is where our sales are. As a small business, running on tight margins there is no way we could fly everyone around in J and still stay profitable. As it is our travel expenditure is one of our highest costs. When I and the other company director travel we try to travel "cheapie" J ie what passes for J in a LCC, or something on special or upgrade with points. We also travel Y+ (usually when on sale) and sometimes Y. When our staff travel its usually Y although we have been known to pay for ODU's for them in special circumstances and we always try to pick flights that give them what we believe is enough time to recover on arrival as well as on return. While they don't get paid overtime they do get TOIL for all travel away from home on non-work days. We also pay what we believe are fairly good salaries for the industry/position to take into account the need for travel where required. Its a balancing act for sure and we try to be as fair as we can while still being sensible with the company's money. I dont really know what our employees think about our travel policies but most have worked here for more than a few years so we must be doing something right.

Cheers

 

[rtyuiop]

You haven't mentioned size of ego in the individual "requirements"?

Surely egos go in carry on?