1520. Optimization: harmful or deadly?
Necessary preface.
This is an appeal to readers who write comments. In the first, setting article of the cycle, I openly said that all the information was provided by the current employees of Russian Railways, who, by the way, were very indignant during their acquaintance with the uncovered aggression and rudeness on the part of some readers. Unfortunately, everything said in my article about 10 years on the "Military Review" on this topic is absolutely true. There is no need to read the article, the main thing is to express your "fairy" and show your alleged awareness.
We (the team of authors) are just happy that some readers worked 40 or 50 years ago on the railway, had relatives who worked there, and so on. This does not give them the right to use the words "delirium" and everything else. I notify in advance that in this regard, I decided to read the comments to my articles again and I will act very harshly with such people. The people who work with me work on the railroad today. With all the consequences, and I personally simply will not allow anyone to offend them.
Please take note and moderate your feelings.
At the same time, we congratulate everyone related to the Day of the Railwayman and with such an expected (finally) indexation of wages! As much as 2,4%!
Now we go to optimization. We discussed optimization with a whole crowd, with someone in person, someone connected using modern means of communication. The result was a three-hour conference, in which an assistant driver, two compilers, a chipboard, an occupational health and safety engineer and a tracker took part. Actually, almost everyone (except for the driver's assistant, but there will be a special conversation about drivers and assistants) optimization has affected very strongly. After translation into simple Russian, the material lost some of its brightness, but there is nothing to be done about it. It was decided to give it in the form of an interview, and even randomly, without specifying who and what said. People who were related to the railroad will understand, of course, and whoever is “not in the subject” will be able to survive such a format.
To begin with: what is optimization? It is, by definition, "the process of maximizing beneficial characteristics, ratios (eg, optimizing manufacturing processes and production), and minimizing costs."
Question: Optimization looks completely different from different angles. For those who are on top, this is, first of all, a decrease in expenses to generate more income, for those who are from below (who are these very expenses) - an increase in work as such. I'm right?
Answer: we will tell you how it all looks from below. This is, first of all, "optimization", that is, the reduction of jobs and the transfer of official duties to the remaining employees. Nothing new if it weren't for the incipient security problems. Real problems.
Up there, these managers, who have never worked on the railway, do not even think about how it will look below. And downstairs it is often simply unrealistic to properly combine your duties and those that have been assigned to you. For many reasons. But you have to work for yourself and for the guy who was fired. And get an increase of as much as 10% for this.
Yes, the savings are not as huge as they might seem. The responsibilities of a person are scattered over two or three. But still, there is something to save.
Q: How does the optimization process take place?
A: This is very remarkable. Usually in the fall, after we take the stream of people wishing to relax in the south to their homes, a commission arrives from Moscow. This commission walks, looks, studies and estimates. And then the head of the station is given an optimization task. That is, how many people this particular station manager should fire. And that's all.
Further, the head of the station must think out this smart plan with his own head, determine who he will dismiss, who will shift the responsibilities of the dismissed and what will happen next. And then it will be very interesting. If some kind of emergency happens due to the fault of those who have been "optimized", then only the head of the station will be to blame in the eyes of Moscow. He failed to organize the work of his subordinates properly and allowed an emergency.
By the way, there are already several cases when in such situations the head of the station became the trainer. And it still got off easy, because usually the lot in such cases is dismissal without the right to reinstatement.
Q: speaking of profits, I understand that the question is a little off to the right, but what about the drop in profits? The rise in ticket prices is only a part, if I understand correctly?
A: Tariffs have increased. And Russian Railways lost a lot of clients. Moreover, in fact, everyone who could carry out transportation by road began to do it. Just look at our postal terminal, where cargo was transshipped from mail and baggage wagons. There, on these tracks, you can now see a museum ... The post office transports its items by trucks.
There were, of course, those who carry grain, cement, coal, timber, liquid cargo. It's more convenient for now. But profits fell, and they fell great. We were often told about this that we were not working well.
That means we need to cut us down. The plankton that does the dirtiest job. Well, no one will cut the same bosses. These are some kind of "bees against honey" will turn out.
Q: it turns out that an increase in labor productivity due to the fact that instead of four people will work three?
A: Well, yes. By the way, we don't have much choice. There, in the first article, one “smart guy” said that people “do not rush to the exit” from the “piece of iron”. That's right, they don't break, especially where there is no alternative. In small towns, where the station is our everything. And in large, young people, while there is a chance to learn and change jobs, knocks down so that only heels fly off! A year or two of our reality - and there is no man. Gone.
If we talk about the most recent example, here we have one job cut. Workplace, not human. In humans, it is five. The responsibilities were split into the remaining four. Almost completely transferred to one place and scattered 10-12 percent in three. And they added 10% to everyone. 2-3 thousand, if so, specifically. And for such a penny, someone received a double load.
And the savings in money per month from a reduced place - 50 thousand, no more.
And when people start to really sew up, not having time to be in two (or even three) places at the same time, then they begin to attract helpers from the outside. Compilers, for example, begin to put shoes on, it is worse when they begin to take them off, the shoes then leave for other stations ...
Q: We will talk about shoes and documents next time, the topic is no less interesting and, as it turned out, an emergency happens no less there. I would ask about safety a couple of words to say how she got hit.
A: It's interesting here. And in order to understand how sad everything is, you need to know how, in general, employment is carried out at Russian Railways. In general, it is long and tedious. Training, internship, exams (which you can easily fail to pass), approval through Moscow. It can drag on from two to three months, depending on the position and how much it "burns" there.
And in our case, optimization, it turns out that no one will send people anywhere to study. They are already working at their workplaces. And moreover, in your words, one has already been snapped out of a clip of five rounds. And no one will remove the second one for a couple of months. It is expensive, and by whom?
Q: What should you do then?
A: And like this: a person himself is obliged to study the responsibilities imposed on him by the second floor in his free time. And here our management settled down luxuriously: there is no need to pay for tuition, exams are also not required, beauty. There is no need to ask a question about responsibility. And so everything is clear and understandable.
With responsibility this way: as long as "everything is going according to plan", it will be quiet and calm, almost like in a morgue. Should anything happen, for example, the train will be late, there will be some work with the train (uncoupling-coupling, for example), there will be problems with the carriages ... Everything is computerized in our country, so there are cars in nature, but not in the computer. So what?
And in this case, the ITC is connected. An information and computing center, whose employees are trying to help solve all the problems. And they do it sometimes, despite the fact that the ITC is also castrated by optimization.
And it turns out to be a very interesting situation. If you are a park attendant, you must be on the phone, be in touch with the ITC, which frantically tries to figure out where and where the cars are, on the other hand, you simply have to be at the other end of the station to secure the cars according to your duties.
Yes, if it is possible to delegate the consolidation to the compiler - uff, a mountain off your shoulders. But the compiler with the locomotive can fly to the completely opposite end of the station according to his tasks.
Q: Who was cut in the first place?
A: It's like watching. They cut everyone down a little. And how long. But in the last wave (and it certainly will not be the last), those who draw up the documentation were removed. What, what are the problems? The man on duty in the park will meet the train, take a full-scale sheet, secure the cars, write out new documents ... What is the problem?
The problem is that we pretend to live in the 21st century. On the one hand, everyone seems to be focused on electronic document management, on the other hand, it is simply necessary to do everything in paper form. As a result, time is simply wasted trying to ensure that the documentation exists in two ways.
And there is no way to get away from the paper version, the driver will not go anywhere without a full-scale sheet, a certificate to the driver and other necessary documents. And he will be right.
Q: And the person who simply provided documents to everyone and everything is now selling cell phones?
О: Well, as an option. In any case, this is a headache for the stationmaster and the executor. And if an emergency occurs, then the National Assembly will have its power to punish those who are ill at home and at their own expense learned new responsibilities.
Q: What if an emergency? And if an emergency with a tragedy, with human casualties?
A: Well, the person will be fired. In the event of a serious emergency, they will first be fired and then imprisoned.
Q: And then what about what we touched on earlier, regarding the opinion of our readers, whose friends, acquaintances, godfathers and so on work on the "piece of iron" and do not seek to escape from there even under such conditions?
A: Suppose, having received payment "for loyalty", many run as soon as possible to get a more or less normal job. And all these stories of the bosses that “crowds of people are standing behind the fence” in fact turn out to be you know what. More precisely, we know. Working for more than a month in three shifts, that is, seven days a week.
Yes, of course, they take subscriptions from us that we just squeal with delight, working seven days a week. And we just burn with the pleasure of working in three shifts. Some - in the truest sense of the word. Not so long ago we had an emergency in Liski, the proceedings are still ongoing. Understand - that means you need to punish someone. And how and where, when the whole station plows in three shifts? About a month.
Q: Perhaps it is worth explaining how it is in general, in three shifts?
Oh yes of course. On Monday I go out in the afternoon. From 8 am to 20 pm. The next day, Tuesday, I go out into the night, from 20 pm Tuesday to 8 am Wednesday. Having changed on Wednesday, it seems like I am resting from the night. And on Thursday I go out again in the day, from 8 to 20. And so on ad infinitum. Who can imagine how you feel after a month and a half - try it.
I'll be honest. The first time I got into this, I screwed up. After about a month of such "joy". Moreover, and not to say that he was just so guilty. It was like this: they sent a train, there was still a trailer for it, I removed the brake shoes (none of my business, but we talked about it) and put them on the platform. Well laid down, fortunately. And then he climbed to connect the entire economy. And I safely forgot about the shoes. Completely.
No, then I remembered, of course. Thank God, I put them really well, and they reached the next station safely. Well, further, thank God, the 21st century, there is no need to transfer the magarychs. I sent money to the room, the shoes were sent back. An object of strict accountability, be it wrong ...
In general, three shifts is something like a penal battalion. And there is nowhere to go, because there are no people. At a time like this, you usually remember these crowds behind the fence.
Q: And no lumen?
A: Generally there is. Specially trained people are working on this, as they say. "Buns" come up with what is, that is. But this does not particularly affect young people, because after looking at the inside of our work, I really want to find a place to apply my forces not with such ... original laws and not so traumatic.
Q: What is originality?
A: We were taught and taught before. Now all this is also extremely optimized. Previously, we took exams on the knowledge of instructions every two years and, at regular intervals, improved our qualifications in dortech schools, moreover, we studied real-life and in person.
Now they have just introduced a bunch of courses that are given remotely and which you must take in your free time from work (Remark from another participant: aha, working in three shifts!). You are required to attend technical classes, planning meetings, work meetings - all during your free time.
During working hours you have to work. Therefore, some of us who are unlucky in terms of participation in planning meetings do not come to work by 7.45, for example, but by 7.15. Because management will be holding the meeting outside of business hours.
Q: but it's kind of logical, you have to have everything non-stop?
A: That's right. Indeed, an employee must be in the workplace, that's right. But why not include this half hour, which, by the way, we kill every shift, in the work schedule?
I continue. All these courses outside of working hours are very beneficial for the employer, it is really a hefty saving of his money and time, when we earn this money for him, which is essentially the same thing. The employer does not pay a single minute of the time that we all study at home.
Not all employees are ready to spend so much of their time for free. That is why they run. HR departments do not have time to select replacements, the stations go into emergency mode (three-shift), which does not contribute to the desire of employees to improve their qualifications. On the contrary, it contributes to the fact that people begin to think that it would be nice to find a quieter job.
Vicious circle? Well yes. No way out.
Q: Distance learning. How effective is it for the people passing through it?
(I myself was driven through one of these safety tests. Without the slightest preparation. Out of 12 questions, I managed to answer 3 correctly)
A: In fact - a complete profanation. All answers are perfectly matched at home through a second window on your computer. No one is watching you. Therefore, all these tests are easy and simple, without bothering yourself at all. Knowledge? But what knowledge, if every house has a roof above the roof?
Doesn't add knowledge. But it takes a certain amount of time. And the plus point benefits those who develop all these test programs. We all understand that it costs money. The programmers are happy, the bosses are happy, they tick the boxes that the employees have learned.
This is the SMBD system, it is as scary in essence as it sounds. And as painful for the head as her BDSM counterpart. Traffic safety management system. The specialists hired for huge sums wrote something in a completely inaccessible language that is impossible not only to understand, it is difficult to remember! Previously, the instructions were written by railroad workers for railroad workers. Today - by managers. And the managerial language is very poorly translated into the railway language.
By the way, about the instructions. These managers brought with them so many American and English terms that the instructions themselves began to sound somehow not in Russian.
Q: With training it is clear. But hasn't anything good been brought in over the years?
A: Well, in general, it would not be better. For example, we created a weather monitoring service. And now everyone is crying from her with burning tears. I don’t know who gets bonuses there, but how do they “monitor” the weather there, but the Hydrometeorological Center is just perfect in comparison with them. This is when the street is completely calm, and you have an order to "wind". This means that you must secure the road and put a bunch of brake shoes on the rails.
Binding is now done by different people at different stations, from signalmen to the station attendant, if the station is small, class 4 or 5.
And the optimization touched very cleverly here. We have stations that have no boss at all. Our Western line, there through the NS station at the same time. Two at once. Example? Kurbatovo and Veduga. Yes, there are 20 kilometers between them, it's kind of a little bit, but ...
At such small stations, the station master generally combines a bunch of positions. And the receiver, and the originator, and everything else. He can even be an assistant driver if it is necessary to drive the locomotive to the haul.
In general, optimization really turns us into a sort of octopus who must do everything and not only quickly, but also efficiently.
This concludes the first part, but we will continue the optimization story in the next part. It's just not realistic to place such a conversation within the framework of one article, it will not be so interesting to read. So - to be continued. It was not entirely rosy, there will be an analysis of accidents and disasters, but the fact is that there is a certain share of the fault of optimization measures there.
And on this we will finish for now, all railway workers once again with their professional holiday, be healthy and let the trains come and go on time.
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