Quest IT Outsourcing

Discussion in 'Quest Diagnostics' started by Anonymous, May 4, 2013 at 11:08 AM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Quest couldn't move up any maturity scale, CMM, ITIL, you name it. A change had to happen.

    The project managers are terrifyingly inept at Quest. I was shocked when I got there as to the quailty of their work. This is easily the biggest bang for the buck to outsource.

    This is where Wipro will initially enjoy the fruits of their engagement. By contract their infrastructure team won't be required to create and manage the plans which is a dynamic shift for Quest because Quest PMs just create phone calls and meeting.

    Wipro will just sit back asking Quest PMs to do real "project management" work.

    JH is going to be shocked but he will address it over a never missed meal. Actually even if the PMs where fantastic JH would still be making a change.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    What is your question/point?
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    All these are IT Positions. Most of Wipro people will be offsite. They will have at the most 50 people on site. Also PMO Has 120 positions, not 90. So where these 500 requested jobs above are coming from? Seems unrelated to current outsourcing. Please check your source.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    1) I didn't say PMO has 90. I said count the positions under MH that have PROJECT, PROGRAM or ACCOUNT in the job title. Everybody has access to the Org Chart, you can count just as well as I can. I count about 85 +- a couple.
    2) JH/TW/BL - One of the SLT specifically said on the IT Town Hall that they are not done outsourcing and will be looking further.
    3) So far, no Project Management positions have been outsourced at all.
    4) Somebody posted saying that Wipro is looking for 90 Project Manager H1-B visas.

    So, my only point here is.... What do you think is going to happen?

    If you are a project manager (under one of the various flavors/titles) and don't like the implications and feel that your position is so essential that you are safe from outsourcing then Hey - whatever helps you feel better is good enough.
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Maybe I just have a suspicious mind, but I have been thinking for quite sometime now that they are trying to position us to sell. It is just so sad for all those that are losing their jobs and the turmoil that is going on for the ones that still have a job. Not quite sure what to think these days.
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Well SR does get a $13M severance package in the event of a sale. Jails are full of people who have literally killed for a whole lot less. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what his motivations are.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Why would WIPRO apply for visa to fill all these positions at Quest if they keep people offshore in India?
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Not everybody is offshore. Wipro keeps a number of workers US based but at significantly lower wages then comparable skilled US workers. Wipro is 5th for sponsored visas (out of the entire US). As a previous poster stated, the original intent for the H1B Visa program was to fill jobs that were not able to be filled due to a shortage of trained and qualified US Citizen tech workers. However this program is being clearly abused and is being used to REPLACE currently employeed US Citizens with H1B foreign workers at lower wages. I can't understand how this is not a clear violation of US federal law.

    Last year (2012), Wipro filed 7,182 applications for H1B visas. 26 were denied.

    http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-23/news/38762933_1_h-1b-indian-it-outsourcing-firms
    has a good article with some clips of it below:

    US Senator Richard Durbin:

    "These outsourcing firms like Infosys, Wipro, Tata and others -- Americans would be shocked to know that the H-1B visas are not going to Microsoft; they're going to these firms, largely in India, who are finding workers, engineers, who will work at low wages in the US for three years and pay a fee to Infosys or these companies," Durbin alleged.

    "I think that is an abuse of what we're trying to achieve here. Most people would think, well, Microsoft needs these folks, and they'd be shocked to know that most of the H-1B visas are not going to companies like yours; they're going to these outsourcing companies," Durbin alleged.

    The same article also states:
    The proposed comprehensive immigration bill if passed by the Congress and signed into law by the US President would bar companies from hiring people on H-1B visa if 50 per cent of their employees are not Americans.

    The US India Business Council and Confederation of Indian Industry have opposed such a move and said that this is against the spirit of India US strategic relationship.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    You are not answering the question. Those 500 H-1B visas applications you have posted - you
    are claiming they are for Quest. This doesn't make any sense. These are IT jobs and Even if the rest of Quest IT is outsourced to Wipro, it is still too many onsite jobs for them. So what does 500 represent?
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Umm..yea...that didn't end well for them. They were bought out by BoA in 2008.

    Quest IT is done. The company will eventually get split up or sold off and the new owner(s) will merge it into their infrastructure as best as they can.

    Good luck to those who remain.
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The numbers provided and the breakdown by job were taken directly from the "Notice of Filing Labor Condition Application" (LCA) that were posted in the Lyndhurst facility. All the LCA's indicate the "Work Location Address" as the Lyndhurst office, but that could just be a formality - who knows where they will really be located.

    I would gladly post scanned copies of the LCA's if Cafepharma supported file attachments. Maybe I could put them up on Dropbox if anyone is really interested in seeing them.
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I've heard that from quite a few people in the company.
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    There were plenty of GOOD project managers at Quest; we were just stuck with job titles like Sr. Business Systems Analysts and it took YEARS to get the correct title...SLT made it nearly impossible to advance. So happy to be out of there and actually working as a productive IT PM elsewhere.
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    OK, obviously you're not IT savvy at all because you don't understand that BYOD didn't change anything with an IT person's ability to be offsite and still communicate with the company. That has always happened, it's just that now we get the benefit of being call 24x7 and have to pay to use our "own" cell phone to stay in touch via voice/email. Wow, what a benefit for us in IT.

    Next, you are somewhat correct that IT did it to themselves...BUT, it is the fault of senior and upper IT management who were, and for the most part still are, incompetent to operate at the level they are assigned. They were responsible to control IT costs, technology, service offerings, etc., but failed. Assuming this doesn't kill Quest Diagnostics completely, the unfortunate truth is that the outsourcing is not addressing the root problem, because it's not those incompetent managers/leaders who are getting the ax, it's all the real "working people" in IT who will suffer from job loss.

    Lastly, it's obvious you have never worked at a company that had a large offshore IT outsource agreement. If you think getting someone on a golf course in America is hard to get a response from, wait till you try to converse with someone half-way around the world, in the middle of their night, who doesn't really speak English and doesn't really care to.

    Good Luck!
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Agreed. There are or were many competent PMs at QDX. If they haven't left by now, the folks remaining are planning or executing their exit strategy. For the folks deciding to stay, I can see it being more of a personal reason (i.e. life balance) or folks that are laying low and waiting it out. Nothing wrong with this strategy but the people who are proactive will leave or have left. It's just a matter of time.

    The greater problems lie within the incompetent L6 folks who can talk circles into making it appear that they are important and value added to any efforts. Those people are still around when they should have been let go.

    The other problem is the incompetent L5s and above that is allowing the dead weights to be around and not crack the whip. Instead, the are allowing or aiding the decision to let go of people who are true contributors.

    I'm just sitting on the side lines waiting to see it implode. One project at a time...

    I gave almost 8 years of my professional career to Quest. I enjoyed seven good years working with great people. I hated the last year. It sucked the life out of me and everyone around me. I'm glad to be gone and to find another company and I.T. group whom appreciates my contributions.

    My word of advice for the folks who are still around is to look elsewhere for employment. Take control of your fate and don't allow Quest to run you into the ground. There's nothing left but a wasteland of stupidity and incompetence.
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I can so relate to what you have said. I'm just buying my time and looking for a way out. I use to love my job and I felt a since of loyalty to Quest. Not anymore.
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I was in Marketing and I totally agree. There were so many great years and then it all went down hill. I was in one of the "different directions" initiatives and was on the street. For six months I was looking for a job and thought my future was bleak. I was hired by a small firm that is like a family and cares about the welfare of the employee. In retrospect, my "release" was probably the best thing that could have happened. There are other options, but it may take time to find the right one.
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest


    Amen to that!, after 25 years I too felt a loyalty to Quest now I cheer when I hear Lab corp has once again taken over another account. I'm on my second interview and hope this is my final escape from this shit hole of a company, its a shell of its former self and the incompetence in the leadership baffles me everyday. The people chosen to lead couldn't find their way out of a closet with the door open and a flashlight. I get emails from the executive director with misspelled words, bad grammar, improperly formatted. Idiots, where is the exit?.
    Once IT hits the skids were done, clients will not and do not have to put up with that, bye bye Quest, SR and EC you win the prize for destroying a once great company, no surprise you have not heard a peep about the employee surveys.
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I worked in the database area for a good dude named Jeff. In my 20 months all we tried to do was help and get the job done the right way. 55-70 hours a week with on call it was a heavy work load. Now at a different company working 40 hours and making more $$. Most management today is ruining companies across the nation! They don't work hard nor do they have any strategy for 'down the road'. It is all about the $$ folks. Until we get rid of money, we will never progress and I don't have the answer. Stop paying these aholes big salaries and we might get some work done. (Won't be in my lifetime). Just my opinion... Good luck to my excellent IT brothers! I miss kicking some a$$ with you guys!