SS7 Getting hammered on this Forum – Why?

[James McLauchlan]

You don’t have to look far on the forum to see SS7 taking a disproportionately high verbal beating in a number of different ROV related threads now.

Other ROV companies ‘come in for it’ from time to time which is to be expected, but SS7 still seems to be the focus of many peoples wrath around here.

There are plenty of other companies out there. So, if SS7 are really that bad why are ROV people still bothering to work for them offshore?

[JL Schnabel]

Grabbing the bull by the horns… ❗
😀 (as usual) 😀

[Anonymous]

Could be that they’d miss the family if they left!

Nepotism is alive and well!

😉

[DJansen]

Every company has it’s core of fellas who will work for them whatever the conditions.. They all have their reasons.. Some are neck deep in debt and daren’t leave.. Others know they have been promoted beyond their skill level and are just too insecure to leave.. Then there are the brown nosers who are notorious and well known.. They know how hard it would be to go elsewhere.. Their rep would preceed them..

As for SS7.. well they get a lot of bad press cos their image is poor pay and conditions.. It’s a small industry and word soon gets about.. Anyone who has been around a while could compile a quick list of companies from good to bad… There is no way that SS7 would be at the top on anybody’s list..

[Andy Shiers]

They are no different to when they were just Subsea 8)
It was always said that if you wanted plenty of experience ( good or bad ) go to Subsea but they treat you like shite and the pay is bad

[Pat_the_Rat]

This is the biggest ROV site that exists.
I write my opinion here, as most others do.

It seems that most people have negative experiences with SS7 and a negative opinion.

As previous mentioned, the Numnuts will not leave and for others it is a family replacement.

Eat shit, 1 000 000 flies can,t be wrong?

[iROV]

This is the biggest ROV site that exists.
I write my opinion here, as most others do.

It seems that most people have negative experiences with SS7 and a negative opinion.

As previous mentioned, the Numnuts will not leave and for others it is a family replacement.

Eat shit, 1 000 000 flies can,t be wrong?

Something you wanted to say _the_Rat, or just biting the hand that feeds you.

[liddelljohn]

I enjoyed working for SS7 but when at the begining of this season They asked me to work for £100 a day less money i was worried as things were slow and nearly succumbed to their tune …..but sensibly said no thanks , they whinged that they really valued me and needed my skills but i am working elswhere now for a lot more money than they paid before they wanted me to take less.

interestingly they called me 2 weeks ago saying that they would reverse the pay cut as they urgently needed me and my skills …tough ! cos i am still on more money at other companies with work into next year.

[James McLauchlan]

liddelljohn

Good for you. :tup:

If more people had the same approach as yourself these co’s wouldn’t try it on in the first instance.

Isn’t it amazing. Here is a company which:

• ‘Say’ they value you so much but at the same time want to cut your pay by 20% (ish) plus expect you to swallow it.
• Then they post excellent 2009 Q1 financial results and pat themselves on the back for a job [aka shafting] well done.
• At which pint they run out of people and ask you to come back for the original rate after they realised they blew it!

Oh, to have such a nice family to rely on! I feel so lonely 😥

We need some ‘family’ supporters to offer words of wisdom and support. You know, things like…..

"They have looked after me for years, I love them"

"They are such a great company I wouldn’t work for anyone else"

"Working for the company is the best decision I ever made in my life!"

Actually, I have never worked for them, nor wanted to, nor attempted to, but I see little on here that would induce me to either. What I do see is plenty to put me off though.

[Eddie Wok]

I have worked for S7 for over two years now, and am quite happy with them. Ya the pay might not be the highest in the industry but they treat me better than any other company I have worked for. I know a lot of guys with the company are hesitant to go agency due to the bad reputation that follows agency employees. I can honestly say that I have yet to meet an agency guy that came on a vessel that was any good. There seems to be a high supply of supposed Supervisors that can’t tie their own shoes or even fill a pilot tech position. So needless to say I do not want to be painted with the same brush. I realise not every agency guy is a complete nugget but they must be few and very far between.

[James McLauchlan]

I’m pleased that you are happy where you are, but feel that your views may be a little slanted on the agency front, probably due to in-house company coffee shack discussions taking place when the agency guys were not around.

Over the years I’ve come across plenty of agency guys that are well up to the job and I’ve also worked with many that are not.

I have also worked with plenty of company guys that are up to the job and a good many that are total waste of cabin space. They wouldn’t leave the company because they know they would not last a month in the agency world.

Lets not escape the fact that anyone that can fly and maintain a sub is no different whether they are on an agency or company contract. What is a known fact is that there are useless people on both sides of the fence and I feel that there are no more useless agency people around then there are company guys.

Take the divers for example (UK sector) they are just about all day rate, yet could anyone say that would make the majority of them useless because they are not on contract with a company?

This ‘Company v Agency’ thing has been going on since I can remember, not forgetting what the agency guys think of company people.. which of course hasn’t been mentioned yet. However it is ironic that it was a company employee that broached the subject.

[DJansen]

Not forgetting that most ‘decent’ agency/freelance guys don’t work for SS7 because of the low rates.. Usual story involving peanuts and monkeys..

But since the agencies started taking on anybody with a heartbeat the quality of agency staff has suffered. But conversely there are alot of company guys who have only worked with one type of sub on one type of project and who would be completely out of their depth if they went to something different..

[James McLauchlan]

But since the agencies started taking on anybody with a heartbeat the quality of agency staff has suffered.

A worrying trend, although probably driven by the agencies knowing that companies are accepting these people on their jobs to fill slots.

Things have shifted a lot in the last 18 months or so.. in a downward spiral from what I can judge. It’s beginning to appear that companies are not so concerned as to who they put in charge of their Million dollar spreads, as long as their day rate is lower than last year. As to what the final cost may be in terms of system base repairs god only knows.

[Eddie Wok]

I agree that there are some nuggets employed by the company, but why is it that every agency guy that comes out claims to have 10+years experience on all sorts of systems, but can’t even figure out what blue roll is. This has nothing to do with company vs agency and supposed tea shack talks. Sorry but if you have that kind of experience you should be able to contribute to a team, the principles are the same on every system and sure there is a little bit of a learning curve, but where do we draw the line. I am patiently waiting for a good agency hand, we need them especially with the influx of cheaper labour where the language barrier has become quite evident. Please tell me where the good agency guys go cause maybe I will go also.

[Anonymous]

There seems to be a high supply of supposed Supervisors that can’t tie their own shoes or even fill a pilot tech position. So needless to say I do not want to be painted with the same brush. I realise not every agency guy is a complete nugget but they must be few and very far between.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:59 pm

Why is it, one wonders, that there are so many posts/positions advertised for Supervisors in general?

Are they all shite?

Are people being advanced into the Peter Principle position?

The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence." It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1968 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise which also introduced the "salutary science of Hierarchiology", "inadvertently founded" by Peter. It holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions. This principle can be modeled and has theoretical validity. Peter’s Corollary states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence".

Acknowledgment to Wikipedia for this quote

I’ve always worked on the principle that ROV is a trade therefore you need an apprenticeship ( I studied 4 years for my primary trade, so why be any different?). As I’ve only been in the game for 3.75 years I’ll wait until the operators and agencies appreciate quality!
😉

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