As someone who has worked for JPS in recent years, I am interested by the continuing perception that Jands has some kind of attitude problem. I believe this used to be the case back in the 'good ol' days' when the the drugs were flowing as fast as the gear was being trucked around the country. However since selling off the lighting department they downsized quite substantially. The fulltime staff is a shadow of it's former self and the attitude of being the all powerful super production warehouse had to be adjusted.
They say that a company's attitude comes from the top down and anyone who has worked there can soon tell you that Eric takes no prisoners. But an attitude has to be sustained by the rest of the staff as well. After spending some time within the company, what I learnt is that in the last 10 years there's been quite a large staff turnover. The JPS 'oldschool' is more or less on it's last legs and the 'newschool' is slowly making it's mark. If you've worked on a JPS gig recently you'll probably notice that the crewing is usually made up of one or two older guys with countless decades of experience a the top, a bunch of 25-30 something contractors and some younger trainees. So out of a crew of 8, maybe 2 will have come from the 'good ol' days' while the rest will either be unaffiliated contractors or trainees who are learning on the job.
On that note, what other production hire company in Australia has such a large trainee program? Sure you can be cynical and say that they only have the program so they have a endless supply of cheap crew. But at the same time I would love to know to career success rate of those going through a JPS traineeship vs those paying a fortune to attend Mr Grafton's college or JMC. They took on 11 trainees in Sydney last year and rumour has it they will be starting a similar program at Johnstons in Melbourne. These kids aren't just learning on the job but also get proper classroom teaching from some of the best practicing engineers in the country and they're being paid to do it.
Anyway, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm too pro-JPS. I promise you I am not someone from the office trying to make excuses for the company. I'm just an outsider who's made my own observations over the years.
2 comments:
"A fish stinks from the head down"... No amount of good, friendly crew will make up for the management.
And just to add another quote " A leopard doesn't change it spots" People cannot change basic aspects of their character, especially negative ones, and now Jands have total market share they will no doubt use and abuse this power. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I doubt anything has changed in the way JANDS will treat the industry. I have seen it first hand.. trust me.
I worked at Jands for years and never once had a conversation with Eric..... he just yelled at people and was a total **** wit!
We were 'low caste' as far as he was concerned.
Things might have changed now that Eric spends less time there but he is still the 'puppetmaster' with his hand up Jim's ass.
I have no doubt the intention from the beginning of the merger was to dominate the relationship and take control. In time Bruce will be gone ( with his cash ) and JANDS will be back to where they once were before he came along and upset the apple cart.
Sad to see the Johnston name disappear...
Now there is no choice but to use JANDS, JPJ or what ever you want to cloke the name in.
Good luck to all those still in the industry. I left because of assholes like ERIC!
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