Next Level Social Media Management Limited
25 September at 11:48 ·
The last day for Ballymena’s Wrightbus, 73 years in business, it's time for some home truths.
First things first, I do sympathise with every single employee; it's most definitely a stressful time not only for the workforce but their families too. This includes all stakeholders; especially the suppliers who have also been left in debt because of unpaid bills. Hopefully the government redundancy package will be enough to see most in to further employment.
I worked for 'The Wright Group' for seven years, from 2011 to 2018 in four different job roles. I've made some good friends there, friends for life. I've also watched it turn from a workplace that people loved to one of utter hatred. I watched true coachbuilding tradesmen with 30+ year Wrightbus careers walk away mentally beaten and defeated.
Perhaps you may have seen various media articles over the last year stating opinions like; "It was facing some very difficult conditions in its domestic market, with current orders for new vehicles at relatively low levels" and "We understand that the job losses are the result of the loss of sales to Transport for London in addition to the protracted delay in new orders coming in from Translink." Yet, no mention of some very weak links in the senior ‘management’ team failing to make obvious and important strategic business decisions? To be clear; I am not indicating that all of the senior management team are uneducated, inexperienced and in their positions because their face fits. Some, are truly excellent at what they do and it was a pleasure talking to and working with them on occasion. However, some other members of the senior 'management' team are the sole reason for the companies collapse.
What these members created was the most unpleasant and dysfunctional workplace. A workplace that people hated, one they didn't care about. It was a ticking time bomb. Nobody cared about their workmanship. The quality deteriorated. Customers complained. Orders slowed. Some senior 'management' blamed the workforce (I was actually in the audience of that group announcement). The quality deteriorated some more and eventually the orders stopped coming in.
For 3 years, I had the pleasure of working very closely with the founders son, Sir William Wright in the development area. Bearing in mind whilst I was there, Sir William was aged from 89 to 91; He was and still is a true business mastermind. Every single working day, twice a day, he came in to the workshop to check on things. He taught me so much and he always had time for questions. There were no back doors, he said it how it was and most people respected that. Unfortunately, I also witnessed him getting pushed out of a position of control by the same members of the senior 'management' team. One of the only lifelines the business had, pushed out of the picture because of certain disagreements on how things should be run. He wasn't the only family member who was pushed out of the company.
It was Autumn 2017, a group of fellow managers and I getting sent on a 8 week, one day a week, management training course. We were told on the first day that 'the company' had realised the problem of morale in the workplace and that it needed sorted from the bottom up! Of course we all didn't say anything but I can guarantee we were all thinking the exact same thing; The opposite.
I witnessed management/employee HR meetings with the outcome decided BEFORE the meeting was even sat.
I witnessed people getting pre-selected for jobs BEFORE any recruitment processes.
I witnessed people getting recruited and promotions for jobs because they knew them or they were friends with the right people regardless of capability and experience, even in to senior positions with huge responsibility.
Over the last 6 years Wrightbus alone has gave away over £15m in Christian charity donations. Proof via Companies House. This is not including any other of ‘The Cornerstone Groups’ TEN subsidiary companies. In their most recent accounts (2017) showed that it donated £4.1m to Christian and charitable causes; in the same year it posted a turnover of £227.2m but a loss of £1.7m? For the last 5 years the staff were told there would be no inflation pay rises for ANY staff because the business wasn't performing well? Citing poor demand for buses yet their main UK competitor are and were going from strength to strength? Where was the money going? I'd be keen to read through the 2018/19 accounts if they ever get released. It's maybe just as well they haven't.
No one outside of my close family knows this, but its time to close the chapter and start fresh. The last 18 months of my career working for Wrightbus was the easily the worst period of my life. I didn't want to get out of bed, I didn't want to go out, the Galgorm prison was honestly the last place I wanted to be. I had bills to pay, a roof to keep over my, now wife's head. I had no choice, I had to do it. I got diagnosed with work related depression. Fast forward another 12 months and I've only just came off them.
Was the administration of Wrightbus both predictable and avoidable? Absolutely. There were so many opportunities to recover the situation, the latest even being this morning. When, yet again, the selfishness won through in regards to the price and status of the old JTI site.
The same selfishness that came before any remaining dignity. A case of pure greed but before the livelihoods of 1400 innocent people.
I do hope that the business is picked up by true business leaders post administration. It has so much potential and the workforce deserve to be reinstated. Their situation has been forced upon them via others greed and self destruction. There will be a lot of questions going unanswered. It would certainly make a great Spotlight program.
What Wrightbus unknowingly taught me was how NOT to run a company, lessons that’ll stick by me forever. I channelled the anger and frustration in to the motivation to follow my dreams. For that, I’ll be thankful.
Leaving Wrightbus was one of the best decisions of my life. The morale, the working environment, the lack of self-belief; It's not normal. Please see the closure of Wrightbus as a new chapter of your life and grasp it with both hands. It might not seem like it right now but it’s the best thing that could've happened to you. Trust me.
If you want to grasp this opportunity to start your own business, there are some good, council led 'new business' funding and support initiatives running at the minute. Send the page a message and I will personally make sure that you've got all the support you need.