Talk about Bartlett

[RAD-GHOST]

Talk about Bartlett

[remowil55]

I have had more problems with Bartlett than any other company that i have worked for. The last time i work for Bartlett i was at Trukey Pt. When i got my first check it was short several hundred dollars, there was a deduction for court ordered child support.I don't have any kids on this earth. I called and was told that i would have to go through the courts to get it back and that i needed to step up the plate and be a real parent and do my duty. After several weeks and threat of litigation they gave me my money back, when they realized that they was another rad worker with my name. Even though they knew that the social security #'s didn't match they were convinced that i was the dead beat dad. Hey Bartlett "I DON'T HAVE AND CHILDREN" maybe this is why they won't hire me today. Bartlett can NOT claim to be an Equal Opportunity Employer when they won't even submit your resume. And every time i have worked for them i have always done my job and got a good review. Just this year i submitted my resume for approval at Turkey and BARTLETT didn't even return my calls or e-mails. Well theres no shame in welfare.Remo

[Dream Tar Heel]

Never worked for the big B-Machine in the Nuclear World, but I am constantly surrounded by his ex-employees, each with their own story. Some even sharing the same story.

All I know is for every new story, Numanco gets another tech, some of them pretty good and I'm glad to work with them.

Go figure, like Mulder said "The Truth Is Out There" 

[Eric_Bartlett]

Remo - sorry to hear about that situation, truthfully never heard of it before and if I had I would've tried to help get it resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible.  Obviously it wasn't handled quickly and painlessly as possible and for that I'm sorry, as I am sorry it even happened in the first place.  As most of you know payroll is outside my domain  - hell, I failed every accounting course I ever took, but I can push hard and yell quite loud when it comes to someone getting a bum deal from any department in this company. Now I realize that since my last name happens to be the topic of this thread that most of you probably don't trust me as far as you could throw me, but take this as you will - if you have a problem with any  department be it payroll, insurance, personnel etc...I will try to work with you to get it resolved.  Bartlett is in essence a staffing company - without you the technicians we don't exist - you may feel that some people may loose site of this fact at times, I can assure you I never have and never will.  I was brought into this company when it was realitively one of the smallest in the field  competing with a half dozen or more companies to get you the technicians to work for us. Over the years we have become the largest supplier of Radiological and Decontamination support services in the commercial industry - one of the main reasons we have been able to grow into this position is because of you the technicians - the technicians that show up to do a professional job, the technicians that sacrifice quality time with thier loved ones to work 72 to 84 hours a week - you the technicians that have chosen a very difficult way of life - not knowing when and where your next check will be coming from, when you will be returning to work and when you are working when you will be returning home.  As I'm sure that most of you will agree, at least those that have been in the buisness since the glory day prior to deregulation, the commercial contract buisness is getting tighter and harder with shorter, faster paced outages.  Bartlett is not in this buisness to not hire you. We are a staffing company. The last thing we want to do is alienate any of you. I'm not stupid, or at least not that stupid. I realize that we cant keep everyone happy all of the time.  I realize that we make mistakes just as some of you make mistakes. Afterall we are only human, with human flaws. If you have a problem with any individual or department within the Bartlett organization and you dont think its getting resolved in an expediant amount of time with the desired results contact me - I can't promise I can fix it(Rad-Ghost can attest to that ) but I can promise I'll try. If I'm part of the problem you have, go straight to my boss(s).  I can freely admit I've made mistakes before and I'll most likely make mistakes in the future.  I can only try to learn from them and try to never repeat them - as I've stated before, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here, Bartlett wouldn't be here.  Well thats my two cents worth - take it or leave it - may you be prosperous and happy in all of your endeavors.

PS sorry for the spell'n, wasn't much good with spell'n either

[Pdiddy]

it's been my experience that it is sometimes incredibly difficult to be reimbursed for payroll shortages made by bartlett. i have even been charged the fed ex fee when i did get reimbursed. that being said...everyone makes mistakes from time to time and that's okay. recruiters, payroll folks, and even us technicians. i think the thing that puts people off is the time it takes to resolve payroll problems. the previous post by eric bartlett is pretty much true...it just depends on who you talk to up there. my problems were all resolved as soon as i got in touch with the right person.  just my two cents for what it's worth. best of luck to all of you!

[Jr8black3]

My personal experience with Bartlett, they took very good care of my wife and I till that fateful year, the year 1988, my wife and I had just completed a outage at H.B. Robinson for them as senior deconners ( NO FUN AT ALL!!) and we were promised (BOTH OF US) decon supervisor jobs at Perrys first refuel outage. Well, we did our part and showed up at Perry to learn of a loss of a contract at Fermi, and because of that I lost my postion and had to go into Perry as a Jr. HP @ a dissmal 6 an hour and 35/day perdiem, pretty sad huh? But that wasn't all we were also promised we would be out of Perry by early may, as we had a July wedding planned, and we hadn't been able to get home to do much planning, as the outage wore on and got extended, May came around, we were told to quit if we wanted to leave, and that we would be on two years jail time with Bartlett. So I looked at my now wife and told her to go tell her friends goodbye.

Three months later the phone rang it was JUDY to tell us she had 7 plants we could choose from to go to. We did make the choice to go back to work for Bartlett at that time, we went toCY and then to Catawba and ended up staying busy for the next two years working the S.C cycle, then they gave us a great offer to go back to our home plant and work for three years, so we did, then after three years Barlett lost the contract to ARC, my wife stayed on with ARC, I left because ARC had labeled me a good ole Bartlett boy, and I knew hell was down the path for me if I stayed, but I did go back with ARC for one outage, and I did get treated as a good ole Barlett boy, so I left once again, only to get that dreaded call from my wife while I was at WNNP-2, hunny you last three checks from ARC bounced!! Barlett did me right and helped me to make sure I had work and that I had money coming in, I never seen my three weeks of pay I lost from ARC.

Then I had another experince with Barlett, mostly my fault ( Yes I can admit I made a mistake) I went to Maine Yankee 1995.. Partied to hard and got nailed on a FFD ( MY FAULT NOT BARTLETTS) But when I returned home, I made a phone call to the office to find out after I was properly escorted off site I got accused of smashing windows out of cars, which is totally false, and the Bartlett officed believed those rumors, and told me I'd never work for them again. Anybody that knows me knows I'am not that way, I walked away from that job knowing I messed up and had a greater fear to face. MY WIFE!!!.. Trust me it wasn't pretty..

 All in all I don't dislike Bartlett, they did things for my wife and I others never would have, but they also wouldn't believe me, and yes Eric they lied to me, but if I look back at all the companies I've worked for I don't think any of them have ever been totally honest with you 100% of the time.

 Personally I think Barlett is one of the best choices out there, but thats the great thing about this business is there are always choices, if you not happy leave. Just one thing don't go away mad, just go away..

 Kevin  

[makua13]

I do like Bartlett and refuse to work for anyone else any more.  Do you guys remember IRM?  I have gotten to know Bartletts home office staff and the people are very nice, and yes they do care.  I worked the conferences demonstrating some equipment for Bartlett, and I have to tell you the difference between Bartletts Executives versus those of the other companies is astounding, the professionalism and the credentials.
And for the Techs out there, I was surprised too, but I swear it is true since the meeting was held iin my own hotel room, Bruce himself and others were in meetings with diferent Plant peiople in an effort to raise Tech pay.  It turns out that in many cases the plants are holding money down.  OK we wont discuss Wolf Creek, but that was a new contract and Bartlett wanted to look good.  I hear rumors that that pay will come back up too.
Just dont be too quick to MF Bartlett, they are the best out there.

[thenukeman]

I never worked  for Bartlett but  have  heard  bad and good  about them.  The good is from  people  who  work  hard  and  mostly  cared about  their  work.  The  bad  is  from  mostly  losers anyway.  I  think  thats  how  it  goes  for  the  most  part.  Eric did  apologize to  Remo  and  that  gives  me  a  warm  fuzzy  for  them.  I  have  been called  about  a  dozen  times  by  Bartlett In  the  last  few  months  at  Oak  Ridge.  All  I  can  say  is  I  hope  they  get  the  SEC contract.  I  like  what  I  am  doing  now  but  would  consider Bartlett  in  the  future. Oh  by  the  way  I  used  to  be a  loyal hardworking  SEC  alliance  worker until SEC  decided  to  kick  SAIC  and  Auxier  out  of  the  Alliance.  SEC  offered  us  pay  cuts  to  keep  our  jobs. Even  when they  were  paying  people  what  we  asked for.    I  say  Bechtel  Jacobs   give Bartlett  a  chance.  SEC  fostered  too  much  hate,  discontent  and incompetence  to  keep this  contract.

[halflifer]

So Mr. R. At what point do you stop being nice and call there hand. They told me i would not get my money from them, that i would have to ask the courts.  Remo

Actually, federal labor laws are pretty specific about when an employer can withhold money from your check and a call to the Federal Dept of Labor would probably have straightened it out quicker than litigation with the additionaly benefit of NOT GIVING ANY MONEY TO LAWYERS!!!!!

[halflifer]

I have to add, though, that I've worked for Bartlett quite a bit over the course of 25 yrs (workin' for them now, actually) and while I won't say it's been problem-free (and they probably wouldn't either), I can't think of more than 1 or 2 problems that were truly the result of the offices action (as opposed to a recruiter or a site coordinator/project manager). I know if you can't work things out with payroll, per diem, insurance.....whoever.... a call to Nick or Jerry will get action on the thing and in most cases, the office will and has jumped through hoops to rectify the problem most expeditiously without any other calls being necessary.
While I'll admit, WebMaster Rennhack  has appeared to take the tone of Official Bartlett Proponent, it's not one he would take if it didn't represent his true feelings. Mike and I both work at the same project though probably for not much longer) and I've heard him express feelings that leave no doubt that he is not a Plymouth Lap Dog.

[jjordan]

Bartlett has been very very good to me! I no longer work for them, as I have taken a house position 6 years ago. I worked for them very steady for 10 years, and yes we had a few problems. Evryone needs to look at the big picture, this is buisness, nothing personal, but there is money invloved. Electric utilities are trying to make a profit for their shareholders, so they don't want to pay anymore out than neccessary. Bartlett would love to be able to pay more, but usually a contract dictates this. Bartlett has expenses also. They keep records on all of the techs, past, present, and future! (Security, Form 4's, resume, and payroll) They have a large staff to do this, and have to have facilities to do this from. Also there are people to recruit, engineer, manage and bid contracts. After you get laid off, lots of people remain to try to secure future work for you. These people have to get paid out of the money that you generate for Bartlett while you are working. Do you think the utilities pick up the tab for this? Granted right now there is a shortage of techs and the old laws of supply and demand will dictate just exactly how much a utility is willing to pay. This is good for contract technicians, when I went house it wasn't like this, you had too many techs for to few jobs, and you had to constantly phone recruiters to stay gainfully employed. You often found that you had to work in places you weren't exactly thrilled with, for less money than you really wanted. But hey a little slice of the pie is better than no pie, so you did it! Due to geograpic advantages, I was fortunate that almost all of the contracs around the Pittsburgh (home) area, were Bartlett. Once I started working for them, I went from site to site, with maybe a little time off in between. They did their best to keep it to a minimum( If I don't make money, they don't make money) The longer I worked for them, and established a good relationship, the better I was treated. They have a very difficult job of staffing a lot of outages simotaneously, and you can't send all good technicians to one site and all slugs and whiners to the others or you won't have that contract for long! As your reputation is established, you find that if you were reliable and low maintenance, you are given slightly preferential treatment. Thats just the way it is, dependability=$, for you, me , Bartlett, and the utilities! I had my fair share of problems, but tried to follow the proper chain, and always got them resolved. Had to make the dreaded call to Bruce one time, he told me straight! (I didn't like it! but understood) He also offered an alternative solution which we took, and it worked out to our mutual benefit! He earned my respect, and he gained a loyal employeee! He took a bit of time to deal with me and my problem, that no other person of his capacity in this industry would! Usually the recuiters or the people in payroll could resolve most of the day to day issues, like missing checks and such. I was never charged anything for Fed Ex delivery( almost 1 going from each site daily anyways) If they couln't resolve it the next level (VP's) were always attenitive whenever I called. It's a pretty awsome task keeping up with several thousand migrant  employees. Some of which seem to be very demanding, but maybe thats me too. (hope not) Bartlett didn't get to be the largest in the industry, from a tiny start up company, becuase they are stupid and didn't care. If I can ever do anything for them , they know all they have to do is call, I still try to maintain a very good working relationship, because a permenent position  isn't quite as permenent as it used to be. Ya just never know! I'll get down off of my soapbox for now!
JJ

[Old HP]

JJ
You have been away too long. It has been a long time since recruiters actually recruited techs. They want you to play the WISH LIST GAME. Fill in the blanks and then when you don't hear from us call. Resumes,evaluations and job performance don't come into play very often. Lately you are expected to commit to a job before the pay rates are established. A very interesting new technique
.
Anyway I hope you have survived all the nasty weather on the east coast.

                                           Just another,
                                                     OLD HP

[jjordan]

I aint all that old! We used the wish lists, you used to pick several in order of preference, then they went ahead and submitted you to wherever they needed you. You used to have to keep after them if you really wanted to work a certain outage. Of course that was before the comming of "ERIC" He usually tried to get you where you wanted to go, and always told you straight. Later in my career I went wherever they needed me! They would bring me in early and release me early to get to the next site to set up and train on the RMS System, which was way better than trying to milk the last drop outa the cow! Was a real hectic pace but I stayed busy, which is what I wanted. The inside of containment pretty much looks the same no matter what state you're in, also found out the worse the plants reputation the better they treated you. I found most of the problems I had arose from me moving so often, they couldn't keep up with the checks. I called Bob Mulready in payroll, and he told me to tell him or Roxanne whenever I switched sites, problem solved! Site coordinators cause most of the clerical errors, the people in Plymouth only know what they tell them, or what you tell them! They don't have a crystal ball, and it's hard keeping up in the middle of outage season! Recruiters are the first place to go, after the coordinator. Then the appropriate head  of the particular dept. you have issues with. If that fails, the VP's will help, and as a last, resort Mr. B! When I was there he made time for me if I called him.( he is very busy) As far as commiting without a pay rate, I've never heard of this, and don't quite know how to handle this issue, that sucks. Sounds to me like everyone needs to ask for a formal contract. Do all the other companies do this?
JJ

[Already Gone]

This whole thread reminds me that we are a bunch of pessimists.  We look at one company's strength and assume it means the employees will get screwed.
Has anybody considered the fact that Bartlett would no longer have to low-ball their bids to compete against other contractors?  I mean, considering that their cut is proportional to what they pay the techs, it only makes sense that Bartlett would just LOVE to raise rates.  It has been happening already.

[Eric_Bartlett]

Plus Karma to you Troy - for the most part BNI makes it's money by taking a multiplier against the pay rate - in other words the more we can pay the more we can bill, the more we can pay the easier it is to staff - it behooves no one to have low rates, not you, not us and not even the utilities.  Once again just my 2 cents worth.

Eric

[Roll Tide]

This whole thread reminds me that we are a bunch of pessimists. 

That's an understatement! I have to take some time to consider the rest of what you wrote, but this part I am definitely in agreement.

[Eric_Bartlett]

Hey Mike,
I agree with you!  This guy Remo seems like the dude in the A & W rootbeer commercials.  THICKHEADED.

Believe it or not I have to jump to Remo's deffense - he had some serious issues with our company, not just the ones posted here but others he's let me know about.  I am at this point looking into them to hopefully get him some answers.  I just wish he had come to me earlier on, as I've said I can't fix everything, but I can try, sometimes it take a bit of time, sometimes it can be done right away.

[remowil55]

Thanks Eric, In the future i will know. Maybe i should have come to you. But i didn't fill like it was your problem you didn't create it. I can work with anyone. In the future i will try and work more closely with you . Thanks for listening. Remo

[Old HP]

Don't be too quick to pick on Remo. He is a reliable worker and I always gave him a good eval when he worked for me and I would be glad to work with him again.

                                                  Just another OLD HP

[HDgirl77]

you know Bartlett gave me my break in this bussiness, I have worked for them off and on for a few years, I must be in agreeance with the postings about the issue of getting paychecks and diem checks messed up,,, it does happen often, and yes you get your money back,, and yes it is on thier timing and terms ( not quickly).

People just need to be greatful for what they do have in a company, Bartlett will keep you employed and will take care of you if you stand by thier side also!

[wrecked_edsel]

Let me start by saying that pieface is full of sh*t for that post. I have gone that route before went to my BNI supervisor lets call him Putty back and was told that I would have to talk to the Site Cord. lets call him Big Bubba. he then told me that I need to talk to the Manager lets call him Bull ble in the sandhills. Who then told me that it was a home office problem and that I need to take it up with them. So I called the home office and they told me that I was no longer at that site that I was calling them from which was the supervisors office at the site that they said I was no longer working at. The person at the home office  had about as much knowledge about payroll as I know about being The Pope. He told me that if i was still at this site that I would have received a paycheck and when I proved to him he aggreed to send me the check IF I AGREED TO PAY THE $12.00 FED_EX CHARGE FOR THEIR MISTAKE. So I proceeded to get a little (well a lot pi**ed  with this person and told him a few choice things that were on my mind and was hung up on. Then I found the only person at bartlett that was heplful and this person was Hyatt (not sure on the spelling of his last name) and after 4 hours on the phone talking and fighting about my checkswith the prior  IDIOTS  he told me that he did not see a big problem with sending me the money that was owed to me and bartlett would gladly send me my checks at no charge. Received my check the next day and never heard a thing from the site people on any of it... So when in doubt go to the top not the bottom and work up

[Rennhack]

Personally, I believe in the chain of command.

I mention my problem to the Bartlett site rep, if one exists, then I go to the recruiter that placed me.  I've never had to go higher.

Call me lucky.

[indoprime]

So far, I've had the time of my life working for Bartlett.  There's not a lot of negative things I can say about them. No matter who I call, (site coord, Eric, Joey, Bill, or payroll / insurance) my problem gets solved...quickly!  I've heard all kinds of horror stories from other people at other places.  I suppose you could call me one of the lucky ones.

I'll keep working for them until the cows come home!!

[SloGlo]

I've never had to go higher.

Call me lucky.

yo, lucky!  eye've hadda goe hire..... maybee that's wye sum recrewtars ain't ona fones no mo.

[radrat]

I said it befor and Ill say it agian, if you treat someone with respect and have some pacience then thats what you'll get in return. If you act negitive then you"ll get negitivity in return.(you know .. you reep what ya soe).
I have been working with bartlett for a while now and have allways kept a good attitude twards  the people up at the office. Im sure
 there not just sitting there waiting for you to call them, I m shure there kept busy with day to day things they have to do. Remember there working on keeping you in a job and getting Irate because of an error wont help it out. Keep you cool and let the system work for you. I really haven't ever had a situation where an error occured and they didnt get it fixed fast. As far as the staff up there , nuthing but good things to say about them .
KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB !!!