Passenger Trains > Amtrak 2017 Management Buyout: The Totals

Amtrak has issued the list of management (non-agreement) employees
who have elected to leave the company under the Voluntary Separation
Incentive Program offered in November 2017. Nearly all will have a last
date at Amtrak of December 31, 2017; but note that this is a Sunday
and many will already be off the property.

The total number of employees taking the VSIP: 332

Names will not be disclosed; however, percentages of the total,
by departments, are:

Administration 14%
Commercial 7%
Finance 10%
General Counsel/Corporate Secretary 3%
Information Technology 15%
Marketing 10%
Operations 41%
Office of the President <1%

41% of the operations department management is gone? That tells me that either: A. That management team was EXTREMELY bloated, or B. Amtrak is really screwed. I'm going with A.

irhoghead Wrote:
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> 41% of the operations department management is
> gone? That tells me that either: A. That
> management team was EXTREMELY bloated, or B.
> Amtrak is really screwed. I'm going with A.


41% of the employees who took the buyout (136) were from Operations. I would guess that Ops covers everything relating to running the trains which isn't listed (So TE&Y, Mechanical, Onboard crew, ticketing and station), and probably makes up at least 41% of the company.

The Information Technology acceptance rate is interesting. I wonder if the company is or will be outsourcing some / many functions? The cloud (Amazon Work Solutions, Microsoft Azure, etc) has taken over an enormous amount of storage and processing related tasks.

OTG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> irhoghead Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 41% of the operations department management is
> > gone? That tells me that either: A. That
> > management team was EXTREMELY bloated, or B.
> > Amtrak is really screwed. I'm going with A.
>
>
> 41% of the employees who took the buyout (136)
> were from Operations. I would guess that Ops
> covers everything relating to running the trains
> which isn't listed (So TE&Y, Mechanical, Onboard
> crew, ticketing and station), and probably makes
> up at least 41% of the company.

Sorry, I severely misread the original post. Thanks for waking me up.

Depending on WHO took the package, this can range anywhere from brain drain to reduced bloat. I suspect the former and the more incompetent remain. That is generally what happens when downsizing is done this way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/17 07:03 by joemvcnj.

Don't worry. They're beefing up the list of Vice Presidents. See the post above this one. They're bringing in VPs who worked for Anderson at Delta. That'll help.

knotch8 Wrote:
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> Don't worry. They're beefing up the list of Vice
> Presidents. See the post above this one. They're
> bringing in VPs who worked for Anderson at Delta.
> That'll help.

Delta's Northwest Air had a very rough relationship with its union workers over the years. My recollection is Delta had generally good relations with its most important asset, its people.

To its credit, Northwest ran the wings off its vintage DC-9 aircraft, and had superb maintenance. Maybe the best in the industry. They could teach some Amtrak shops about how to get the job done with old, tired, equipment


EDIT typo fixed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/17 08:36 by Lackawanna484.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Depending on WHO took the package, this can range
> anywhere from brain drain to reduced bloat. I
> suspect the former and the more incompetent
> remain. That is generally what happens when
> downsizing is done this way.


VP-Goverment Affairs and Corporate Communications is being blanked. Govt Affairs former boss was transferred and Corp Comm is direct reporting to a higher-up. But this is only pending a reassessment. Could be that two VPs will replace the former one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/17 14:06 by GenePoon.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Information Technology acceptance rate is
> interesting. I wonder if the company is or will
> be outsourcing some / many functions? The cloud
> (Amazon Work Solutions, Microsoft Azure, etc) has
> taken over an enormous amount of storage and
> processing related tasks.

What until there is a breach there... on the cloud....It is a computer room somewhere and somebody has the keys.....

bluesboyst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Information Technology acceptance rate is
> > interesting. I wonder if the company is or
> will
> > be outsourcing some / many functions? The
> cloud
> > (Amazon Work Solutions, Microsoft Azure, etc)
> has
> > taken over an enormous amount of storage and
> > processing related tasks.
>
> What until there is a breach there... on the
> cloud....It is a computer room somewhere and
> somebody has the keys.....


Breaches happen everywhere there's data. I'm not convinced that Amtrak is more secure than Amazon, however. Their inability to get the business class pricing / seat selection onto their website doesn't fill me with confidence

Companies like Target used in the open transmission of credit card / debit card info. Companies with thousands of people in their IT operation.

Info-Tech is almost 100 % contractors, who do not show up on the employment list.

mundo Wrote:
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> Info-Tech is almost 100 % contractors, who do not
> show up on the employment list.


Do you suppose some of the info-tech people who took the deal and cash will show up January 2 as contractors?

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