I've just gone back into 123 after a long time on assignment and was surprised to see CCTV cameras all over the officeWHy are they there, and why are there so many?Can they really read the writing on papers on your desk?

PA's just joined the 21st century, that's all.

It'll stop those being made redundant from pilfering the stationery

Employee surveillance has been tightened up greatly, with a number of employees receiving disciplinaries for such things as forwarding e-mails related to the redundancies and pay cuts to their personal email accounts.This is symptomatic of the deep mistrust which the partners have of their employees, and the negative blame culture that has resulted in the rapid decline of PA.

Are the CCTV cameras actually IN the office? By which I mean the actual working areas as opposed to the reception and car park?

Yep, in the office work areas. I can see about 4 from where I am sitting now!

Wow !! Are you accessing TC from a PA laptop?? That could be a rapid one way ticket out the door.Middo watches this like a hawk.

I can just imagine it now.... PA Announcement System.... "Welcome to the Big Brother Hooose... Wednesday 10am... the consultants are in the meeting room"LOL

Think its probably more like the CCTV in the Simpsons."Mmmm... non-matching sockwear spotted in sector 4G Mr. Byrnes"The Mr. Byrnes jokes aren't the same now that Jimmy and the Saffa have finally retired

Dear fellow PA'ers,I understand that many of you have expressed reservations over the quality of leadership within PA in recent months. I would like to assure you that this has not fallen on deaf ears. We in the management team have found this forum to be very useful as a barometer for consulting staff opinions and it is for this reason that I have chosen to make the following announcement here instead of via internal e-mail.The PA management team have carried out a thorough review of the business and have concluded the following.• The consultancy community feels the management team is “out of touch”• There is an unfortunate but undeniable requirement to “right size” the consulting pool in order to match costs to revenue opportunities• The PA brand has been devalued in recent times due to adverse publicity over security issues.It is with extreme pleasure and great excitement that I am therefore able to announce a brand new initiative that will show that the management team once again have their finger on the pulse of modern life, will help the business reduce costs, and will provide the outside world with an positive view of the great work we do in a way that shows we are security aware.You may have noticed the introduction of a great number of security cameras? From next Monday the footage from these cameras will be used to deliver a 24/7 TV program on The Consulting Channel (818 on Sky, 908 on Virgin/NTL) called “Big Brother: The PA Edition”. The program is being produced by the same firm that produced the recent reality TV show “Paris Hilton – my new best Lean Process Advisor”, so you can be assured of its quality.Each week our clients will be able to follow the work our consultants do and vote for which five consultants should be ejected from the company. As the removal will be on clear objective performance grounds the impacted individuals will not qualify for statutory redundancy pay.I am sure as you read this you are all feeling very excited that the management team have once again captured the zeitgeist in a way that will return the company to a firm financial footing and greatly enhance our public reputation. You will no doubt have many questions and I look forward to setting up Q&A sessions in the near future.

waouh! That's what I call breakthrough innovation. Yet it's aligned with PA culture: they'll be loosers, but there is nothing to win!

I don't see what your problem is - your employer has every right to monitor you

They own your a**. And everything that comes out of it.

And then they sell it on to clients who don't know what they are paying for

PA usually sell it on to the public sector, who wouldn't know PA bullshit from value added high end commercially focussed deliverables.Live long and prosper !!

What does the "PA" bit stand for anyway?

Poo All - cos that's all that staff are getting in terms of redundancy payments, payrises, or promotions.Still - at least the partners are doing well out of it

Personnel Administration

Personnel Administration??This says something about the calibre of PA staff, that they describe themselves as simple administrators. No surprise they can't win any work outside the public sector... and they're even stuggling to win anything there now since the memory stick mess. Hence the large scale redundancies.

Personnel and Administration reflects the service first offered to clients in the 1940's when PA supplied staff to the government and undertook work to improve the output from defence manufacturing organisations. It's been PA ever since, much in the same way that McKinsey has remained McKinsey long after the founder left the firm.

I can just imagine it.“I say Smithers, I think might have inadvertently left that Enigma Code thingy on the 3.44 to Paddington!”

Are the cameras there to hunt for the memory stick?pmsl

Some say.. P1ss Artist.. others say Potentially Available.. quite apt given the current situation

I agree.. this is actually what is happening at the moment. Would be interested to know actual metrics. They are looking for any way to get rid of people via disciplinaries and not pay them any redundancy money... all will become clear on PA day. PIP and disciplinary people in or out of the selection pools I wonder..?