In yet another Ask The Boss, dated 11/3/08 and in answer to a question challenging the appropriateness of giving effective equal employee status to EDS staff with regards the staff survey, the Boss responds by saying that “a set of Partnering Principles endorsed by the Agency Owner and the then Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS) were established early in the relationship to set the foundations for sharing knowledge and experience to ensure that MOD and EDS employees worked together to meet the customers needs.”This statement reveals two significant things that the Boss seems to overlook… Firstly, “EDS employees” are EDS EMPLOYEES and are wholly distinct from MoD staff regardless of “working together to meet customers needs.” Secondly, SPVA is a customer of EDS… THEY are contracted to provide US with services. If the Boss wanted to know how that is working he should be conducting a customer satisfaction survey of all MoD staff, both service and civilian, to ask their genuine views on the quality of the service that EDS provides. That might get a statistically significant response rate, which is more than can be claimed for the current survey. By the way, if it is deemed appropriate to spend public funds to conduct a staff survey of privately employed staff in EDS, why stop there? Should we not also survey our other suppliers? Why not include Trillium, Eurest, Group 4, Dalkia, Parcelforce and Rentokill staff, all of whom are non-MoD employees exactly like EDS staff. Why not ask how satisfied they are supplying services under contract to SPVA. Should we also survey DWP staff who continue to provide services to SPVA? And if not them, then why EDS? They are not, after all, our employees!
