Nortel in Beijing
So Ive mentioned before that Im here in China on business to train the folks that are taking over my project. If your not up on your Nortel News, its part of their plan to transition jobs to lower cost centers. They are not cutting jobs….just moving them. The end result for me is the same. After a free trip to China, its time to dust off my resume.
Previously, the Nortel site in Beijing was located pretty centrally next to the Wangfujing shopping district. For whatever reason, they moved to a new area just Northeast called the WanJing Technical Park. The complex is nice, and it has many of the telecom players. Motorola, Ericsson, Sony-Ericsson, Agilent Systems, Alcatel-Lucent. And there is space for more buildings Im sure.
Its strange to look out the window of a high tech building and see folks cleaning the streets with wicker brooms and lugging goods on the back of bikes. Inside its really nice. They have cubilcle like offices too, but the walls are only 4 feet high so there is less privacy….and perhaps more productivity.
They have this strange indoor conference rooms too. Not many. But they look neat.
Work starts at 9 because this is when the majority of the shuttles roll in. Most people take shuttles from various pick up points across the city. Its not like you can just move to a closer apartment in Beijing. Just getting an address is an ordeal. Its easier to take a 1+ hour shuttle ride every day. There is a subway system, but there is not a stop too close to WanJing.
Lunches seemed at first to be subsidized because a huge helping from the cafeteria is 14 RMB ( 2 bucks). They have many selections. Pretty decent stuff. Then again, I have seen other meals around the city for less….but as Im trying to avoid stomach issues, I have not taken too many chances. A meal at a food court in a mall is typically 20-25. Twice as much. A Starbucks espresso is 25 too….just the espressso!
After lunch, its not uncommon to see folks taking a nap at their desk before 1pm. There are a lot of pillows. At 5:30, it all wraps up as the shuttles leave.
They team taking over the project are all pretty smart. Im not worried about them. I put a lot of work into the training and they seemed to absorb the material pretty well.
One of the strange things is that EVERYBODY is young here. Not just Nortel, but all over. Jeffery says that its easy to just fire somebody that seems to be getting old. There are tons of fresh graduates every year and the competition is fierce. All service industy jobs are driven by young faces in the city. Older people that dont have a business for themselves seem to be outta luck. Glad I dont have to look for a job out here. Then again, if I did, it would more likely be as an English teacher.