OPENREACH LTD – Fibre Network Delivery ‘My Potential’
Openreach Fibre Network Delivery (FND) have made a concerning decision to press ahead with the rollout of an unagreed mutation of ‘My Potential’. It is being vigorously challenged by the CWU Openreach National Team who have strong reservations that management’s unilateral addition of four new metrics risks turning it into a punitive performance management tool.
Your CWU Openreach National Team agreed previously to a small-scale trial of ‘My Potential’, the details can be seen within LTB No. 254/2023. This included twelve patches, within the cabler and jointer community – six were team-based and six were individual. The rationale was to foster a supportive culture guided by a single ‘Daily Customer Connections’ metric, similar to what was agreed within Service Delivery – Customer Delivery Rate. This metric aimed to help identify coaching needs and any other assistance required to support individuals in the best way possible.
However, the unagreed version of ‘My Potential’ that is being rolled out by FND is now significantly altered and is unrecognisable. With management’s inclusion of four additional metrics, it has morphed into a potentially exploitative tool. These metrics may be weaponised against the very people they were meant to empower. These changes include:
- ‘On The Tools Time’ – the percentage of the total time booked by an engineer that is deemed to be productive
- ‘Time to Complete’ – measuring the “number of productive hours booked by the engineer per completion” in a given time period
- ‘Customer Conversion Percentage’ – namely the ‘percentage of tasks allocated to an engineer to have been completed’ and…
- ‘Time Booking’ – measuring “the percentage of full match time in total time booked by the engineer.”
Despite management’s current insistence that team members have “nothing to worry about” there is a fundamental problem with these additional metrics. They are largely subjective and therefore in danger of becoming punitive.
Without safeguards being negotiated, there is a real danger that management will exploit these metrics to reintroduce the oppressive performance management practices that you and members fought tirelessly to eliminate from Openreach.
It is crucial that we oppose metrics that could lead to a regressive style of management. These additional metrics, could be perceived as performance management.
Campaign and Tasks for Branches
As discussed at the recent Openreach Briefing Committee, a campaign will be launched. This campaign can only be won by our members and Branches and it is vital they are the force behind achieving this. Once the members comms has been sent, we will send them to Branches and Regional Co-ordinators. In the comms, we are asking members to:
‘Start discussing this issue with your colleagues – especially those who are not currently members of the CWU and encourage them to join. Your voice and involvement are essential. Stay informed, keep an eye on emails and speak to your local union reps about how you can participate.’
Regional Co-ordinators (RCs) and Branches should attend the engineer briefings, which are currently taking place and happening over the coming weeks. I have attached the Patch Manager/Patch Lead briefings and also the Engineer briefing packs. If SEAMs have not already reached out with dates and times, the Regional Co-ordinators have agreed to approach the SEAMs to ensure CWU presence. Branches should inform RCs when they are attending and how the briefing was received. Gathering as much feedback on this issue is crucial.
Branches should continually engage with members and non-members to educate them on how this can be turned into a punitive performance management tool. Education and information are key at this stage in a campaign. This is an excellent opportunity to speak to non-members, to get them to understand why it is so important to be part of the CWU. The more of them who make a stand the stronger this campaign will become.
Additionally, any feedback coming from members, whether that is a phone call, email or a conversation face-to-face needs to be documented and sent to your RC. Your RC will be in touch on how best to keep them informed.
As the campaign progresses, we will keep you informed on the next steps. The next steps will be dependent on the strength of feeling/reaction from our members and the reaction of Openreach. If members or Branches have ideas that will help our campaign can this be fed through to your Regional Co-ordinator.
Any enquires regarding this LTB should be sent directly to me in the first instance.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Curtis
Acting Assistant Secretary
13.06.24 – LTB 206 – OPENREACH LTD – Fibre Network Delivery ‘My Potential’
MyPotential Engineer Workshop Deck – Attachment 1
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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