Jump to content

NYC Transit chief Sarah Feinberg says MTA has no organizational chart, vows to cut fat out of agency


CenSin

Recommended Posts

Hmm… how many times have we heard that before?

Quote

NYC Transit chief Sarah Feinberg says MTA has no organizational chart, vows to cut fat out of agency
By Clayton Guse
New York Daily News | Jul 13, 2020 at 12:01 AM

MTA officials have run into a unique obstacle in their efforts to cut costs: The agency has no organizational chart detailing what each of its 70,000 employees do, or who they even report to.

Interim NYC Transit president Sarah Feinberg said in an interview with the Daily News Thursday that she was confounded last month when no one was able to provide her with a full breakdown of the workforce she’s led since March.

Some managers maintain a chart of their own employees, but there is no unified document for the whole agency, Feinberg said.

That chart would serve as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the massive bureaucracy, and she said it’s necessary in order to find ways to save money.

Still, some MTA sources said an org chart might further complicate the agency because so much of its work runs on personal relationships.

“There are people who do not work here who we are paying,” said Feinberg. “It’s crazy ... I absolutely believe there are a lot of people wandering around and no one knows who they report to.”

Feinberg said she’s working with other Metropolitan Transportation Authority honchos to build out an org chart — but that’s just a small measure of the problems the nation’s largest transit agency faces as the coronavirus pandemic continues to crater its finances.

MTA chairman Pat Foye has requested an additional $3.9 billion in relief from Congress in order to keep mass transit service running across the five boroughs for the rest of 2020. The agency in March received roughly $4 billion from the feds.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives included the relief money in a bill the chamber passed in May, but there is no indication that the Republican-controlled Senate will sign off.

Feinberg said every dollar she saves buys her more time before she’s forced to execute devastating reductions in subway and bus service.

“I’m basically doing my own reorganization,” said Feinberg. “I’ve been here four months, before that I was on the MTA board for a year. We’ve been talking about ‘transformation’ and consolidation the entire time.”

“I can’t wait any longer to save money,” she added.

The MTA in December hired Anthony McCord as “chief transformation officer,” a new position created in order to slash jobs across the agency. McCord in January announced plans to hire 120 consultants to figure out how to cut 2,700 jobs — but those efforts were put on hold due to the pandemic.

Feinberg expressed a distaste for many MTA consultants — and said she does not need them in order to find ways to cut costs or build out her master org chart.

“The first thing you do is cut internally, you cut the consultants, cut the s--t you didn’t even know you were spending money on,” said Feinberg. “There is money being spent here that I did not know about.”

She said she’s received three different lists of all the consultants that have contracts with NYC Transit, and is trying to identify which ones are unnecessary.

Feinberg said she’s also put a hold on spending money for employees to travel out of state, and plans to crack down on dozens of workers who use MTA-owned vehicles for personal trips and commutes.

What’s more, she said managers across the agency have found ways to get around a hiring freeze put in place in 2018, which was supposed to keep any new non-essential employees from joining the agency.

“The way you get around a hiring freeze is by saying, ‘I need to hire this person in order to continue operations or in order to keep the system safe,‘” said Feinberg. “You can give someone an operational title like conductor, but what you really have them do is data entry or be someone’s driver.”

There is also little oversight when it comes to how the MTA hires people, Feinberg said. The agency’s human resources department is given a budget, and just brings in new staff until its spent, a process the transit boss said she wants to fix.

“You tell me my budget is $100, and I just hire people until I’ve spent that $100,” she said. “It’s almost like you blindly walk down the aisle at a grocery store and what is in your cart is a surprise.”

The lack of organization at the MTA has also hampered transit officials’ efforts to do in-house contact tracing among employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19. The disease has killed at least 131 agency employees.

The agency has no phone number or email address on file for thousands of its workers, Feinberg said. Officials have mulled giving every single worker an MTA email account, but found that it would cost $3 million annually.

It’s not clear how quickly Feinberg will be able to hack away at NYC Transit. MTA executives have for decades attempted to introduce reforms and make the place more efficient, but have largely fallen short.

But Feinberg said the COVID-19 outbreak has made it clearer than ever that the agency needs to change.

“There are going to be a lot of cuts that will be painful, but they need to come,” she said. “Some of them we never would have done, but we have to do them because we are in this position with the pandemic.”

Source: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-mta-cuts-nyc-transit-feinberg-20200713-xxvzjppk7bb4vg2fhprt6j6aym-story.html

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Quote

“There are people who do not work here who we are paying,” said Feinberg.

You mean, like tenured retirees? Honestly now......

Quote

There is also little oversight when it comes to how the MTA hires people, Feinberg said. The agency’s human resources department is given a budget, and just brings in new staff until its spent, a process the transit boss said she wants to fix.

Quote

“It’s crazy ... I absolutely believe there are a lot of people wandering around and no one knows who they report to.”

Quote

The MTA in December hired Anthony McCord as “chief transformation officer,” a new position created in order to slash jobs across the agency.

What in the absolute f.....

This level of Disorganization is not only embarrassing, but scary.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This just proves what I have been thinking all  heset years that everything when you reach out of the civil service is political and who is responsible to wohom is based on political loyalties.

I was taught in te myriad of managemtn courses that there were two organization charts with the official being the one which shows who reports to whom and the unofficial which was who really has the power and who does not even though they are in a high position. The latter are the people who have the position because of their political connections and most of the time not based on merit. Those are the ones who keep their jobs as long as their politicial person is either in office or when he leaves office still retains power through friendships and favors. What  usually happens when the political support is withdrawn for some reason then the person either finds another person politically or leaves the job.

What has happened here is I presume is when this happened  the person still kept his job and they hired someone else to do the work at a higher salary with allegiance to another poliitical person  to do the other persons work. In the meantime, the first person remained on the payroll until retirement  esentially doing nothing but still getting paid at the salary level that was set along with all the raises that came with the job.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CenSin said:

Let the scapegoating begin.

nFFdg3E.jpg

Lol at the accuracy of this picture.... Lol at the guy that's (lazily) crossed out.... LMFAO at the nuclear rod !!

After reading this shit, I would expect this agency to blame a broken rollsign for undisciplined spending :lol:

35 minutes ago, Interested Rider said:

This just proves what I have been thinking all  heset years that everything when you reach out of the civil service is political and who is responsible to wohom is based on political loyalties.

I was taught in the myriad of management courses that there were two organization charts with the official being the one which shows who reports to whom and the unofficial which was who really has the power and who does not even though they are in a high position. The latter are the people who have the position because of their political connections and most of the time not based on merit. Those are the ones who keep their jobs as long as their politicial person is either in office or when he leaves office still retains power through friendships and favors. What  usually happens when the political support is withdrawn for some reason then the person either finds another person politically or leaves the job.

Cronyism.

11 minutes ago, R10 2952 said:

@Interested Rider The MTA has devolved into a total dumpster fire at this point; good for Byford that he got out when he did.  As for Cuomo's lackeys, no point in counting on them to right the ship... I have a bent Philips-head screwdriver in my closet that's sharper than that tool Feinberg.

fallacy_sinking_ship_med.jpg

 

Edited by B35 via Church
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

@Interested Rider The MTA has devolved into a total dumpster fire at this point; good for Byford that he got out when he did.  As for Cuomo's lackeys, no point in counting on them to right the ship... I have a bent Philips-head screwdriver in my closet that's sharper than that tool Feinberg.

Andy Byford was chosen based on being the best candidate for the job but being the best candidate without having the political support that is everything for a job like the one that he held here. His big mistake was Cuomo's ego in other words, Byford was doomed from the start. Think of this way, Byford got out of the MTA just at the right time before Andrew and his syncophants in the media would have blamed him for everything that he had nothing to do with in the transit system including the closing of the subway from 1 AM - 5 AM. Even if Andy Byford had any political support from the beginning of his tenure, the emperor Cuomo would pulled the strings like he did with having the legislature giving him dictatorial powers during this year's session which he used to dictate to us over the last couple of months unchallenged.

As far as Feinberg is concerned, it  seems she found an issue where she would not get under Cuomo's skin but give it time, she will be gone and the phony media that is love with him will not even report it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Interested Rider said:

Byford got out of the MTA just at the right time before Andrew and his syncophants in the media would have blamed him for everything that he had nothing to do with in the transit system including the closing of the subway from 1 AM - 5 AM.

In the political game, probably the best move he could ever make. If the coronavirus weren’t making the rounds, Andy boy would’ve been in the hot seat with a lot of explaining to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Interested Rider said:

Andy Byford was chosen based on being the best candidate for the job but being the best candidate without having the political support that is everything for a job like the one that he held here. His big mistake was Cuomo's ego in other words, Byford was doomed from the start. Think of this way, Byford got out of the MTA just at the right time before Andrew and his syncophants in the media would have blamed him for everything that he had nothing to do with in the transit system including the closing of the subway from 1 AM - 5 AM. Even if Andy Byford had any political support from the beginning of his tenure, the emperor Cuomo would pulled the strings like he did with having the legislature giving him dictatorial powers during this year's session which he used to dictate to us over the last couple of months unchallenged.

As far as Feinberg is concerned, it  seems she found an issue where she would not get under Cuomo's skin but give it time, she will be gone and the phony media that is love with him will not even report it.

The MTA is too political for its own good.... Cuomo wants direct, full control of the thing & it's rather apparent that there is a vested interest in the perpetual funneling of clowns with the same god damn mindset in & out of the clown car.... Talk about cyclical dysfunction.....

As far as Byford goes..... Well it isn't too much different from companies hiring temporary talent, to eventually dump them (or try to make them quit) when they become any real threat to the real bottom line.... Never mind potentially damaging the fragile ego's of your superiors.... Neither of which has d*ck to do with progressively/continually improving public transit in this city....

Not saying that they have to be Burger King, but whose way has the MTA gone again? Sure as hell hasn't been the riding public's !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

This is refreshingly honest talk from someone so high up. I honestly wonder how the MTA's lawyers and PR folks let her talk so candidly about this stuff. Some of it could potentially be used in lawsuits, etc.  

You fool... she is a devout acolyte of the God Emperor. She can do almost anything and not be held accountable!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, CenSin said:

In the political game, probably the best move he could ever make. If the coronavirus weren’t making the rounds, Andy boy would’ve been in the hot seat with a lot of explaining to do.

All Cuomo IMO cares about is getting that elusive fourth term as Governor his father was denied in 1994, like that will make him good in the eyes of certain people who he looks up to, again IMO. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

Hmmm...

 

Wow! 68 pages worth of organizational charts since 2016! Just 1 more page and they’d blow past the laughingstock stage.

Edited by CenSin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, bobtehpanda said:

You think that's bad? This is what it's like in my industry:

Google has like 3+ internally competing products for every kind of product. Their teams just don’t get along for some reason. That’s why they churn out 10 different messaging services and then randomly kill or merge products. Play Music just got axed recently for YouTube.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, CenSin said:

Wow! 68 pages worth of organizational charts since 2016! Just 1 more page and they’d blow past the laughingstock stage.

  This assumes that they haven't reached already surpassed that benchmark...

5 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

You think that's bad? This is what it's like in my industry:

PUA8tCYtXm11ZBA1oLmqESSwjZn3Xx1WrfNLJvRu

The running belief is that the hierarchical tree for the Amazon one in that graphic represents that of most companies, when it is the Microsoft one that's honestly more representative of that of a lot of these companies out here.... Read enough of those glassdoor reviews & it'll be proof-positive enough.... There's a reason that there's been this major push (which I'm pretty sick of, because it's disingenuous) with being collaborative....

Way I see it, that Simpsons one is a pretty damn good one - I will patiently wait for the MTA to replace Craig Cipriano with a whole steering wheel.... I could hardly fathom working for a company not knowing of the very people that I'm supposed to be overseeing, and/or who my immediate boss is.... At that point, the MF-er might as well be an inanimate object....

As an aside, nice little carousel appearance going on with that google hierarchical tree though - I'd say it represents the company quite well !

Edited by B35 via Church
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

Hmmm...

 

Her comment was completely meaningless. No organization with 40,000 employees has a direct chart like that, and it wouldn't even make sense to have one. Not to mention that thousands of MTA employees do exactly the same thing and wouldn't need to be represented beyond their direct superior reporting. I'm sure they do have many charts that explain the division at a more workable level. She was just blowing her mouth off.

21 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

This is refreshingly honest talk from someone so high up. I honestly wonder how the MTA's lawyers and PR folks let her talk so candidly about this stuff. Some of it could potentially be used in lawsuits, etc.  

Total BS from her end. I'm sure Andrew told her to say it as a preamble to cuts and the like. She last worked at the FRA with like, fifty other people. Totally out of her element.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

Her comment was completely meaningless. No organization with 40,000 employees has a direct chart like that, and it wouldn't even make sense to have one. Not to mention that thousands of MTA employees do exactly the same thing and wouldn't need to be represented beyond their direct superior reporting. I'm sure they do have many charts that explain the division at a more workable level. She was just blowing her mouth off.

Total BS from her end. I'm sure Andrew told her to say it as a preamble to cuts and the like. She last worked at the FRA with like, fifty other people. Totally out of her element.

I know we don't like Cuomo appointees, but this is a load of shit, mostly because I have worked at several large companies that are that large and do have direct org charts like that available. Probably not used in the massive blown up form very frequently, but the information is there.

A cornerstone of the modern corp is tracking productivity at the individual employee level, and you can be damned sure that this is the norm. Just because people "do exactly the same thing" as part of their job description does not mean that they all do it at the same efficiency.

Edited by bobtehpanda
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/14/2020 at 3:27 PM, CenSin said:

Google has like 3+ internally competing products for every kind of product. Their teams just don’t get along for some reason. That’s why they churn out 10 different messaging services and then randomly kill or merge products. Play Music just got axed recently for YouTube.

.........Thank you for solving this mystery. Now the ads make sense haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.