This article is more than 1 year old
No M&S vouchers for CSC staff as awards scrapped to save costs
'No financial comp, mention in employee e-card is best can do'
Cash strapped CSC is scrapping the Recognising Excellence (RE) award for its top workers as it looks towards another year of austerity.
The RE was based on a token system which awarded successful contenders £25, £50 or as much as £100 - those lucky staffers - which could be traded in for M&S, John Lewis and other store vouchers.
But the small financial gift has been swiped off the table, tax-avoiding CSC confirmed to staff in a note seen by The Channel.
"As you all know, a major element of our global transformation programme is to drive out $1bn of cost from our business. To achieve this, one area that is under close scrutiny is discretionary spend," the message for employees stated.
"As a result I must inform you, with regret, that there is no further budget available to confer awards through the UK and Ireland CSC Recognising Excellence programme," it added.
This includes the President's Awards as well as RE, meaning any "pending" recognition nomination "will be declined and no further nominations should be submitted".
Those with cash prizes in the kitty can still redeem them, CSC added in the note.
Long service will still be recognised for anyone who was not caught up in the redundancies last year.
But CSC staffers need not worry - shelving the bumper payout does "not mean that we stop recognising and celebrating your extraordinary achievements" - which included convincing the UK government to sign a £2.9bn Lorenzo system - a database of health care records.
The firm added in the note that e-cards will still be available to "send a formal 'thank you' or a 'well done'," and achievements will be highlighted in an employee newsletter.
"We will absolutely continue to recognise your excellent work. In addition, there are discussions underway regarding the launch of a global recognition programme in the new financial year," the note stated.
This doesn't bode well for pay rises, a CSC insider told us.
In its fiscal Q3 ended 28 December, CSC reported an operating income of £286m, compared to losses of $1.3bn in the year earlier quarter.
CEO Mike Lawrie said the "turnaround is tracking to plan", saying the cost-cutting initiatives were "yielding results" as the firm was making higher profit margins in its three lines of business - managed services, business solutions and services, and North American public sector.
CSC said it would get back to us with a statement, we'll update when it does. ®