Arnett slams Ilion for 'poaching' staff

Networking Interquad loses further employees to competitor.

Disgruntled Interquad managing director Ed Arnett has accused Ilion of sparking a round of wage inflation after three more of his technical trainers defected to the Chessington-based distributor.

Tim Sowter, Andy Casey and Rachel Organ, moved to ilion at the beginning of July. Arnett claimed: 'Instructors' salaries have doubled. It is short-sighted of companies to push the value of these people up by chasing them.

I am critical of Ilion for that reason.'

'Poaching instructors is, in general, unhelpful, especially with the much publicised skills shortage.'

However, Julia Jones, services director at Ilion, refuted accusations of poaching or over payment.

'Ilion did not approach any of these people and we have not paid them any more money. The only reason people move is because they are unhappy.

It is impossible to poach them otherwise,' she argued.

Arnett insisted: 'This doesn't help the standard of education in the classroom. The recruitment of instructors should be part of a sensible duty to take on people with up-to-date skills.'

He added: 'It is not my style to poach other people.'

But PC Dealer has learned that on 14 July, three of Ilion's training staff, including technical instructor Keith Redding, were approached by a recruitment agency working on Interquad's behalf.

However, Arnett claimed: 'We do not instruct headhunters to focus on a specific company. This is not part of our strategy. Recruitment individuals are not known for their high standards of ethics.

'I think people have left Interquad for a number of reasons, but recently the company has changed enormously through its management restructure and this is not as relaxed as it previously might have been.'

The appointment of the three instructors follow last year's spate of defections from Interquad when seven staff, including training manager Julie Hunter, moved to Ilion.

Arnett said: 'I understand that Ilion has a shiny new training centre, but the gilt will soon come off the gingerbread.'

He added: 'If people want to go and work for Ilion, which I doubt, then I will try to recruit people with a higher level of intelligence.'

But Jones insisted: 'I doubt people would be shallow enough to move just because of a new training centre. If all my staff were moving up the road to the same company, I'd be asking myself what I was doing wrong.'