After sitting on numerous conference calls, watching town halls, etc. I have to come to an important conclusion. As a 20 year employee who has spent time in both non-management and management, I just want to hear “I’m sorry”. None of us can change the situation we are faced with, but I’m tired of being told “why this, why that”. We get it. They can say what they want, but we all know this is the end result of years of terrible decisions and mistakes. Instead of patronizing employees, why not just come out and say “We messed up. We made poor decisions that didn’t pan out, faced with a pandemic, and we reached a tipping point”. I’d much rather hear that than some nonsense explanation of what we are trying to do, when many of us won’t be here to be a part of it. They preach transparency, yet we get none in return. While an apology wouldn’t ease the burden on any of us, a simple acknowledgment that this truly wasn’t our fault - and some empathy - would go a long way. We’ve spent our careers building this company and we at least deserve that.
11 replies (most recent on top)
I'm sorry. Sorry I ever tried to make a career with this company.
Say, "Sorry"... even dealing with customers we are told, never, ever apologize. It’s even mandated that the words, "I'm sorry" should never leave your mouth.
they will never admit they made a mistake ever - shows why att is the cesspool it is.
Stank may be an arrogant sociopath without the first hint of humanity, but you really have to respect the man's sudden awareness of his 'wokedness' now that woke is the politically correct popular behavior. That and he's such a handsome devil.
Couple of things:
First, telling the truth about incompetence isn't rewarded, that is why no one in management does it. Level 4 management, or AVP has 26% bonus, higher the level, higher the bonus, absolutely no incentive to tell anyone that they or their bosses f'ed up anything.
Second, despite the turmoil, it is still a multi billion dollar company. Humanity simply isn't part of the equation for Stank and others. Let them name one thing that they had personally done for another employee. All these senior leader talks about what books they read, which sports team they support, where they went on vacation is all BS. There is no humanity, they treat employees as cost, directly impacting profits and their pocket books.
Because "I'm sorry" implies fault. Fault = liability. Liability = litigation. That's why you'll never hear it from a senior leader.
@twm:
- Stop or cut the dividend! Pay back the debt faster!
- They could cut salaries of those over $150K/year 15% and save more money,
- Cut stock grants to GMs, and execs and save more money,
Yes, yes, and yes. A responsible company that understands stability and growth doesn't come from constant payroll reduction would do exactly those three things. They'd make executive compensation tied to company performance (growth, profitability) rather than stock price. And they'd structure executive salary so it wouldn't rely so heavily (in some cases in excess of 90%) on compensation through stock giveaways.
But T is not a responsible company. If it were, Stank and McElf and Randy, and the rest of the gang of incompetents would be out.
great post
ATT is one of THE most profitable businesses in the US, has no need for a 7% dividend, and has a massive amount of debt to pay back.
Stop or cut the dividend! Pay back the debt faster!
They could cut salaries of those over $150K/year 15% and save more money,
Cut stock grants to GMs, and execs and save more money,
They aren't sorry for having 1000 AVPs, and 200+VPs on the payroll.
When I'm cut, I'll never buy anything from ATT again, and the NPS will go down over time of lifers who didn't make it to retirement. Let alone firing 20% in such a short period of time, vs over 3 years, will impact quality in a big way, they can't seem to understand.
What you make you think they are sorry? They aren’t. They believe in what they are doing. It is you that don’t understand and that’s why all the town halls; to explain it to you.
Well said.
Of course, it will never happen. AT&T top management are way too arrogant and self-absorbed to ever acknowledge their grotesque incompetence. For them to apologize that errors forced layoffs would mean they'd need to first recognize their failure, then accept their responsibility for it.
Stankhole is way too big a coward and douchenozzle to ever do that.