Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

In the words of Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) in the scene on the dam in the movie "The Fugitive" when Dr. Richard Kimball (Harrison Ford) was pleading that he was innocent; I imagine that the AT&T Executive team would tell you, "I don't care."

Please realize, the “leadership team” is not interested in “improving the company”. They have an agenda that is worker bees will never understand. Take what you see at face value. Either stick around, and hope you can survive, or move along to something else. It’s really as simple as that.

1200 a month leaving is 1% not 10%. Otherwise lots of good points made.

Natural Attrition (Death, getting fired, leaving on their own) used to run at 10% of the employee count PER MONTH. I should know - I was the one who used to pull that metric.

Back when it was SBC, and we were at 120k employees, it was 1200/month who left the Company.

I suspect that 10% is more or less still the same.

Just because you feel that way doesn't make it true. That article in no way states people retired in their 50s. It says the # of people working beyond 65 is increasing. Most of the reason for that is simple economics and the fact that social security goes up significantly if you work til 70. That and lifespans are increasing. People at age 70 today tend to be more active than their grandparents were at 50.

Also keep in mind that 30 years ago a degree wasn't required for most jobs and it's easy to have 30 years of service and be only 48 years old, having been hired right out of high school. Even with a 4 year degree, you'd only be 52. Way too young for most people to retire. I say again, people aren't going to retire prior to being eligible for medicare because it's just costs too much for health care. Retiree benefits have changed over the years. Back when I started working, you could retire at age 50 with full medical benefits paid by the company. Over time and with mergers, all that was lost and pensions were frozen. Face it, many people in this country work for health care coverage. Unless and until that's fixed, I don't see it changing.

Wow, that was a mouthful. Too bad no one of any influence actually reads this board. They might actually get some ideas, and make life easier, better, and in the long run, make the company a leader again, instead of following a dozen others.

Hey John, Jeff, how about a town hall with anonymous call-ins and questions. You might get some really useful information about the company you are supposed to be running, and might, just might get some useful answers to some of the company problems.

I, for one, would LOVE to participate in that but do not want to be labeled a detractor. (remember that email years ago?)

I don't get where you think boomers parents retired in their 50s. Go look at ssa.gov (among other sites) for those statistics for the last 50 years.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/24/baby-boomers-us-labor-force/

Lots of other studies also saying the same thing as above.

I am also not the only one that feels this way, look at other posts on this same website. Personally 3 of my 4 grandparents were retired prior to age 60, the fourth was a homemaker. 2 being considered part of the greatest generation and one being considered part of the silent generation, all having baby boomer children. One employed by good ole AT&T with over 30 years of service.

Really I can only speak for the part of the company I work in where lets just say 9 out of 11 in a supervisory role doing the same thing (same position) all have over 30 years, half hitting medicare as soon as they finally make the decision to leave (over 65 now).

@fbg+16kFIVYB I don't get where you think boomers parents retired in their 50s. Go look at ssa.gov (among other sites) for those statistics for the last 50 years. People don't retire in their 50s unless they are forced out. Most of them are at peak earning capacity at that age. Additionally, health benefits are an issue if you are not yet 65. They are expensive to pay for yourself. As far as people working into their 70s, there could be a variety of reasons, but in a company as large as T, statistically, how many are over 70? I think you'll find the number quite small. In today's uncertain economy, why would someone voluntarily leave a good paying job with benefits if they have nothing better to do? Today's new hires have a drastically different corporate world to enter. One where their are no pensions, no corporate loyalty and so no incentive to stay beyond what they can learn and earn in a few years. Then they move on to the next better thing. Very few will ever see 20 years "tenure".

1) A 2-year moratorium on layoffs and hiring (including overseas). Need to lower the headcount? The natural leaving and retiring will just about do it for you. Plus, the added bonus of happier employees. Imagine that, employees that are not worried ever 3 months that their jobs are going away!

That's part of the problem, the natural leaving - not trying to pick on the baby boomers but your parents mostly all retired in their 50s, I know of at least 10 people in the company still working in their 70s. How many folks here have 20+ years and are still low person on the totem pole seniority wise? Management or non Management. Did you ever imagine 20 years ago that you would still be at the bottom or close to the bottom 20 years in the future? I once had a non management person who was still working in her late 70's tell me that the pay and benefits were just too good to leave. She also said that by the time her grandkids were having kids there was really no reason to retire since she had missed the opportunity to do the grandkid thing. Another that was pushing 70 told me if her kids would ever grow up and quit asking for money that maybe she could retire so I get that each circumstance is different but by and large there are plenty of folks that have the ability to retire now, many of which say every year that they will as soon as the company offers an incentive package but I have seen that happen several times and these same people don't take the offer.

That's a lot of writing for nothing. Upper management could give two squirts about your opinion.

AT&T SBC, history of layoffs dates back decades, and as our new installed CEO consistently executes the reverse Midas technique used by his predecesor CEO, there is a feeling among those who are in their orbit, if they’ve had any integrity, it gets leeched away from them like some parasite.
Motto: If it is borderline illegal or deceptive you will find without any doubt AT&T droppings.

Offer and mvo two times a year with say 9 months of pay. See how many people leave..

All valid points. I would remind you that a lot of people depend on those dividends for income in retirement. The debt is indeed high but with interest rates low debt is less onerous to large companies.

Indeed a great list.

But the Board of Misdirectors are a bunch of m0r0ns and could not come up with the above list.

Ratty and Stinky are too arrogant to know they are f*ckups, way above their heads and would never reverse course. They will just continue to milk the company for every penny they can get out of it.