Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

The whole townhall was a bit of HR peeing on your leg while Mair and Omet were insisting that it was raining. It's like these id--ts were MK-ultra'd.

The only thing worse than how HR rolled out these changes is the Damage Control PR campaign they're feebly attempting.

Don't forget to fill out your townhall survey!

If their lips are moving, they are lying. If their lips are not moving, they are thinking what lie to say next.

Vey disappointed in Mair but not surprised. His question/challenge/threat of “what are you going to do now” to employees impacted by these changes have set the tone for the future. Leaderships increasingly defensive nature and surprise that anyone would question their actions or deny them their trust... as if history of incompetence never happened. Always believed in doing my job to the best of my abilities and then try even harder. Keep my head down, work hard and help other. Actually care. Guess I was not the model employee of 27 years my evaluations said I was.

Mair: tried to pull off the choregraphed dance with 2 left leg, his demeanors were in complete contrary to the word coming out of his mouth. Hey, selling off DTV and WM means we will be in the best debt position in the industry. Genius, absolutely genius! Hey look, we put the fire out! This is after starting the fire and burned half of the house down.

HR Woman: No trained psychologist here, she was acting like a hostage being coerced gave statements without convictions: Stockholm syndrome.

Mo: Building fiber is easy as taking candy from a child. The LECs will be happy to share their poles and provide easement as tributes to this grand empire. The PUCs will say, oh yea, dig up our roads, our citizens enjoy horrible traffic. Don’t forget about this the same company that had legal fights with a certain search company when they tried to lay fiber on our turf. Easy peasy.

Sambar: Return to work, we don’t know what is the going to work. If his seal buddies can see him now. I’m sure there is some slick doctrine being followed here, no preparation for the fall out, let’s just go in and see what happens. Confidence at all-time high, right?

You guys forget the plan is working. These changes are driving out one group of employees while bringing in a new group of people. In McFresh town hall showed us "Progress" where of the four groups (Union, Mgt, Leadership, and Sr. Leadership) only one group had changed -10%. This is what they wanted from the first of the year and it's working.

If Blondie or Mair's lips are moving they are lying. Sad to see what Mair'si inept leadership has done to AT&T. A once highly respected company is now the worst of the worst. Go away Blondie and Scott, no one wants to hear your patent answers to honest questions.

it is actually quite embarrassing to see Leadership address these issues, they (and HR) clearly missed the mark on the cut of benefits for long term employees, reduction in Vacation Days, the Connection Award debacle and the horrible salary increases. The more they talk about it the more it shows they are clueless about it. Scott's I hear you AND I am impact too BS was so bad. Why have there been so many resignations YTD and not from people impacted by the benefits change. Now that we are no longer a media company and will focus on Telecommunications we NEED the people with that expertise that they are forcing out the door. Our organization has had many resignations and we cannot get people (internal or external) that want to work here, unfortunate!!

"Does Mair or any VP or above stress about how much their healthcare would cost when they retire? Do they even know how much their prescriptions cost? "

Exactly correct...

$20-25k/yr in insurance premiums are a far larger part of the budget at far lower incomes. He may even get gross-ups to cover the taxes on his company provided bennys. Blondie's backup sounded directly from a script.

I'm also sure he doesn't put his vacation time into eLink, and take AX time if he needs an extra day.

Talk about tone deaf...

On a side note, for a presentation to that large of an audience, can't they buy a decent microphone or headset for everyone? What was up with the Apple ear buds?

Great that we have a VP that cares for us. Awesome company.

WOW. Based on the comments, it sounded like Mair said “I’m one of you in the impacted group” - if not him then someone in an equivalent level or at least a VP.

It is the most insulting and disconnected from reality statement for any SVP, EVP, President, CEO, whatever at AT&T to ever say “I’m one of you” to anyone that’s director level or below.

Anyone at Mair’s level is making at least $1 million a year and has stock options, and that is every year they’re working in that job. So that means Mair has put in AT LEAST $5 million in his bank account in the past 5 years. Compare that to someone in his org who made $75k - that’s compounded $350k in income in the past 5 years. Sounds like a decent salary, right? That pays for a mortgage, kids in college, car, things an average effing person is working hard for.

Does Mair or any VP or above stress about how much their healthcare would cost when they retire? Do they even know how much their prescriptions cost?

These execs don’t need to worry about healthcare or any expenses because they have more than enough wealth to cover it. If you are speaking on a town hall, you are not “one of us.”

Can we stop letting millionaires pretend like they care about us real people?

At his level, he is on a totally different compensation plan than we are on. He may have years of service similar to what we have, but he is not impacted by these benefit changes the same way we are. So I did not appreciate what he said.

For some of the changes such as the vacation policy, they could have easily grandfathered those of us who already had the fifth week. I don't see what that would have cost them. At least where I am, most people work extra (unpaid) hours before or after vacation to get the work done. Very little work gets shifted to other people (and what is shifted gets covered by them putting in extra unpaid hours). So where are the savings? No, I think this one was done to send a clear message to us tenured employees. They want us out and angering us is a way to do it.

I think he was going to have an ugly cry attempting to be like us average bears.

All those new hires with no pension. Lots of new excuses to take time off work. No skin in the game. Good luck with that.

'I'm one of you in the impacted tenured group'. Sure you are. I suspect you're positioned such that having subsidized healthcare is meaningless. Stop with the pandering. He's drunk on the Stank Kool Aid and couldn't care less about the rest of us. I'm out by EOY. I'd love to see how shocked they are to see the mouthy and outspoken managers won't be leaving in 2021; they're the younger class who demand more and more and will never have enough to make them happy.

"Failed to communicate the changes"...

What a joke! We all know exactly what the changes are, that's why we're pi---d.