Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Raj is one of the good guys. He should be the one in his bosses job.

@an There are still some Bell Labs engineers in MT as I am one of them albeit not doing any R&D work in a long time. I know of others still here but certainly will not be for long.

There are no "engineers" in Middletown, we were all layoff.
Research dept and most development labs were dismantle right after Bell South merger.
The Library was closed, access to publications was cut off, budget for new equipment was stopped, no more books, no more trips to conferences, or representation for any standards, no visits to vendor labs, and heads rolled, and only tails are left.
How would you want innovation, without investment.

“Andy Markus who was on the panel said "we are using AI to drive down costs and save the company money."”

Albeit shoddy, 3rd rate “AI”, yet overhyped to the moon. 🙄

leadership is top down. there's no innovation because leadership isn't innovating. simple formula.

AT&T couldn't innovate its way out of a wet bag. They are perpetually behind the competition, slow, beauracracratic, cheap, ignore their customers and most importantly, they repeat the same stupid mistakes over and over again. And when you have an arrogant narcissist bell head like Stankey running the enterprise, failure is inevitable.

@OP AT&T does not create. We buy and rebrand. Labs is more QA than anything else. Remember AIC? Such potential. I seriously have no idea what we are. All I see are project managers and salespeople.

I don't know how stankey expects us to be committed and inspired. Every year we are subject to the annual belt-tightening. Now they are using this RTO thing as an excuse to reduce headcount without having to pay severance. The street doesn't lie. Look at our stock since the stankey manifesto.

Stankey is trying to convince us that hybrid workers are the reason att isn't innovating and a lot of people are being duped.

I guess Legg is doing his latest useless thing claiming they are responding to "lack of opportunities" by telling people to enter their "skills" into "GrowthHub". Sounds like simply a redo of that old system they had people enter things into. Didn't even bring over what you put in that one and you get to put all your skills again in this one and still will see no opportunties.

The leadership team will be laid off sooner than the rest. They’re overpaid and don’t show up in the morning. No one will hire them either.

@ak

That's a problem for another quarter and maybe another "management" team. For today, it's all about more more more now now now. Like an entitled toddler.

AT&T had a chance at a motivated and innovative workforce. After careful consideration, Stank decided that a return-to-office mandate was more important. 🫡

Only innovation at AT&T is mgmt coming up with new ways to force people out the door.

Our only true innovation is handled by marketing and lawyers. They’re the ones that write our mobility contracts with all the double talk, fine print, and half truths, creative terms, caveats, and enough asterisks to mimic a snow storm in August.

There is no innovation here & Bell Labs is gone.

All the so-called “engineers” in Middletown is not Bell Labs

Our innovation focus is usually a new pricing plan. We like to "invent" new bundles. Really inspiring stuff!!

"If everyone cuts workers and people don’t have jobs, who is going to have the money to buy your products?"

I have been wondering that myself! Universal minimum income won't solve that problem.

Innovation is not figuring out new ways to cut costs. It is creating new products and services to SELL TO CUSTOMERS. Cost cutting requires no particular talent, ask any slum-lord. You just have to be cheap and greedy, and that is the only skill set our leadership have. AI is just another tool in the greedy slumlord arsenal. All it does is reduce service quality and expense, but at the cost of lost customers, revenue, and brand equity.

"we are using AI to drive down costs and save the company money."

What every company is doing, it also shows the utter lack of true innovation. BTW you are the cost they are trying to reduce (aka lay off). Instead of using AI to enhance and force multiply the work force, they (the executives) see it as a robot that can replace workers. That is entirely false and is going to backfire on everyone very much how the chat bots have reduced the need for customer service (rolls eyes).

If everyone cuts workers and people don’t have jobs, who is going to have the money to buy your products?

sounds about right OP... everyone who leaves becomes successful and only people from the outside seem to acknowlege the morale in the toilet and what it does to a company. The Stank clearly has said he doesn't care.

AT&T's future innovation is using others' innovations.