Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

I heard from someone in JVB org and they were exactly what this post says by their leadership. It’s 100% accurate.

“By posting the job requisition in Careerpath with designated reporting location condition, that is how the company will skate around the severance issue"

Doesn't make sense, sorry. First, everyone was saying "you won't get severance because your position is not being eliminated, it's just moving...", and now, we get the opposite "your positions is not moving, it's just being eliminated, so there will be no severance"? Just shows none of you know what the he-l you're talking about, and I'd rather go by what the FAQ says, and the info we get from town halls and leadership, who all say there will be severance for qualified people.

Up to you. Can only communicate facts. If you don’t want to listen, then don’t.

"if close to retire, accept move, but don't move. get your time in and then accept severance."

This is a very dangerous advice, people, please make sure to understand exactly how it will work. As far as we know right now, to receive severance you have to go ahead and leave within weeks. If you promise to move and then don't, there will likely be none offered, in fact you might end up being terminated with reason, which may also disqualify you from unemployment benefits in many states. Still might make sense to some people, but please make sure you have the official information, preferably in writing, before you decide.

If you accept moving you release your access to severance. So you can stay and work longer but you won’t get severance at the end. Or you can accept severance and be off payroll sooner.

if close to retire, accept move, but don't move. get your time in and then accept severance.

Hadn’t heard the specific dates of notification, but 100% know the push for August ‘24 is real for those that do relo, but that was pending final approval.

Severance is real for those out of hub that choose not to relo. Relo is gonna be on a wing and a prayer, if any.

Other orgs may have different dates/timelines, but per senior leaders under JVB, OP seems on point.

For those that don’t like real answers, just troll away.

Assuming the shift/hours posts were not made by a union troll, and made by someone has never set foot in Dallas HQ, or someone who has no clue what anyone outside their workgroup and supervisor do within the company...

The company could do a lot of things in terms of schedules and shifts especially if they want more people to quit. But, typically most non-union/non-supervisory managers work M-F anywhere between 6am and 6pm. I'll spare everyone the obvious reasons for this.

Work space may not be an issue or one that is easy to assess. If you haven't been there, Most floors and space in the Dallas Complex are a mixture of first come/first serve open seating -think lounge chairs, long bar like tables that could probably seat 5 people on each side along with areas of more traditional type desks/monitors that can be reserved.

Anyone who has actually worked in dallas complex, understands the following and that mandating alternate schedules well is just not likely to ever happen to handle space issues.

1. There is a significant security presence during "normal working hours" including police(assuming they are off-duty, but maybe not). The security presence drops significantly after 6pm not only in the buildings and probably the foot patrol outside. When I worked there, people who parked could request a security escort after dark if they were in one of the garages not directly accessible from the building.

2. Outside of the data center floors in 211, they adjust the temperatures/lighting in the off hours to save money and probably to show some effort on things like this: https://sustainability.att.com/priority-topics/energy-management

Since all of this is about cost cutting, they won't do anything that would incur more costs and increase their liabilities.

"No one ever said Mon-Friday was the only option."

Or that 8-5 was the only shift.

"Union trolls? Lol why would union people even be on here? "

I have no idea about dates or anything, but as for this question: you must be new here :P

Everyone acts like the office space wouldn’t be sufficient.

The company never said what 3 days did they?

The company could, if it wanted to, do block scheduling like some schools.

Team A from Jan - June (Mon- Wed)
Team B from Jan- June (Thur- Sat)

Then mid year switch.

No one ever said Mon-Friday was the only option.

Union trolls? Lol why would union people even be on here?

The 7/7 notification date is real for JVB and is being shared to L2/L3 right now. You can either believe it or wait until it happens. Not my problem :)

"JVB?"

Jennifer Van Buskirk
EVP & GM Mid-Markets

It might be simply because they're realizing they can't get those offices in shape on time they originally planned.

Yeah, this may be true for ATL. I know in Dallas pre-covid, things were in better shape than ATL or Alpharetta based on what my team members told me. Alpharetta was a proverbial sh*t show. They had actually done major renovations in the 311 Building (and another building in the Dallas complex).. And the 211 building was "Ok" but was very empty/somewhat outdated because after they renovated 208, most everyone working in 211, moved to 208 because it was the place to be seen.

That being said, I do not know if they could handle an influx of 8K-10K new people. I don't really know where they would all park (there are paid lots, but folks probably would need to plan on a hike of several blocks at least) I have to assume if 1-2 days of teleworking would still be allowed most people will opt to be in the offices M-Th or M-W.

"I made a comment a while back that I didn't think they would back out completely but time lines could shift"

It might be simply because they're realizing they can't get those offices in shape on time they originally planned.

"Aug 2024 seems reasonable amount of time, at least."

Sounds too "reasonable" to be true, doesn't it? May be different for different groups though, of course.

"Guessing it's a union troll, per usual on TheLayoff."

Why would a union troll give a cr-p about what a bunch of managers deal with at the moment? Especially what dates may or may not apply to their situation, if they do or do not get any severance packages and so on? Just saying, sure, a troll might just be trolling, but for what? If anything, the info in here seems relatively plausible... now if they were saying something like "the company changed their minds and everyone gets to continue to work in their current locations and will even get a 'thank you" boinus on top of that...", I'd agree it's probably a so-called "union troll" doing their thing.

"Aug 2024 seems reasonable amount of time, at least."

I agree. 1. It may give folks near MR75 time to hit that milestone if they are just a year out. 2. It will give people ample time to start looking for another job elsewhere. 3. It will give those people who plan to move, more time to plan. 4. Since things are cyclic, there is a chance they could back some of it out.

But, I'm skeptical. I made a comment a while back that I didn't think they would back out completely but time lines could shift and it sounds like from multiple people/sources(not just this board), that is happening. They may accelerate their surplus plans. It may reduce the likelihood that people will move and then get laid off (not that they care about that). It's faster and since cutting jobs is the point of all of this, it will be more efficient to do those cuts, vs. trying to get all the business units to track who has moved from where this year and then going through termination processes for those that don't. Surplus is much easier in terms of paperwork and execution than outright termination for cause (I would imagine there are less variables in terms of State/local laws). Just an opinion, but will the variation of implementation across business units, it sounds like a rats nest right now.

Read the various RTO FAQ searchable on the intranet. No severance for most will be considered. It’s not a secret.

Aug 2024 seems reasonable amount of time, at least.

Correct date is July 7 not July 10. Received info as well.

"I dont think there is going to be any severance...

...the goal is to drive people out."

And what do you think the best way to ensure you don't have to deal with those people for months, if not years, after is? It is to pay them the relatively small severance package, which would mean they don't get unemployment (in most cases), and can't sue you, and many other benefits and protections for the employer. People, relax. They have so many more reasons to just do it and get it over with, vs trying to sc--w people out of it and deal with all the BS that comes with that. It's a win/win for both parties, in fact it's even more of a win for the company, so once again, there is absolutely no good reason for them to not do it. It's the same reason hush money, or lawsuit settlements, exist. It's so much easier, and in the long run, cheaper to just throw a little bit of money at a problem to make it go away.

So let's get this straight:

Someone posts specific dates for JVB's org, saying that the source is secret "senior leadership." It's all B.S., but when called on it, "several" posters (likely the same one) appear one after the other saying they've ACTUALLY been informed of the dates - not hearing about it through the secret leadership - and the dates are all slightly different but the message is basically the same.

And, the "several" posters are all making basic grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Guessing it's a union troll, per usual on TheLayoff.

"By posting the job requisition in Careerpath with designated reporting location condition, that is how the company will skate around the severance issue"

Doesn't make sense, sorry. First, everyone was saying "you won't get severance because your position is not being eliminated, it's just moving...", and now, we get the opposite "your positions is not moving, it's just being eliminated, so there will be no severance"? Just shows none of you know what the he-l you're talking about, and I'd rather go by what the FAQ says, and the info we get from town halls and leadership, who all say there will be severance for qualified people.

Making you reapply for the same job in a different location doesn't skate around the severance issue at all. Maybe your existing position isn't technically being "relocated" but it's still being eliminated.

Correct, this has nothing at all to do with collaboration. I just spoke with 2 colleagues in a different business unit than mine and they both had to "reapply" for their positions that were posted in Careerpath for Dallas. If they had chosen not to reapply or did not accept the new reporting location within the new job requisition, they would effectively be on a termination countdown.
By posting the job requisition in Careerpath with designated reporting location condition, that is how the company will skate around the severance issue. Your existing position is not being "relocated". A new position is being created for you with the new reporting location being a condition of employment. This may not apply to everyone's situation, but for those 2 that I spoke with, it's a reality.

I dont think there is going to be any severance... On a call with Zee last week, the question came up and the response was"if you are not in your dsignated office when instructed, you will be given 2 notices and the 3rd will be a termination notification or something to that effect.

I also posed a guestion to my VP and his response was "I dont suggest anyone move even on their own dime because there is no gurantee of a job when you get there"..

the goal is to drive people out.

I’m in JVB And we have been told to receive a notification 7/7 not 7/10, but everything else in here is accurate and aligns with what I’ve also been told.

Yeah I see a lot of downvoting of legitimate, and relatively innocent posts going on here. Looks like too many of you guys are still in denial. We ask each other for any new information daily, and when someone posts it, we don't like it? It's not the Ops fault.

“You’ve had a well over a month now to make a decision on whether or not you’re going to move. You have to either commit to moving or commit to a severance within two weeks.”

This matches what my team was told.

People r downvoting but this accurate info being shared by leaders right now. Only difference is a notification date of 7/7 instead of 7/10.

JVB?

I don't understand why the OP is getting so many dislikes, other than the time frame sounding too good to be true, the rest is probably right. I assume they will offer severance only if you leave by an earlier date, and if not, you can say you will move, yeah, but if you don't, you get nothing (other than the compensation for your work). Either way, it's a tough choice, and I think this is the kind of choice most of us will have to make. I just don't know about those dates. The time frame we heard was the move has to happen by the end of this year, so I assumed there will only be 2-4 weeks to leave with severance after notification, not another 5 months.

I find it hard to believe that people will decide in July, and then if not relocating, you stay on the payroll for 3-4 months? A more likely scenario would be if you decide not to relocate, you have 2 weeks left on payroll. Just like the most recent downsizing, where you get 2 weeks and you’re out. Because, seriously, if people know they are leaving, how much work are they really going to do from July to Oct? Can’t see T would want you around after announcing you’re intention to be separated.

"July 10, 2023: "Yea, sounds good, I'm going to do everything I can to move to the hub."

July 31, 2024: "I tried everything I could and I just can't afford to move there. Shall I log on tomorrow and do my job as normal? Or not?"

You can do that, and give yourself some more time to continue to work and receive a paycheck, possibly plenty of time to find a better job. Or you can take the severance, find a new job quickly and have some money left, maybe? Either way is a gamble. Personally, I'd probably take a severance and leave in November. That sounds like a decent time frame.

Yeah, I am not believing this at all. Such a small percentage will actually move. And now you’re going to tell them they have until Aug of 24 to comply? You’re going to have everyone that wants to stay on just say, yup I will be there next year (wink wink). Knowing that this in one way or another probably won’t even be a thing by next year.

"The timeline sent by leadership states everyone to know by 6/30.
What is your source? "

Senior leader under JVB is the source

I was also till July 10 for a notification day. Told we would get letters. Under JG

Two weeks to nail down all the details of uprooting your family, selling your home, finding a place in another city, and all of the logistics in between?

That is not what OP said.

"The timeline sent by leadership states everyone to know by 6/30.
What is your source? "

Pulling it out of their ar-e like 99% of everything on TheLayoff.

The timeline sent by leadership states everyone to know by 6/30.
What is your source?