AT&T eliminated medical in retirement over twenty years ago. Sure, there are some old timers from legacy companies who are eligible for medical benefits but it is a small minority of people and shrinking quickly. I am a 20ish year person and the only benefit I get in retirement is a 30% discount on services. AT&T can't even give the 50% discount of current employees to retirees. That is just how sorry this outfit really is. Too bad 30% off of AT&T plans makes them comparable to the cost of many others. Bottom line, there is really zero benefit for retirement for most people at AT&T. Therefore, do yourself a favor like I will be doing in the new year.... Get out there and search for a higher-paying job with similar current benefits. This is especially true if you are a great performer, because AT&T openly advertises that our pay bands are targeted to be in the middle of our industry. Everyone gets pushed to the middle, no matter if you are outstanding. I am over this company. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.
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If you’re smart and fortunate you’ll ‘retire’ with a 3 legged stool....ATT pension, 401K savings (and you collected the free money the company matched AND saved additionally, and your social security). If you’re worried about getting products perks in retirement—you’re clueless. Period.
Used to work for WECO in the early 1980’s and back then they had an “Employee discount” for their Design line phones ( not sure how many remember those) which was deducted weekly from your paycheck It turned out to be a sick Joke after discovering you could get the same phone for the same price at Service Merchandise ( another long lost forgotten refailer)
Stop bragging about getting discounts on services. Last I checked I get no discounts on services when I retire. If you think you are getting those discounts, maybe you should double check.
"T-Mobile coverage is good and cheap"
Their network is improving by leaps and bounds, and if you're over 55 check out their 55 and over plan. Far cheaper than what you're offered by T as a retiree.
Even with the employee discount I find retail cellular prices better elsewhere. I live in Seattle and T-Mobile coverage is good and cheap. The 30% retiree discount won't be competitive. Not much good in the retirement package now days
I saw a T Retiree made a really great video on LinkedIn talking about retirement benefits. Check it out for a good laugh.
Recently retired here, after 30+ years in legacy T management.
Retirement benefits - most of which I have the pleasure of being old enough to be part of, definitely kept me working. They were adding 10% of my salary each year into my pension, plus the pension itself grew 4% each year (interest). I will be collecting over 5 years of pension pay at the beginning of February. They also pay a lot towards my medical until I reach 65 (same as an employee) and will be adding to my HRA after I turn 65. Of course, that last benefit goes away for anyone retiring after 12/31/20 and the medical completely goes away for anyone retiring after 12/31/21. While I am hoping they don't k–l those for me, I recognize they may (it'll s—), but at least I have that 5+ years of pay in my pension to fall back on.
BTW The retiree discounts s—. After many years as DirecTV customer, I've learned that Youtube TV is great and their DVR is 100 times better and T-Mobile offers service comparable to AT&T at a cheaper price than my retiree discount (That's pretty sad, but it is what it is). When my Verizon friends ask me "so AT&T retiree, if I switch to T's cell phone service, will it be as good as Verizon" my response now has to be - I don't know / I'm not a customer. That says a ton and it's simply sad.
“... but one of the reasons I was staying was the discount for retirees.”
Huh? Really?
The retiree discount where you can save more as a regular customer off the street with anyone except maybe Verizon? You were staying for that?
What? T Retirement benifits are worthless?
Just because you can go to any T competitor and pay thier full retail and it would be cheaper than with T's retirement discount!
Retired Ratty gets to fly free on T corporate jet fleet! T is not hurting at all! Retirement is good for him!
More people need to recognize this - there's no reason to work for this company for more than ten years. Take all you can from the place, get them to pay for some additional education, then get out.
truth - I never got medical coverage till medicare kicked but one of the reasons I was staying was the discount for retirees. glad I didn't stay. left on my own and got the pension buyout which has done much better than if I stayed there thanks to my great financial advisor and now the discounts are basically slowly going then I am really glad I did not stay there best move I made in my life. now I am transforming and evolving everyday for my new company and they actually let me instead of just talking about the difficulties of evolving and transforming