Someone mentioned here that in his/her business unit there is so much wasteful spending on a daily basis and that the supervisor is rather nonchalant about it. Is it possible that this is true? This really surprised me.
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Oh, by the way, Hoffman Estates was sold off for pennies on the dollar. AT&T no longer has any employees there! You are right, what a waste of cash! It's the Bell Telephone way, buy high then sell low!
Checking boxes to signal virtue is not a sustainable business model.
The main issue is lies in the metrics used for promotion and determining the level. Our group has had almost no work for going on two years but when someone leaves, we hire a new person (contractor) b/c to have a specific level, you need to have x number of direct reports -- no metrics on how we are doing in our jobs. I've asked for work repeatedly but am now considered a nuisance -- and I am not the only one in the group with no work.
I am praying my name is on the layoff list - I've dedicated so many years and always had top reviews - I would love a severance.
The offices are dirty and old, but we sure seem to be able to host customers to every football stadium in the country, the World Cup, The Grad Prix in Monaco, and any number of high dollar events. I was absolutely floored when I came into AT&T and was told there was a "coffee fund" and you had to pay into it to drink the cr---y coffee. Bought a thermos and would bring my own in. Now they want you to go back into the dirty office with no coffee and be productive. No thanks. Make the office at least somewhat desirable and healthy to be in, and I might show up more. My individual BU seems to do well with their budget, but execs do as they please while raking in millions. BTW, I take it on the chin with losses, and I am not anticipating this year to be no better as businesses tighten their belt, but Stankey sure seems to rake in his bonuses, no matter how hard into the ground he drives this company. Would love for him to take a haircut until the company turns around. Lead by example John.
AT&T Stadium = Money Pit
Prior to our acquisition by SBC, Ameritect built a multi-million billion dollar campus in Hoffman Estates. Chicago headquarters was constantly barking at the other four states, MI, OH, IN, and WI, to send more and more money. This went on for four years, we honestly never thought the badgering for cash would stop. Looking back now, WoW, what a waste of cash. Notebaert could have just as well burned all that cash on the heliport in a bonfire. We could have a a big we---e roast!
Cable not available for future project, pre buried 18K feet of inner duct, fiber came in, it was too big to fit in inner duct! Was notified future project was extended, could’ve just waited for actual fiber to come in for d bore/direct bury. Spent 3 days trying to pull in just 1 section, no go( surprise) entire job was referred back to engineering.
We are super disciplined around nickel and dime expenses, like janitorial services, office supplies, travel expenses and anything cheap that improves the day to day employee experience.
However, we literally light money on fire with nine and ten figure enterprise golf course deals with vendors like Service Now, Salesforce, Amplify, Oracle and Microsoft.
Employees then spend their careers cleaning up these messes, while paying for it with eroding benefits and compensation.
Happens every day, still make a profit, too big to fail.
OP must be a troll from outside the company. Anyone that worked here more than a week knows we pi-s away money like it's going out of style. Actually we are much more disciplined with expenses than when I started 24 years ago. Much more.
Everything we do wastes money.
The only wasteful spending in our organization are the layers of management above my front line managers. Really, what do they really do besides deflect issues back down to where the work is done? I’m sure they attend many meeting where they nod their heads in agreement with their bosses and push what remained employees they hasn’t been pushed into retirement or out due to exhaustion. Can anyone share what all these layers of “leadership” actually do?
You shouldn’t be surprised. Especially in those organizations that are capital driven instead of expense oriented. Capital driven departments simply take it out back and burn it for fun and then pawn the cleanup off to expense organizations. That’s how it’s always been.