Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

T can no longer afford the productivity loss inherent with WFH. Report to your assigned office or seek employment elsewhere.

WFH ki-ls productivity” is a funny narrative. Plenty of teams don’t have a single senior leader in their hub. If someone wants to disappear for two hours, hit the gym, play nine holes, or wander through Costco, they can do that just as easily from the office.

People with integrity get the job done — period. Adults don’t need babysitters. And if a manager believes their team does, that’s a sign the manager isn’t managing. Location doesn’t fix performance problems; effective leadership does.

Recently spoke with a friend who works at Homeland Security. They said that now they are basically doing end of year evaluations every 3 months in order to get rid of people. And luckily that is a department that is not being hit as hard as others. Let that sink in.

100000 per employee minimum cost X the potential 30000 loss of employees or more. The math speaks for itself. Being unhappy or not giving 100% probably doesn’t keep the big boys up late at night.

@c6

Do I think complaining on this web site will work . . . it can't be any worse than telling leadership

Agreed. If they don't care, you might be warning future people who are thinking of trying to get a job here. Which might be an even more effective statement that they might want to pay attention to.

Instead of fighting it, why not use it as a competitive advantage?

Obvious answer is because those in charge can't make any good decisions. When have you ever seen anything coming from them which gives us a competitive advantage? #3 carrier for a good reason.

@e2
"8. More time spent at the ‘water cooler’

Actively disengaged employees strive to be away from their desk or workstation. They will spend more time at the water cooler or in the kitchen making coffee. While at the water cooler, they may engage with others in gossiping or complaining about organisational goals, strategies, and work processes."

This is so obvious in Lenox. The 1-hour coffee breaks and the 3 hour lunches in the kitchen. It is amazing how people have disengaged.

I just want to get some golfing and tennis in between doing a bit of work.

@OP TLDR

It's over. They don't care.
WFH is a thing of the past. Get over it. Incessant whining isn't going to make them change their minds.

@c2

Simplistic bootlicker, you have omitted a third option. Since you are utterly naive, let me introduce it to you:

https://thebigpicturepeople.co.uk/blog/signs-of-actively-disengaged-employees/

Please let me know if you had any struggles with the words or concepts within.

@bg

Oh it does a lot of good.

Look at all the butthurt bootlicker replies here. So many cranky people, all riled up over where others work.

Utter hilarity!

@b5

You've assessed them all, and deeply enough to assert this as fact?

Either you have, which means you also aren't doing your assigned work. Or you haven't and you are talking out of your a-s.

Which is it, bootlicker?

@c1 "When you complain but won't take it to leadership do you think it will work"

We did take it to leadership last year. It was called the employee survey. Do I think complaining on this web site will work . . . it can't be any worse than telling leadership what I think when they actually ask for it.

@bp RTO is not a layoff. You either return to work or you quit. Pretty simple to comprehend. Is it company BS to force people to quit, yes but it isn't a layoff.

@bq When you complain but won't take it to leadership do you think it will work? Does it change policy? Nope, it doesn't. Keep complaining to strangers on the internet and I'll keep telling you that you are a whiner that nobody cares about. Pretty simple

@bg when you wrote this were you really thinking “this’ll finally be the one that convinces them”?

I will never stop complaining until the policy changes or I’m paid to leave. If you don’t like it then don’t come here.

@bg RTO is a layoff so it fits in here perfectly

Many words to express tears over RTO. Stop whining, if you don’t ljke it then quit. This board should be for layoff information not about feelings around a policy. The company has the right to change policy which includes RTO. It doesn’t matter if we like it or not. Do you really think your opinion matters? Do your 8 and skate, be a minimalist, or just quit but stop complaining, it won’t do you any good.

Leadership is too stupid to figure out how to make money or reduce debt, so the only idea they have is shuffling offices around to bid up the tax breaks

The competition’s attack ad almost writes itself.

AT&T can’t connect you… it can’t even connect itself. (While the “You Will” ads run in the background with headlines of RTO scroll)

“Why do you people think you’re so precious? Even when you actually ARE working, you don’t ph--king respond to sh-t or do anything. Seriously, what do you RTO whiners actually do day to day? You want the freedom to ph--k around. Thats all.”

So much truth here.

@am That’s a lot of emotion directed at people discussing pointless company policy.

You tell everyone to “grow up” while throwing a softie hissy fit on an anonymous message board. “If you don’t like it, quit” isn’t an argument… it’s what people like you say when they don’t have one.

The funny part is that most of us aren’t asking to “work less.” We’re asking to be judged by results instead of badge swipes.

Imagine getting this worked up over where someone opens their laptop.

That boot must be lodged deep in your throat and cutting off oxygen to the brain. Please try to sp-t it out and quit your bootlicking, if you are capable.

@am “Grow up and go to work” says the guy throwing a tantrum on an anonymous message board. #Loser

@am Oh poor baby! GFY and ESAD! I know your mouth is preoccupied with Stank's a-s so it would be a good idea if you shut it once in a while. At the very least it will improve your breath.

Strange it has not occurred to you that this ship has sailed.

Clearly, good morale, retaining top talent, and productivity are not topics of any concern to Stank. He literally could not care less about any of that. Misery is the only metric that matters.

The bootlicking and sitting in the right zip code is more important to Stankey and co than actual work and productivity is now…

So, ironically he’s actually the model employee.

@a1

How does AT&T scrape by with the productivity loss inherent with your incessant bootlicking?

@a1 Except every study done over the last 5 years shows that 5xRTO is the least efficient form of work. WFH is actually more productive, but a hybrid schedule is the most productive. So, quit your Stanky an-s su-king.

OP -- Right now the company is not interested in retaining the best talent. They are only interested in getting down to the target head count of 80K employees and paying as little severance as possible. The goals of the company are not aligned with the goals of the employees right now.

Everything you’ve said is 100% true…and it’s exactly the way I used to think before I came to the realization that they simply don’t care…
They don’t feel like they need top-tier talent anymore, cutting costs to them is more important than recruiting top of the line talent, which is why they’re willing to risk it with RTO.

Another thing that was hard for me to wrap my head around is the fact that they don’t care to actually deliver the “best” network or “best” product to customers…it only has to be good enough to not cause a customer to leave and go to another provider, which is why they dont really care about investing more funds into the network, they’d rather take that money and give it back to the share holders, give them selves bonuses, etc…

Forcing RTO, and relocations is more important to them because the attrition they will see and savings from that, as well as not having to pay severance is more than they’d likely make providing a better product to customers.

There’s one final thing that I’ve had to accept that I really struggled to wrap my head around…they’re boomers.
They genuinely believe people are more productive when they’re miserable in an office than they are working from home…and I had to also remember not everyone is a developer with a masters degree like I am…some people work in marketing and other departments and maybe aren’t actually very productive when they’re working from home…it’s easier for the company to make a blanket super simply policy and make everyone miserable than it is for them to make exceptions based on your actual work…

I think it’s like 80% attrition and 20% they may actually believe it - I think Stankey actually believes some of it…he’s a bit of an id--t and really thinks if people are in an office it’s harder for them to slack off than if they’re WFH - and I don’t think he trusts his staff to ensure they hire high agency people who will stay responsible and get sh-t done while working from home, nor does he trust his own metrics to know who is working and being productive and who is slacking off.

If you think about it like this, it starts to make a lot more sense.

@a1 as @OP stated: “I don’t see the downside of letting managers manage by results instead of ZIP code.”

This destroys your entire argument, bootlicker. Manage based on results. If managers can’t do that, then that’s on them. 99% of people do not fall into the category you just described and as studies show, productivity actually improves in a WFH environment. RTO is nothing but a layoff.

Pull that boot out of your throat and wake up.

T can no longer afford the productivity loss inherent with WFH. Report to your assigned office or seek employment elsewhere.