So it’s not just the big dogs that get a nice payout, L3s , L4s also received a nice little email with an incentive pay and for L3s it starts at 50k and goes up from there. The L1s and L2 s well heck we get nothing. Granted the top brass has already said that this company is quite fat at the GM level. I guess that doesn’t matter let’s keep giving them more money because their connections awards, restricted stocks, retention bonuses etc isn’t enough. They clearly need more incentive to keep driving and pushing the lower ranks harder.
L1/2s get no relo, more work as layoffs continue, minuscule connections awards but no incentive for us. As if that isn't bad enough what is now common place is that during a surplus leadership’s idea of doing headcount reductions is to layoff L2s and downgrade the L3s to L2. Wow what a wonderful and considerate company.
22 replies (most recent on top)
the non management bonus is a slap to the face considering management is getting large bonuses. front line customer facing Bargained employees are the core of the business so to give them $166 in a bonus is absolutely terrible.
1mlw+1poZBdkR Very true but the assumption is that fiber have a pretty high impact on workloads. Remember when Uverse was implemented. F1 work basically disappeared. During normal weather the techs in those areas were running out of work by noon most days. Copper will probably have a place for awhile but if the company achieves their goals of 50% of the network being fiber there will be a significant decrease in work content from regular field technicians to Air Pressure techs. From a couple of discussions with my field counterparts the emphasis is on the big quick cost savings at the macro level. Not so much on digging down to micro level cost savings. If your job entails working with copper facilities it could get dicey.
This is a ridiculous statement as a lot of L2's are better educated then the L3 and above and have more experience ...
"Most L1s/L2s are highly overpaid given their actual skillset"
Okay so . . . . .
To keep things in perspective, the non-management types got a whopping . . . . wait for it . . . . $166 bonus.
Yes, you read that right.
Yes, I laughed at the email when it came in today.
One Hundred and Sixty Six whole dollars.
Try to keep this in mind when the folks who are doing the majority of the work decide they're done with this BS and go work somewhere else.
The L3+ were notified via email. My HRBP didn’t even know about it, when I asked him questions he was like what email are you talking about. So some of us got an email that said 30k others got 50k. I’m an L3 and got an email that states 50k over 2025/2026, if I get demoted to an L2 I still get my incentive. I work in the Choy organization and my avp told me that we have targets on our back because of our spans aren’t large enough but he said not to worry because the plan was to layoff L2s to make room for my downgrade. Someone else on this chain said there would be on going layoffs and they are right. They will continue like clock work. The other thing leadership is not mentioning is that if you are not in Dallas or atl by 2025 you will not be with the company. Stay at your own risk. As for me I’m actively looking and will leave once I find a new gig. This incentive that they gave us is a joke, no way we are going to hit the cash flow targets they set forth.
: @1iqf+1poZBdkR the original comment I was responding to was talking about wireline dying.
That poster doesn’t understand that fiber and xdsl (Uverse) are part of wireline as are POTS and legacy DSL (pppoe). Saying that wireline is dying is just not true. The copper subscribers are declining but fiber assets and customers will continue to grow. This is all part of wireline.
Even with storms and weather we still have millions of copper customers paying their bills and plenty with good service, but maintenance and age has already and will continue to take its toll. Fiber is obviously a better transport and it’s growing at a healthy pace, but it has lower returns.
L3+ are almost unanimously (grossly) overpaid gatekeepers.
1isx+1poZBdkR If the assets being paid for is talking about copper facilities I would imagine that argument is outdated. Fiber is a better cost equation in almost every situation if you look at the entire equation from provisioning to maintenance costs. Spoke with a tech a few months ago and he said he was still seeing situations where a few customers are being left on basically empty copper cables for whatever reason. Just gotten some heavy rain and had to dispatch on the copper customers. Fiber customers in that area weren’t affected. Understand we still have customers where placing fiber is not feasible or the wireless service su-ks but not understanding how or why these situations happen in a major metro area.
L3's and above get paid long term incentives based on how the company does against targets.
Most L1s/L2s are highly overpaid given their actual skillset.
@1ylw+1poZBdkR The wireline business is not dying, quite the contrary. POTs and legacy DSL are very small portion of wireline and still bring in quite a bit of money since the assets are paid for.
The L3s and above have always been on a different salary plan and get better pay treatment. Been through these downsizing’s a few times. Those levels will not be the ones initially hit. If this goes as normal, they will be kept around longer to “manage” the various transitions of work and processes. Of course these downsizing are not normal so who knows how long that will be. Only question is how many will be hired back as consultants.
"Sell the business off" or segment the company? I believe they want to segment it and roll the more profitable sides off while keeping at&t stuck with the dying wireline business. It may look like a sell off but maybe the point is to spread debt and bankrupt the lowest common denominator.
Purely speculation, but incentives to keep L3+ in place at the same time disincentivizing L1 & L2 to continue employment would suggest AT&T is preparing to sell the business or parts of the business to another firm. Other firms desire high revenue to employee ratios, hence the RTO, HWWW and outsourcing functions to reduce L1 & L2. Other firms also require stability in leadership through the evaluation process and merger transition period, hence compensation incentives to retain L3+. This has sparked my interest as an investor, however potential suitors should proceed with caution given liabilities for lead cables that senior leadership brush off casually in press releases without assurance of governmental support for mitigating legal exposure.
I'm an L3 and haven't heard about a 50K bonus. I got notified of a 30k bonus, split between 2025 and 2026 only if AT&T hits free cash flow targets for each of the next two years.
We are very unlikely to hit those targets, it is fools gold. I'm more likely to fired over RTO nonsense than get any bonus.
It is just an incentive for leaders to continue to starve the business and get absolutely nothing done.
I guess that’s why my connection award got declined. Was told no budget for it from the AVP is what was said. Yet they all got theirs. I don’t recall them busting their tails getting the job done, working 70, 80, 100+ hr weeks without a day off for many weeks. I’m exempt so no overtime or comp days for me. Yeah that ain’t going to happen anymore.
I have a couple of questions.
- So is AT&T paying them bonuses or giving raises? Did they say what it's for?
- How did people in lower levels found out? Was there an announcement? It almost feels like, once again, some kind of tactic to demoralize people and force them to quit.
I thought AT&T was broke, but the payout for L3 and above just keeps happening and you know the C-Suite is going to get theirs!
Heard L1’s and L2’s are going to be minimum wage jobs. They’re all just cone checkers anyhow.
Here’s 50k now get your family to Dallas.
Yeah now all we get is a good kick in the asset in hope we will leave so they don’t have to pay us severance. This thing about L3s getting downgraded is fact Choy has a serious target on several of them from what my Avp “privately” shared. It’s common practice , my buddy in the Legg org had the same experience. He is now an L2 but looking.
I remember when L1 and L2 in our division were given AT&T brand hooded sweatshirts for all the hard work. We had to sign something saying we agreed to being taxed as they were worth more than $25. Those were the good old days?