Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

They literally care more about the seat your butt is in, then the work you are doing right now.

Then why did they take al of the offices away? I am sitting in the cafeteria most days

RTO is just a backhanded layoff and a tax break from the city where its at. We owe billions and the cost-saving measures they can only think of is to cut as many people as possible. You do not tell a company eager to save money that employees can work anywhere. They want people upset as possible, and those who were left to quit on their own dime, the better, no severance to pay. T is desperate for any cost-saving measures and at the same time, act like they still in the game.

“We still don’t care where you work as long as you chip a specific door three days a week.”

100% true.

I should just start scanning my badge, then circling back around and going to the park nearby and at least sit outside while I sit on teams instead of sitting in that terrible office.

2024. We still don’t care where you work as long as you chip a specific door three days a week.

Sure, I’ll leave with all my skills and knowledge, T’s loss. Easy to find another job since, I’ve kept up my skills and certifications. Leadership is full of hubris and live in a bubble so, Sayonara!

“ You know, a lot of you id--ts saying "Go back to the office or get out of here" or things to that effect. There is another side to all of this. a vast majority of people do NOT need to be in the office, we were hired to be there as needed, or fly to other sites around the vast footprint that this company has, when needed to meet in person with other workers to get a job done. I dont think any one of us have a problem with that. What the issue is, is that when you are told by a President of your organization, that it is ok to move to a location away from a hub city because there is really no need in your job description to be sitting in an AT&T building talking to your team that is spread all over the country. Approved, encouraged, and blessed to go wherever you want as long as you can communicate effectively and get to a City where needed easily to meet occasionally face to face (which I agree MUST occur on occasion) After being told and approved to move, selling a home, buying a new one, expenses associated with both sides of that process, maintaining a very high work annual review so no one is saying I am not doing what I am paid to do at a high level.. in fact, I have pointed out many things that have saved the company in access of $6-7 Million. Now, dont tell me that I am not a company guy, need to work face to face 3-5 days a week (when I have never had to do that before, manage people and high level projects effectively enough that I receive High accolades and work reviews consistantly year over year, but If I chose to "NOT move to some arbitrary location to be with my team (we are still all spread around the country, no need or smart reason to get us into one place) and do that all for a huge financial loss, not only to have to quickly sell a brand new home at a loss, but the tax penalties I would face, moving costs, buying another house in the City I am being told to move to, move my family, have wife change job yet again, and then face the likely conclusion that there is a possibility of a layoff where I would loose all around? No-way.. I am just saying all of this to let those complainers, there are other reasons why some people just simply do not need to go back to the office... this is mainly to get rid of people no matter what they tell you. GO ahead complainers and Rip away at what I just said, but give it some thought first... there is a level of workers that need to be in the office, and others of us that do not, we all made that choice when taking the job, my job does not require it, maybe yours does and just be happy with your choice. THey have succeeded in splitting us apart and against each other instead of standing by one another and rise up against these id--ts that have taken over, have cause our financial issues and company problems, and they are the ones who remain, and we are the fallout. I still like this company and hope they change course so it can be a great company again”

So you’ve recognized that you may not be needed. Instead of whining, make a plan and implement it. You are either willing to do what is required to stay on the payroll or you are not. Quit hoping that some miracle will happen and you will get your way. Stay or leave, but just quit whining…

Here’s a thought.

You don’t need tax breaks if you don’t lease their buildings.

So it can’t be the only reason. The real reason is Democrats. Liberals need the support of their corporate allies to force people back into their corrupt and decrepit cities.

Except, it’s too late. No one is going back.

“Grammar seems to be an issue for you, however. Way to go, top performer!”

Cellphone autocorrect is a thing, you know.

“I’ve lead projects that have run into the hundreds of thousands of lines of code that process tens of thousands of nodes/cells a day.”

Grammar seems to be an issue for you, however. Way to go, top performer!

“dont really know any engineers that work here except myself and a few others.(folks with actual engineering degrees). but any who du----s, he said supervisors. why would we need 5 levels of management to supervise each other? its just d-mb.”

Actually he said L2 & L3 managers are wasted space, which includes engineers.
I have a software engineering degree, am Lead Member Technical Staff (L2) and help automate the cell network so many of you depend on for a paycheck.
I work 50+ hours a week and write thousands and thousands lines of code, I’ve lead projects that have run into the hundreds of thousands of lines of code that process tens of thousands of nodes/cells a day.
I’d say my job is far from ‘useless’ or ‘wasted space’

Manager is a title here, not a job description.

I lead projects, but I have no ‘direct reports’ and am considered an individual contributor. So lots of the ‘managers’ here aren’t managers.
It’s obvious you aren’t under ATS or on high visibility projects if you haven’t met any engineers here. I work daily with radio access engineers who assist us software guys with understanding radio frequencies, the cell towers, cell nodes, Ericsson vs Nokia? Etc. There’s tons of L2 & L3 excellent engineers at this company that will be extremely difficult to replace.

“Wake up stop being such tools.”

They can’t they’re boomer sheep.
They’re extrovert megalomaniacs with middle management positions who have always managed by standing over the shoulder of their reports and making sure their butt is in a seat instead of doing the hard thing and having 1:1’s and actually TALKING to them about the status of their work.
Or setting up proper report structures with trusted leads that report to said supervisor about employee performance.
They have nothing but their job, and hate being at home, so they NEED a reason to go into the office.
They can’t imagine that the future could be fully remote.
They’re invested in the commercial real-estate scam and want worker bees packed as tightly as possible into dirty overpriced crime ridden cities.
They need you back in the office to justify their way of life.

“Why don’t employees want to return to the office? And don’t say traffic. We have always had traffic even before the Pandemic.”

Oy vey this again. I guess some people don’t get it until it’s explained to them 500 times.

• Yes traffic has been around but generally when a better option comes along, you know, you use it. Do you still record programs on your VCR? Commuting wastes time, wastes money and adds to pollution, so if you can be more productive and avoid it, most people prefer that.

• if you go to an office to do Teams calls, emails and focused work all day, which is what I do, why the fu-k do you need to go to a cube farm to do that? When there is an actual need to be face to face, sure I understand, However, this is rare and certainly not 3x+ per week for most people. You sure as he-l don’t need to relocate at your own expense for this to work for a TELECOMMUNICATIONS company

• You can set up your workspace however you like, not be distracted, have more family time while still having more time to work and be better able to handle things like picking up/dropping off your kid from school if needed with less disruption.

• The entire reason for this was do a Tesla size layoff without the bad press and to allow leadership to “take back control” of employees. How many times do corporate big shots talk about the need to embrace change when most of the time the change is bad for employees and fine for them. Now the big shots have to embrace change and here and at so many other places, they flip out and throw tantrums like two year olds. They need to eat their dog food.

Remote work doesn’t work for all people all the time but for a lot of us, it just makes sense. It sure as he-l makes more sense than upending your life only to get laid off, especially for a job that can be done anywhere.

Wake up stop being such tools.

Never sell your house OP. Rent. Never buy a house on the count of employment. Again, rent.

You know, a lot of you id--ts saying "Go back to the office or get out of here" or things to that effect. There is another side to all of this. a vast majority of people do NOT need to be in the office, we were hired to be there as needed, or fly to other sites around the vast footprint that this company has, when needed to meet in person with other workers to get a job done. I dont think any one of us have a problem with that. What the issue is, is that when you are told by a President of your organization, that it is ok to move to a location away from a hub city because there is really no need in your job description to be sitting in an AT&T building talking to your team that is spread all over the country. Approved, encouraged, and blessed to go wherever you want as long as you can communicate effectively and get to a City where needed easily to meet occasionally face to face (which I agree MUST occur on occasion) After being told and approved to move, selling a home, buying a new one, expenses associated with both sides of that process, maintaining a very high work annual review so no one is saying I am not doing what I am paid to do at a high level.. in fact, I have pointed out many things that have saved the company in access of $6-7 Million. Now, dont tell me that I am not a company guy, need to work face to face 3-5 days a week (when I have never had to do that before, manage people and high level projects effectively enough that I receive High accolades and work reviews consistantly year over year, but If I chose to "NOT move to some arbitrary location to be with my team (we are still all spread around the country, no need or smart reason to get us into one place) and do that all for a huge financial loss, not only to have to quickly sell a brand new home at a loss, but the tax penalties I would face, moving costs, buying another house in the City I am being told to move to, move my family, have wife change job yet again, and then face the likely conclusion that there is a possibility of a layoff where I would loose all around? No-way.. I am just saying all of this to let those complainers, there are other reasons why some people just simply do not need to go back to the office... this is mainly to get rid of people no matter what they tell you. GO ahead complainers and Rip away at what I just said, but give it some thought first... there is a level of workers that need to be in the office, and others of us that do not, we all made that choice when taking the job, my job does not require it, maybe yours does and just be happy with your choice. THey have succeeded in splitting us apart and against each other instead of standing by one another and rise up against these id--ts that have taken over, have cause our financial issues and company problems, and they are the ones who remain, and we are the fallout. I still like this company and hope they change course so it can be a great company again

"Why don’t employees want to return to the office?"

People don't want to work. They want to commingle work and personal time so they can drop what they are doing to play some golf or work on the garden when it's nice out.

“Why don’t employees want to return to the office?”
Many employees don’t want to be held accountable for working

This has gone back and forth multiple times since I’ve worked here. Wait a few years and they’ll send us back home again.

Why don’t employees want to return to the office? And don’t say traffic. We have always had traffic even before the Pandemic.

"What an id--t.
All RAN engineers and software engineers are L2 & L3 - you’re saying they’re wasted space too?"

dont really know any engineers that work here except myself and a few others.(folks with actual engineering degrees). but any who du----s, he said supervisors. why would we need 5 levels of management to supervise each other? its just d-mb.

This stuff funnels to Wall Street. They know ATT Execs and board are incompetent and desperate. Thus a tu-d of a stock. Not investable.

I kinda thought AI was going to ki-l the workforce, but headless leadership must have gotten jealous of the attention

I would say that this isn’t a good career place. It is becoming a great place to fill a chair and burn the clock and collect a paycheck though. The whole company is turning into a union call center job

they need all the tax breaks to pay our "leadership"

“ Most major cities in the US are sitting at 50% occupancy rates.”

Not sure where you’re getting this one from. It’s higher than before but more like 20%.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/economy/office-space-vacancies-hit-a-record-high/index.html

All that said, real estate and layoffs are the primary reasons for RTO. Everyone pretty much knows this. Doesn’t make it less stupid.

Just trying (but failing) to avoid a catastrophic commercial real estate failure. Most major cities in the US are sitting at 50% occupancy rates. I don't think it will be avoided, skyscrapers are a novelty, way too expensive to maintain. It's funny how big cities couldn't build enough new skyscrapers fast enough. It's time to bulldoze these uneeded monstrosities. Their time has come and gone, better off leaving them in the history books.

Word is later this year they will be doing surprise in person office visits to check for RTO compliance. If your manager is strictly enforcing RTO they are just looking out for you.

T needs badge swipes to show major metro tax authority offices. That’s it. T never cares until they’ll lose a big tax break.

“If RTO was a productivity tool, as the tool who posted this states”

Nice.

"RTO is a productivity tool"

If RTO was a productivity tool, as the tool who posted this states, then why don't the presence reports include metrics on how much more or less productive the team or indiviual has been for the duration of the report?

gonna have to fire some for non compliance to send a message

I had a director that valued performance and productivity above all other metrics. That director was laid off in favor of one that only cares about not rocking the boat and su-king up to the L4+. They truly don’t give a cr-p about customers, stockholders, or any measurable business metric. It is all about power and control.

RTO is a productivity tool.

Need another load of cheese brought in for the whine…

“to be hknest l2 and l3 managers are just wasted space anyway. they should be laid off.”

What an id--t.
All RAN engineers and software engineers are L2 & L3 - you’re saying they’re wasted space too?

to be hknest l2 and l3 managers are just wasted space anyway. they should be laid off.

RTO is a surplus tool. In addition to forcing one to make a life decision about where to live and work, it is being used to turn good employees into bad employees. At some point, most employees will have blemish on their attendance record. This gives management the power take actions against you that might make you unemployed or feel like you want to leave the company. Don't be surprised if the RTO rules get much more strict; like tracking the hours you spend in the office, increasing the days per week in the office, or eliminating WFH altogether.

Of course this is the case. In the leaked meeting on the presence dashboard, the only thing discussed for an hour was how to tell whether people sent their emails from the cube farms or somewhere else. That’s it. No talk of productivity, quality of work, speed of work or anything actually related to improving results.

The funny thing about this mess is that with all the id--tic focus on where people sit, the geniuses at the top have made the office something to be loathed and a symbol pointless rules for the sake of rules. Why would you even think of coming in more than the bare minimum unless your WFH setup is awful?

They could have done something like everyone has to come in once a week and say 10 total days total a month and if they really want to get crazy, have L3s say coordinate the one day so that actual collaborative work like team meetings took place that day.

This gives flexibility and more ownership to people - maybe one week you can only come in the one day but you make it up or maybe a some weeks make more sense to come in every day. Currently, there is no incentive to do more than comply with the minimum, so why bother?

Our genius leaders (and those of tons of other companies) have signaled clearly that the office is a negative, a place you go because you’re forced to whether it’s necessary or not. Why wouldn’t people be pi---d and do everything they can to get out of going? It’s like schools that care more about dress codes or hairstyles than whether kids are actually learning anything.

D-mb actions result in d-mb outcomes. Always remember that.

It says A LOT.

Even if it’s not officially said, we ALL know that is the case.

Otherwise, leadership would actually care about the concerns/problems people continue to have and have raised with RTO:
finding an available seat (vs sitting in the cafeteria), the noise level, privacy, having the needed equipment Mouse, monitor, chair, a decent clean bathroom, toilet paper, soap, paper towels, etc.

Translation...Any dip in performance is a result of people throwing a fit about not being able to work from home. We will take care of them soon enough.

Jesus. You people need to let it go. Just go to the office and work.