Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

So, how did this work out?

Applying for other jobs while still employed is much less stressful than waiting til the final hour. AT&T employees have great reputations in other industries, so use it to your advantage.

They knew everything in advance

Already received confirmation from an ARSM that level 1 stores in the area are being shuttered in the near future. Guess we'll know more in the coming weeks.

Heads up everyone, could just be talk but a very valid source told me that the next round of layoffs will be discussed by DOS and ARSM within the next week. Supposedly this is for RSM, ASM, RSC and SSR. The only way I see this happening is the discussion of starting to close down stores that do not generate revenue on the scale that AT&T is looking for. Keep in mind I did not say ranking. If you do not know your KPI report, I would recommend you learn it. If you are ranked number one but its because your goal is a joke don’t be surprised if your selected. Level three stores that have goals and produce level 2 numbers, I would imagine your probably first. If you are a manager who was not let go already and you are being investigated good luck, that’s the company’s way of getting rid of you without giving you a severance. I’m in the Houston market and see these things happening all over the place. Good luck everyone.

@rjis I ran a store for a year without and SSR and went to Summit. It was just me and my ARM to pick up the slack.

Not bragging, but just pointing out that it can be done. It s---ed and we worked our asses off and had some long days. I don't disagree with you that you need that operations person focussing on those things.

But if the company thinks it can be done and save themselves a few bucks, it wouldn't surprise me to see SSRs on the chopping block in the near future. Heck the consensus is that entire stores are going soon.

First let me say after reading some of these post. You take the chance of being eliminated from at&t no matter how many years you have when your in a management role, because most states are "right to work" states. This means terminate at will. secondly for the one that posted in regards to a RSC with lower seniority having better numbers than the RSC with higher seniority, being let go. Well there is your prime example of many factors: either your assistant managers didn't do observations and document performance or they did and your store manager buried it because of favoritism. As to the SSR who says this is the first you have heard of that title being in danger of losing our jobs(yes i am an SSR), please take your blinders off and pull your head out of the mud: how quickly you forgot what they did to the store Finance Reps. with that being said update your resume and make sure you center it around STRONG administrative duties. I can't say what you do daily as a SSR, but as for me I am responsible 5days a week for back office, ipog, ensuring all opus ipads stay updated, all Aio scanners are functioning correctly. if not it is me that turns in for replacement, in the start of audit season i do a daily sim count but the RSC's are not held accountable for not selling out. i also do a weekly serialized count. So just make sure you pad your resume heavily in looking like your position is admin assistant oriented. One last thing, this is not all the fault of the company. Some of us are covered by a union contract however more than 50% of retail stores are not dues paying members, before you attack in comments i personally have 19 years with this company and have been dues paying since day 1, because when my originally company was bought by at&t they attempted to let us go and even though my company was not Union CWA stepped in and said NO to the company. It took CWA 4 months to get my job back but they did it, so based on my history your only protected when your union strong in a union based company.

To the person who wrote in this string 5 days ago that "SSR's are next.." and "SSR's will be let go around April 2017", let me ask you...

How do you know this? Are you just guessing, or do you have sore sort of inside position of being "in the know on this"?

SSR's are the busiest ones in ratail for sure! It's important to have a position that focuses strictly on the operations of the store, and not have to wear a secondary hat of selling also. In all honesty, our store could not function properly without our SSR's. In my opinion, audit compliance would be terrible if the company left operations to an ASM that did double duty with one hand in operations and one hand in sales.

So I'm curious about if you know this for sure, or just speculating!?

1 - SSRs are next as our RSM has already started training ASMs (who have no idea how to do operations) on back office stuff. SSRs will be let go around April 2017.

2 - Level 1 and Lever 2 store RSMs and ASMs were placed out of reason. This is because those managers are next on the chopping block. A-- kissing ASMs were moved to better locations. One of my friend who is in NTX said she heard an ARSM say he will move certain RSM to a store to make her quit. That is exactly what happened and now that RSM is on leave. One ASM was moved two hours away from his house.

3 - When ARSMs say in public about potential promotion "this role is his to lose" when interview process has not even started, you can tell that their is bias in the process.

4 - Cloak and Dagger politics is hallmark of one ARSM that i have worked with as a rep. He talks transparency but is nothing close to it.

At least there is one link on at&t layoff website that wants to give out sound insight and helpful information on what is going on so I will post my information here. I have been severanced and was with the company for so many years I stopped counting (still paranoid I be identified by the dictatorship). The discrepancy on whether RSM's knew and were part of the process lies here. If you are a teachers pet and the plan is to retain you as a pawn to carry out the rest of at&t's plan - then you knew. If you are next on the chopping block then your valued opinion was not wanted so you had no clue. I was told by a friend ARSM (not mine) that gave her notice and will be leaving that I was lucky to be let go. The next few months will be used to wean out ASMs and RSMs through performance evaluations to cut down on future layoffs and severance payments. I was never in all those years on any write ups. Many ASMs that made the cut are or they feel the are pushovers and the discipline process will be easy. Thought I share this so those of you that are already on a progressive discipline plan start looking or focus on the areas of that plan if you want to stick it out. After reading the original post and the last couple of replies I felt compelled to confirm their information. Good Luck to all.

Sad thing is people this has been happening for a long time and no one has been seeing or wanted to see what was going on right in front of them! AT&T has been doing this for over 14 years, I was a former employee, a store manager at that! Because I was hired during the Bell South Mobility days had several years tenure with the company and was paid A LOT more than new managers and sales reps that were new coming to the team plus was getting 401 K options matched 100%, they found ever single way to squeeze me out of my job.. the proof I have, was in a very profitable store, had top sales reps that were awarded yearly for their sales, operating costs were kept below minimum standards.... the company continued to raise quotas so high that store reps weren't able to achieve bonuses which meant store quotas weren't achieved so that meant each time they failed or the store failed the manager was written up for it...you all know the 3 or 4 strike rule from AT&T when you get the last strike your out! They (AT&T) was able to get rid of most if not all of the tenured reps like that, in turned saved them money, LOTS of money and now it's happening on a wider scale. I hope everyone used what ever time they had with the company to save some money they made over the years because I can promise you AT&T WILL find the loop hole to make sure they don't get paid your severance or anything else you think is coming to you, mark my words. BEST decision I made the day I left was to never look back, I gave up a lot working for that company and the 2 other names it was before AT&T (Bell South Mobility & Cingular) I missed so much time with my family and children because I though I had to be there day and night to make sure things ran perfectly and was so stressed out that it almost killed me.... when I left all the stress and worry left as well. There are companies out there that value hard work, dedication, and determination. Yes your starting over but you'll be much happier you'll see!

You're close. It's 80,000 fewer employees.

This is absolutely true except for the fact that all RSM's knew what was going to happen. In Austin only certain RSM's who are in the know where those who were close to the director of sales and other ARSM's. If you think you're safe you're not as an RSM or even an ASM for that matter. In this district alone the DOS and ARSM's work off of the favoritism spectrum of keeping those they want in place. If you're one of those who does the right thing for the customer and for the company along with your employees you are the one that you will be out. Mark my words they will find something or some reason from left field to force you to quit or have you fired before collecting any kind of severance. The plan that AT&T has going forward is for AT&T, it is not the benefit of the customer nor is it for the benefit of the employees. Overall this is a strategic move only for upper management and shareholders this has nothing to do with delivering the experience needed for their customers or first level employees. Being part of the industry as I have been I can tell you first hand this is going to hurt a lot of families and in the long run it will hurt the customers. The strategic move for the AT&T is for customers to be self-sufficient i.e. MyATT app. When you walk into a store the first thing that happens is you get the app sent to you, this is so you can change your rate plan, pay your bill, chat online or anything else self-sufficient that someone in the store won't have the time or AT&T doesn't want them to take the time to assist the customer. If you're not buying something to raise revenue and increase profit shares then forget about it. AT&T is a full hard sales mentality. Get the customer to buy more and more and the customer service behind it is not the important part. From where I come from the customer service is what brings in the sales from word-of-mouth. This new model that AT&T is putting together is so they will have the revenue and profits to buy more companies or mergers. For the consumer a one stop shop it's not necessarily a good thing. AT&T is a monopoly company and it will own more and you will not get the pricing that you deserve as a consumer. I can tell you firsthand by 2020 the comments that I heard where they want to operate under the pretense of 100,000 less employees. This is clearly not over work for 2020 is around the corner.

I guess use your vacation up while you can.

Also some health benefits such as Invisalign is paid back monthly not in a lump sum

Be careful on the those of you who are enrolled in the program for schooling if you get let go you have to pay it back in full

Too bad the ASM's can't find a way into a class action lawsuit based on discrimination. It seems live age and tenure weighed heavily with those decisions.

Today was my Assistants Manager last day and They kept the ones that have been with the company the least for some strange reason. This is definitely some terrifying times and I hope and pray I don't lose my job. My co workers from other stores also lost a lot of assistant managers.....good luck to them and to all of you...At&t is definitely changing.

At a SOTF here. Has anyone heard anything about SSR's?

I just quit AT&T today. Trust me-You can do it too! The enormous amount of relief is unbelievable! #happiestdayever!!

If you're a full time rep and have been with the company with over 4 years and have not used any of the resources to better yourself and prepare for a different career, that's on you! Everyone likes to complain but when it comes to doing the work more than half of the reps will try to avoid helping people or picking up an extra task! I'm not saying I'm an example rep because I will do the same but I'm squeezing them out of every penny I can to get them to pay for my school so I can get out of there or get into a career thats in need! Everyone knows where the future is going, don't just complain about it do something! Don't settle and get comfortable where you are, you're just being lazy so maybe they should get rid of you! 🎤

This is terrible

Yeeeeee surplus AF!!!

It will most likely come down to seniority since most of us are unionized reps. We have a bargained position. If they start closing some of the smaller 1-2 stores, they will pool all of the reps from each city and keep the highest seniority. But if you haven't noticed, accountability has then recently become a pretty big thing. Having action plans is basically a road to success, and also a road to the end of your career. You must absoloutly follow your action plans, if not they will have the excuse to fire you over numbers and behaviors and seniority won't help one bit. Trust me, management would love to fire ppl with crappie numbers top seniority over someone with good numbers and low seniority. Good luck to all!

SSR's at least in my market are pretty safe right now. Most positions will go away through attrition (just won't be replaced when they leave). The only uncertain part is if stores start closing-then it will be base on seniority not by who likes you and who doesn't. Roles will be changing and might be given more responsibility. Just remember you can only do what you can do. Try to nod and smile when they give you your new tasks.

I am an SSR and this is the first I am hearing anything about a SSR call today> Is this is all markets? My manager has not said anything at all to our store. We have a store meeting tomorrow where we will supposedly be told what is going on and who is affected.

By 2020, Stephenson hopes AT&T will be well into its transformation into a computing company that manages all sorts of digital things: phones, satellite television and huge volumes of data, all sorted through software managed in the cloud.

That can’t happen unless at least some of his workforce is retrained to deal with the technology. It’s not a young group: The average tenure at AT&T is 12 years, or 22 years if you don’t count the people working in call centers. And many employees don’t have experience writing open-source software or casually analyzing terabytes of customer data.

If you don’t develop the new skills, you won’t be fired — at least AT&T won’t say as much — but you won’t have much of a future. The company isn’t too worried about people leaving, since executives estimate that eventually AT&T could get by with one-third fewer workers.

Stephenson declined to project how many workers he might have by 2020, when the cloud-based system is supposed to be fully in place. One thing about cutting people in an aging workforce, he noted, is that “demography is on our side.” Other senior executives say shrinking the workforce by 30 percent is not out of the question.

It's all true, I'm living it as we speak!

this kind of went viral

In one district, three ASMs they let go have more than 8 years with company. In our store, they have kept the three with less than two years in the role and one of them is less than three months in ASM role. The three kept have no clue what to do with customer situations and sales team has to tell them what to do. Customer experience my A--.

I have heard one RSM say "if your head is not in (particular) DOS's a--, then forget about getting promoted. I know one ASM was told by RSM that her ARSM didn't like that ASM and didn't want the ASM in the group. It is all politics and who can kiss more a-- and how many asses one can kiss at the same time.

Part time employees don't value the company or give the same level of service, be careful with downsizing

Dos/arsm made the choice and it was based on much more than a grade. A lot of the people let go were lazy and it didn't get along with the rest of the staff.

I won't argue that it definitely wasn't on seniority or performance but a lot had to do with them simply liking you.

Severance pay please!! This company has changed - not for the better

This company wouldn't be anywhere without the people in the front line, as a thank from the company they let you go. Wow. Don't you just love this business method, become a big successful company by stabbing the ones that got you there in the back.

They quite literally let go of the most tenured most experienced Asms and kept the newest hires. Our so called ranking no one can answer to. They increased head count less then a year ago in our area, almost like they were preparing for an "out with the old in with the new" management team. Since when does seniority hurt you? Terrible the way they have treated good, dedicated employees.

This post has some truth to it. I am an RSM and had no input on who was laid off in my store. My DOS and ARSM made the decisions.

I'm not sure any of this should come as a great surprise to anybody. In October of 2016 the Dallas Morning News quoted John Donovan, chief strategy officer and President of AT&T technology and operations saying that in 2015 about 50% of AT&T's employees had science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds. By 2020 he said he expects that about 90% of the company's jobs will require it.

What I want to know is what went into the ranking process? This is what I can't find out from any of my admittedly short list of sources.

I feel like they surplused the wrong ASM in our store. I'm so mad!