One reason for a company to feel comfortable buying out thousands upon thousands of managers might be because they already know that, in the very near future, there will be a lot fewer people to be managed?
Further, if you read the New Contracting Initiatives Letter, the letter that announces contractual changes the work that is allowed to be redirected to outside contractors come December 31, 2018, IMO, that further lends credence to a possible massive EISP.
If the future here is to have most work done by cantractors and temp workers without the older, stronger, contractual protections and benefits, it also makes some sence, IMO, that the recent VSP stipulated that these thousands of managers that accepted and left the company would not be allowed to come back in-house. This sets up conduit of lots of knowledgable managers to start taking jobs with outside entities, companies that do telecommunications work as contractors and subs.
Looks like things are veering in the direction of the telecommunications industry following the playbook of the electric and cable industries, where there’s great reliance on hiring contractors on an as needed basis, and freeing oneself of vacation, benefits, sick time, pensions, 401ks, medical, workers comp...
All this, in my opinion, bodes well for an EISP.