I’ve been in enough high-level meetings lately that I can’t shake an uncomfortable feeling. I’m not saying the company is doomed. I’m not saying tomorrow is the end. But I am surprised more people aren’t talking about some of the warning signs. When every conversation becomes about cost cutting, reorganizations, efficiencies, and “doing more with less” while long-term investment, innovation, and employee confidence take a back seat… it’s hard not to wonder where this is headed. Maybe leadership has a bigger plan that isn’t obvious yet. I hope that’s the case. But sometimes companies don’t collapse all at once. They slowly drift there while everyone convinces themselves the next quarter will fix everything. I could be wrong, and I genuinely hope I am. But if people in the room are uneasy, perhaps it’s time to start having honest conversations instead of pretending everything is business as usual.
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@am op here, yep, I stay. I want the severance. Sorry you don’t qualify. Does your throat hurt? And, how deep can you go?
"But sometimes companies don’t collapse all at once. They slowly drift there while everyone convinces themselves the next quarter will fix everything."
Our absentee board is not going to do anything. Every stockholder should be suing the board for dereliction of duty for the last 10 years of management.
One word . . . convergence.
@a6 It is easy money. As L1s were paid overtime and our L2s work 3 hours a day. Leadership in Dallas has no idea how fast we can do what we do and we keep it that way.
I know areas where people should be layed off and management thinks they’re busy.
How will they ever get back to running the company again?
@as same as cloud! Funny how the cloud was going to be the answer to everything. Then the boneheads found out that “The Cloud” is just somebody else’s data center and it costs a fortune!! 🤣
@as yep, they are finally realizing it isn’t free and you only have so many tokens. The more you use it, the more it costs. A lot of companies are now realizing it’s costing 2-3x more than an employee.
Heard Legg told leaders to back off the AI stuff because it’s costing too much.
and yet you stay
Don’t care.
Executives are simply planning their jettisons with as much cash as possible. You should be doing that as well. This is a ghost ship of a company just meandering through the water with no destination.
It’s a direction and a trend that won’t change direction. Will continue to cut costs forever.
People are talking about the state of the company, and all the doom and gloom each and every “leader” seams to enjoy sharing with us. The standard “we have to make tough decisions “ is really getting old. How about admitting the pathetic decisions that have been made to the ruin of a once great company? Every employee should realize that their position is balancing on a edge of a kn--e.
One thought, they are getting EBITDA up to sell off the business or a large part of the business. Why not sell wireless while it hasn’t completely bottomed out.
What is your personal backup plan? If you don’t already have one ready to execute, you are behind.
@a6 I meant WRONG, not working. Autocorrect blah blah
Mobility tech here and we all see it too. No one cares. Applications freeze or fail completely with no reliable contacts to turn to. Just squeeze and squeeze. Wireless used to carry ATT but no more. They wanna plow fiber everywhere instead, along with all on the other isp’s. We havent masted 5G yet and it’s on to the next big buzz for the Street. Over the 28 years I’ve been here, it’s become clear the ATT corporate mindset is everything working with our country. In fact, ATT and the fed gov mirror each other perfectly.
I’m fortunate to have a hole paid for and no debt. Most of us are waiting for the surplus. It’s easy money still, i just hide in the chaos and collect. But I also keep my nose clean and stay under the radar and please their metrics.
Last thing I ever want is to interface with any type of mgmt.
Just think about it, AT&T secured exclusivity on the iPhone that propelled Apple to a trillion dollar company, handed T-Mobile a lifeline with penalty payments on a failed merger and unwound failed mergers of Time Warner and DTV. The company is now floundering and trying to cut its way to prosperity. Stankey is just hanging on to walk away with $200 million like his predecessor.
Federal govt will never let AT&T go away.
Too rigged to fail.
It’s definitely the worst it’s ever been.
We’ve been in a cost cutting/ doing more with less mode for years now though. The TMO/Directv/Time Warner trifecta was always going to ki-l us in the end. Most people I know have an exit plan. Just waiting for them to pay me to leave at this point.