Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

I’m a mom of three here. There is four years difference in age from the oldest to the youngest. I am on my last year of all this “Thank Goodness”. My last one starts driving and will graduate high school. I worked jobs were I got to work from home two days and be in the office others. I’ve also worked jobs were I have to be in the office full time. I also have a total commute of 3 hours daily. The kids go with me because the schools are way better. I’ve Always had a long commute of some kind. We don’t have family to help out either. It’s just the two of us.

First off, become a good liar. I mean a really good one. Do not talk about your kids at work. If you have a kid thing, sneak out and go do it. I’ve done this for years and years.

Next, work separate shifts so one of you can be with the kids and do that kid’s cr-p without the other one missing work.

Next, hang on. That third kid is going to make life extremely hard for the next 25 years. Corporate America does not care about you or your problems. We’ve survived so far for 21 years. It has not been pretty. I’m still amazed that we aren’t homeless. Thank goodness my house is almost paid for. Wish I would have told my husband “no” on those days. I would have been my richer and happier.

It's a simple fact that at&t just wants you to leave cause higher costs, and the more distractions the less productive. I don't know what you are supposed to do other than find another work from home job.

Good story. Are you really a mom taking care of kids? Or are you just some lazy worker trying to avoid having to actually work?

Count your blessings and be thankful. You have supportive, beautiful family, healthy kids and you were able to work last 10 years from home. RTO will not define you. You will be good without T.

Family, quantity and quality time, money. Seems that shouldn't be to hard to figure out, you know what is best for you and your family. As previous posts, Just take your time and make it through maternity leave.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Not everyone is as blessed as you.

Parent or not, no job is worth a four hour a day commute. I’d be looking for a job closer to home.

Maybe tell your spouse/significant other to step up? Maybe? 🤔

What is best for you and your family? Answer that.. and do it. Don't rely on anyone else to answer that question. SIMPLE.

@2cmx+1o9VFnLa While I didn't work 12 hour days, my water broke at work with my 2nd as well. Back then you got 6 weeks paid. Period. No "parental leave". Dad's got nothing. These days most companies provide leave for them too. Oh and paid adoption expenses. They didn't have those back then either. And there was no such things as work from home. 63 here. Bottom line is everyone has a choice. If you want to work, you deal with it. If you want to be with your kids, you figure out a budget to make that work. While I can sympathize with OP, she still has choices.

I was gone 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. My water broke at work with my 2nd child. I am now 67 and working moms were given no breaks in my day. Sux but reality.

Not exactly sure how you have 10 year old toddlers, but if post is legit and just worded oddly, I agree with those who say you will need to pick - your family and a closer job , or just your job. IMO, nothing is more valuable than that time with your family. Why else do we work if not to provide a way to spend time with the people important to us. Everything else is really meaningless.

Life brings unexpected changes, twists and turns that you need to adapt to. Figure it out. .. yes, I'm a mom.

Why is it about the "mom" or female in this instance? Is a dad, father, or husband less critical to the functionality of a home or to children?

Men have sacrificed this over the years to provide for their families. Missing the time to bond with children, school class parties, trips, etc.

It is about choices; men and women are equal. We both have responsibilities. Is your family more critical, "living the American dream" or "keeping up with the Joneses " more important?

We made a decision to live on 1 income before we had children. Meant a smaller home than we qualified for; however, I can afford the mortgage with a fast-food job. We don't spend lavishly, we sent our kids to private school for most of their learning years and make sacrifices do not have the latest and greatest things, entertainment, vacations, etc., and do not put things on a credit card.

All of this allowed my wife to stay home with 4 kids, have 2 vehicles, and a home that was all within a budget of the American average salary.

Choose what is most important - Career or family. If family, be willing to step away from things that society says you need to have and focus on what you really NEED to liv on.

Thus us why some faang companies have financial incentives for women to freeze their eggs when they onboard. They’ll literally milk the youth out of their life working so they can have some test tube babies at age 40 when the women have had enough work and basically take sabbatical for motherhood.

• extremely regressive and an insult to the “Women in STEM” movement*

I'm not sure that (other posters) encouraging people to treat pregnancy as a disability is supportive of WIS movement either, though, when her initial complaint was about the commute and not health-related.

AT&T is not welfare. You gotta work to get paid. No handouts.

As a mother, I’ve posted something similar in these threads and I’ve got to say this is a great example of how RTO is especially negatively affecting women in the workplace. Moms didn’t “get too complacent” with the terms of their employment - they finally found a way to make it work - to have both a career and a good work/life balance with their families with remote work. Taking that away FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN DEBT AND REAL ESTATE PURPOSES is extremely regressive and an insult to the “Women in STEM” movement.

And AMEN to the comment about the trolls in here who likely had stay at home wives. My thoughts exactly.

Short Term Disability may be governed by your state. CA offers some provisions for it, but neither TX nor GA do. I don't know if AT&T offers STD as a benefit associated with child birth just because I didn't look into that with either of my two, and IDK how benefits may have changed since then.

You can definitely apply for a job accommodation due to Pregnancy. it is not hard at all to get it approved. Once you have your baby, you'd apply for Short Term Disability (up to 8 weeks if you get C-section). A week before your STD is up, you will apply for Maternity leave (3 full months!).
In addition, there are 15 days available to use upon your return you can use if your child is sick, etc. You are looking at almost 6 months off to bond with your baby! That is exactly what I did. My babygirl is now 7 months :)

Remember that once your baby is born, you also have the option to take a FULL YEAR off (not paid) but your job is "safe".

I hope this helps! Again, I did this myself. The process is not as hard or scary as it seems.

I have compassion for your position. 3 kids and working at T, but still not making ends meet is throwing up red flags. Not enough information here, but do you make more money than hubby? My wife and I made it work. She stayed at home with the kids and ran a home daycare business. She even worked with the government to get benefits for healthy meals. This is an idea. Why give away your kids for someone else to raise? Lastly, if a T and secondary income don’t cut it, your debt load is too high. Try getting rid of debt.

I earn enough so my wife doesn't have to work and worry about these things

Ignore the ignorant comments from those who likely had stay at home wives raise their kids for them and wait on them hand and foot every evening when they were in your stage of life. As others have mentioned, talk to your OB about this issue — specifically the stress it’s causing and toll it’s taking on your body — and they will put you on disability well before your due date. Then you can take your time to decide what needs to change. Congratulations on your pregnancy. You can get through this! You’re in the home stretch. :)

Ugh the misogyny in these posts. Talk with your doctor about the real impacts on your body of the commute (only they can give guidance). File for pregnancy accommodation, even less days I office or less hours is better. I hope after your leave you can take PTO & find a better WFH job. This company will never treat women fairly.

I absolutely would not ask your doctor to lie to get disability consideration for the rest of your pregnancy. Pregnancy in and of itself is not a disability, and disability claims are investigated. Had a friend who used to work for a company that "verified" disability claims; it is very easy to get caught lying. People do d-mb things to get caught like go on vacation, or show up at every practice and game for their kid, etc.

Get another job or be a stay at home Mom. Solved

You can live off one income, adjust your lifestyle if raising kids is important to you.

stick out until the maternity leave then

do the math:
your salary

• net benefit coverage vs hobby's
• marginal income tax -( higher when stacked on to of hubby's)
• commuting expense
• new clothes / dry cleaning
• breakfast/lunch/coffee
• misc expenses

if this nets anything less than what you would make working a minimum wage job working locally on off hours when your husband isn't working isn't worth it

and also put a value on what it's worth for you kids to be with their mother or father instead of day care until they are in school.

Try to get your doctor to write you out on disability for the last few months of your pregnancy.

This. I have witnessed employees go on long term disability. The company doesn't need to know how risky your pregnancy is or what complications you have after birth. If you don't come back after one year of long term disability, then the company can make you leave the company, or retire if eligible.
You will have to deal with Sedgewick though. I suggest you create a online account now though.
There will be forms your Doctor's office will need to complete and if one T is not crossed or one I is not dotted, Sedgewick will deny the claim.

2 hours ago by Anonymous | 6 reactions (+3/-3)
Post ID: @tuq+1o9VFnLa

Ah yes, see the downvoters. They think they have favor with Stankey. They do not, and will soon by swept away like so much detritus. They soon will be on the outside saying " But, but I was essential."

You have to list your priorities. Work/career that includes long commutes or raising your children from home as a full time stay at home mother. Pick what is best for your life goals.

We (my wife and I) used to do this 5 days a week. And no it is not easy, esp with young kids. Your commute is long, need a shorter commute.

If you want to stay, I suggest moving close to the office esp since your kids are young. Spending 3.5 hours in a car and picking up kids from day care was not sustainable long term. As another person wrote take your time to make the decision. For me i quit for a job with a short commute.

Hang in there! It’ll get easier in about 16+ years. Once your youngest starts driving. I Raised 4 kids working from the office, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has done it. Wfh was a temporary blessing. You will find your routine, Good luck!

Try to get your doctor to write you out on disability for the last few months of your pregnancy.

This. I have witnessed employees go on long term disability. The company doesn't need to know how risky your pregnancy is or what complications you have after birth. If you don't come back after one year of long term disability, then the company can make you leave the company, or retire if eligible.
You will have to deal with Sedgewick though. I suggest you create a online account now though.
There will be forms your Doctor's office will need to complete and if one T is not crossed or one I is not dotted, Sedgewick will deny the claim.

Try to get your doctor to write you out on disability for the last few months of your pregnancy.

@OP+1o9VFnLa

I understand what you are going through. If you have a crockpot, at night put your meal in and let it cook overnight. That is a life saver!
On your commute listen to self help, audiobooks or podcasts that will encourage you.

Hang in there and take time for yourself, and enjoy your family.

I too am a working mom (my kids are a bit older) and I empathize with you. My role here was remote and RTO has been challenging. I just get credit for showing up to the office as directed, hope for change but also looking for a new job and not waiting around for something to happen. I agree with a previous commenter. Make it to maternity leave and reassess later. Look for another job during your leave too. I wish you all the best in finding a better place to land. This company is not that place unless we see new leadership at the top.

Dear OP, please just do your best to get to work until the baby comes. Take maternity leave then reassess. You get maternity leave. Hopefully hubby gets paternity leave. You will get through this. Congrats on baby #3.

Same as previous poster, raised 2 kids who are now in college. Made the decision to quit to be a stay at home Mom, until they grew up. Childcare was too expensive, no help and wanted to raise my own kids, not drop them off to strangers everyday and only see them a couple of hours at night. Times were tough at times but the enjoyment and love of being with my kids was worth it. I’m now back to work and didn’t miss it at all, being home was the right decision for my family. Would do the same thing if I had to do it all over again. Chasing money and a career is unfulfilling compared to raising a family and being with them everyday.

Just my journey and opinion. :-)

Empathize but good luck finding another WFH company, there are some out there but not as plentiful as employees here like to talk about. Buyer Beware, Some jobs are just a short term contract for a project and WFH isn’t guaranteed for most businesses either. As previous poster stated, get a signed contract for WFH, otherwise needs of the business supersedes anything else.

Yep it’s tough. A lot of people have had to do the same. You are fortunate to have grandparents around to help. My wife and I had no one to help. I have seen lots of young women get pregnant go on maternity leave and just not come back after. The cost of daycare for 3 kids in atlanta is probably about $800-900/week these days. Idk about you, but that might be enough financial incentive to do the stay home mom thing. I’m the husband and did that for a while when my wife was chasing the career ladder (which she now regrets doing).