AT&T is actively negotiating with outside companies to automate functions that employees do today. Watch for programs being installed on your computer to monitor what actions you perform on a daily basis, all of this will be used when the Company comes to your team to automate. I've spoken with a few high level execs and a lot of 2015 and this year have been dedicated to automation and have a lot of different programs in the pipeline for deployment next year and 2018.
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I've been a tech for nearly 7 years and have never seen it so bad. They're customer service lies in order to make sales and we techs are supposed to sugar coat. This company will certainly test your integrity and when you resist, you will be put on the hit list. The employee moral is so low. This is the only company I know of that employees congratulate you for leaving...which I hope to do real soon. Basically, I simply can't bring myself to lie to support this monopolized conglomerate and it is only a matter of time before they get rid of me. Some day it will bite them hard...and my philosophy is the customer backlash has already begun.
Keep in mind that the original post got logged here about 1.5 years ago (in June 2016)
I think it is more likely that the number settles around 200k:
Q3 2015: 281,240 employees
Q3 2017: 256,800 employees
These numbers are directly from the quarterly reports filed with the SEC. One of the few places AT&T isn't allowed to lie (much).
Contrary to what Congress would tell you, the goal of business is not to create jobs. The goal of business is to create profit. Sometimes jobs are the means to that end, most of the time, they aren't.
This is why thinking that lowering taxes will incentivize job creation is nonsense. The folks running the companies get paid based on stock performance, not based on worker performance. They can boost their stock performance by buying back shares with all that extra money. The folks running things don't get squat for hiring more people.
The profit motive ensures that money funnels its way up. and it ensures those at the bottom of the funnel are the most heavily exploited. It is really hard to be a Capitalist and a Humanist at the same time.
at&t is a great company however, it is going through a huge transition and is forecasted to only need about half of it's current workforce of 273,000 people by 2020.
As the cord cutters, cable cutters and wireless subscriber numbers decline the company has few options other than cutting head count that they don't need.
Unfortunately the Affordable Healthcare Act has raised the costs of healthcare insurance and this has the negative effect of ushering the older worker out of the workforce. Something the Obamacare authors didn't share when the law was crafted and approved.
Don't hate on at&t as all industries are heading this direction....older workers just cost too much.
Answer is for the older worker is to go into work for themselves or just be poor.
Blame the Affordable Healthcare Act as it is the root cause.
Great and accurate post. Automation is HERE. That's the reason they just offered my department in California the buyout.
Yes, every company I have worked for since 2000 has had some form of "Ghosting" program. That records every action mouse move, etc all day every day. The data get aggregated and unless there is some red flag no one really looks at it. Case in point one of my co-workers about 10 years ago was ill and then resigned. Since my computer was much older than his machine I asked my boss if it could be switched out as my system was going BSOD act least twice a day. She said fine. 3 days later she called me back to her desk and told me to take a long lunch and go now, come back in 2 hours, don't worry about it I would be paid. I said Ok. went to lunch back in 2 hours then she had me sit with other reps for another 2 hours. Then she said I could go back. It was only as a supervisor that I discovered the individual who had the machine had been caught hacking into a system and modifying information which was resulting in payments being misdirected to a PO box (his) It was caught 3 days after he made the change by a data flag. Feds waited at the box for him to claim the checks and he was arrested. They had every keystroke mouse move etc recorded and he now enjoys a life of leisure.
Regarding terminating someone: --- " If 65% of all PC traffic was non-job related then I'd have a good candidate. ". Trouble is, sometimes the best worker is the one that can do the 65% non-job related traffic and then still be the best producer of work, customer relations, innovation, etc. with the rest of their time. Can't use that metric i don't think.
Regarding ATT: -- "doesn't know how to use and leverage data in meaningful ways." Agreed. ATT gets reams full of data from union workers about deteriorated infrastructure condition/status, engineering perfomance/attention (or lack thereof) that only exacerbates the problem, software applications bought from who knows what companies that when put to use in the field don't do what is claimed they do and then, again, no staff or engineering to correct or manage these many, many, assorted type of incompetent situations other than to fire employees so as to scare the remaning ones to figure out how to do work/planning/field engineering/etc., that rightly should belong to 3rd, 4th level management and higher. Alas, such is the status of work among most fortune 500 companies as of about 1985 forward to today and especially accelerating in the last 10 years or so due to "Global" trade agreements. Funny thing is in California the state is suing the state legacy electric grid provider ostensibly because the multi-million dollar fires there were started from the electric company due to their non-management of brush near their power poles. Finally, responsibility to management for their poor management plan on how to do business.
I wonder if a Randy-bot is in the works, it could be simple, Lie-Outsource-Lie-Outsource...
Start with julie seitz and that workplace team that wastes money on absurd renovations and outdated technology. Amazing how these people have jobs
The more I read about what's going on, I am feeling much better about the timing of my surplus in March. Especially I'm glad I got my 6 months severance package (6 months pay and benefits) before they found a reason to fire me! Good thing I lived within my means. With the exception of a very manageable mortgage made shorter by a timely refi last year from 30 to 20 years, the severance paid all my debt and provided an emergency fund of about 6 to 12 months! I Rolled over my 401K and partial pension to managed IRA. I haven't gotten any job offers yet as my time with AT&T (18 years)doesn't seem to be impressive. My next step is collect extended UI insurance and complete the government paid retraining program to obtain PMP certification. My only suggestion is to plan ahead. Hope everything works out for others affected by these layoffs.
I work for AT&T and yes your pc usage is heavily monitored. Your vehicles have gps and your iPads are tracked also. They have struck rules in the code for conduct about pc usage and such. Yes there has been people fired for their improper pic usage. They know where you are and what you are doing every minute of the day.0
Honestly though, if your job is so repetitive and mindless that you can be replaced by an automation program that learned your job through some sort of workstation/vpn monitoring application then your job has been on the cutting block for quite some time now. It's more likely that the monitoring is being used to gauge general activity, applications being used, and what systems your PC is interacting with. If I were going to cut headcount I'd be looking at data that showed who was the least active in my organization. If 65% of all PC traffic was non-job related then I'd have a good candidate. These apps are not going to be able to glean the type of information needed to train replacements or automate jobs where thinking is required before a screen selection is made.
splunk is one of them
If you think they are not monitoring you then your blind. IT has placed various applications on all computers to see when and where your working.. The use of the network is being captured and used in ways kept secret. If you have the nerve, check into the VPN use and other apps that you have.
Ask for admin rights on your PC. do a network search for a tool call CIA tool.
Have fun.
It's not about NOT doing what you're supposed to. Att has been monitoring workers for a long time. It loves big data..problem is it doesn't know how to use and leverage it in meaningful ways.
Fact ....every part of your work devices down to your virtualized excel programs in the cloud are being captured and analyzed for "efficiency".
Problem is though att can't figure out how to monetize and leverage their customer network...so the employee side of the house is time/money wasted. Only one way to pay for all this cutting edge analysis though..,. More surplus.
This company should be call LAATYOFF, is catchy....
Lol now I have heard everything. Folks need to chill do what your suppose to vid on all calls, don't mess up 3 times, come to work. Granted not everyone is treated the same. Trust me we dont.
I've heard that he "spy program" started in 2015 with Vpn logging/monitoring
Which names do those "spy" programs have?