New information on ATT Mobility from news sources.
AT&T Wireless Services has begun plans to outsource some of its information technology work to lower-cost operations overseas, according to people familiar with the situation and documents obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The Redmond wireless service provider, which employs 30,000 people, including about 3,800 in the information-technology group, said it is still evaluating options and no decisions have been made.
But employees and internal documents indicate that the outsourcing process has already started.
Company executives were told to downplay the issue.
"The marching orders are that we are going to do it," said one employee who expects to receive his layoff notice in by January or sooner. "Now we are just trying to figure out the mechanics of how to do it." He said as many as 70 percent of the IT staff could lose their jobs.
Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro, outsourcing companies with large operations in India, have consultants working on the AT&T Wireless campus in Bothell, said the employee, who requested that his name not be used. That is creating an awkward situation for some AT&T Wireless employees who believe that they are essentially training their replacements. Most are being told they are overworked and in need of help and all is ok. Reality is ATT is just trying to keep people quiet until notices go out. H1B workers are paid less than 20% of the workers in the US and receive no benefits. ATT just hires the outsource company and counts the new hires as employees on the records so it looks like the employee numbers are still high.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.