I worked at the retail level for close to 8 years with AT&T. I was an ASM for 3 years out of the 8. I know this company very well and I paid attention to the company trends. Some of this has been discussed already but I'm here to tell you now that it's been happening, but it's about to get a lot worse. So trust me if you want or don't.....it's your call. 2 years ago as a company it set the standards "get ready to do more with less". It started eliminating positions at that point. Most positions most of us wouldn't know or that even existed at the retail level. Nothing ever good comes out of a company when they continue to buy other company's for billions of dollars. That just means continuing to do even more with less. In October 2016 the company announced layoffs. In October 2016 I was forced to take an RSC position with no reason given at all. If I chose not to take the RSC position (without them telling me this) I would of been fired. I was a great manager, led all the metrics I was in charge of, 100% inspired and engaged surveys 3 years in a row by my team members, my whole team talked nothing but highly of me as a person and manager. None of that was taken into consideration. It's politics, money, and a-- kissing. If you're not liked by or kissing the persons a-- who's in charge of down sizing which is DOS, ARSM, and RSM you're done for. They will find ways for demotions, layoffs, coached out or fire you whether they have reasons or not....it only takes a couple 1's on observations for RSC's and managers ranked poorly on certain factors which was just recently put into place....So know that AT&T is down sizing, know they are gonna keep and take care of the one's they want...the friends, the a-- kissers, maybe a performer depending on how long they have been with the company and how much they are paid. All a-- kissers and friends of decision makers are safe.
We recently witnessed or are witnessing this first hand with the ASM's. ASM's were sent an email in January in other words asking if positions were down sized would you take a severance or prefer to stay with the company?Don't think those weren't looked at quickly by the company. All of a sudden it's announced by the end of March ASM's will be down sizing and result in some losing jobs and taking their severance. The RAE position is terminated as well. That's just down sizing the ASM position first and terminating the RAE position.
Next movement-Keep in mind that AT&T is dragging out a bargaining agreement. If you're smart you know they have already ran the numbers and know which locations will stay COR, which one's will transition to AR's and which one's will close as well as the % they want to pay in severance and the % that will stay. They will first start the process very quickly by decreasing head count at the retail store levels by coaching out or firing RSC's, and SSR's to create room for movement for the a-- kissers and friends. At this point they won't/don't want to just close a location because under union agreement employee's are placed in another location which defeats the purpose. So get ready for tough times at the retail level.
Next movement-Notice within the last year or so how most AR's have started and are slowly transitioning to Opus? Watch as most COR stores that aren't performing starting with level 1 some level 2's go to AR's, or close. They will take care and keep the employee's they want which was the movement that was started in the first movement and more layoffs will happen with severance making sure they stay at that % of severances paid and quickly more RSC's and managers are coached out or fired prior to AR transition or location closing. ARSM's took over the RAE's role which eliminated all those positions so they won't increase store amounts right now and create a heavier work load for ARSM's but turn existing COR stores into AR's and close some COR locations so work load stays the same for ARSM if not gets lighter but no over head cost on AT&T's end for retail employee's. If you're a manager or were a manager you took a training back in October about AT&T transitioning to part time RSC employee's. If that's the company's goal that means full timers will get pushed out or fired and it's already happening and getting worse quickly. 100% every RSM is asked daily about employee's being put on discipline. Watch as more and more RSC's get put on discipline to be coached out or will be fired.
BAE's will be eliminated real soon as well. If you notice most AR's are hiring their own BAE's. Go see if an AR is hiring for a BAE in your area cause they are in mine.
Something's to pay attention to at the retail level during these transitions is MyAT&T will become a huge focus again, and they will add even more self service options on MyAT&T. With the COR stores that do remain open, they will start slow for example accessories and make it so a customer can walk into a store and purchase an accessory without the help of an RSC and walk out. Let's look at Smart Check. Notice how the warranty processed recently changed about 6 months later after Smart Check was put in stores and next thing....most all DRC centers closed. No one has to sit on the phone for a warranty replacement any longer on the company's end. No one helps with trouble shooting over the phone on the company's end. Let's be honest the machine probably checks the phone better than most RSC's who quickly looked at the device and handed the customer the warranty number. Now manager submits for replacement, warranty center notified, customer gets shipped a device. That machine right there has cost people their jobs, will continue to cost people jobs, and be on the look out for new devices or new things that come your way that will fill the gap for head count.
This is just my opinion of the first couple of stages that will happen by the end of the quarter.