Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

VO allows for flexibility, which makes employees happier, which leads to more productivity. Without the stress of a commute, employees can start earlier, end earlier, etc. Sure, if collaboration is necessary by all means it is. But necessary is the key word here. Most VO folks I know have greater job satisfaction. VO is attractive to top talent, which this company needs desperately. It's not effective to force everyone to be conventional. We should be working smarter instead of harder. If ATO can't trust their workers doing VO that's sad.

Over the years I have seen, and heard, many conference calls go sideways because of an intentional put down, or unintentionally raising the tenor of ones voice to stress a point, even during a one-on-one.

The ability to Q, like in all emails, gives anyone the opportunity to think before they react....avoid rhe ‘attitude’ or off the cuff Oops moment! It’s not 100% full proof, but the next best thing to it.

How about meaty toothpicks left under the keyboard?

Peoples annoying mannerisms really become amplified in the “collaboration zone”.

Q is perfect for collaboration, it's a quick concise response. Why on earth wouldn't that poster utilize it to the fullest extent?

To the person who used Q as an example of modern IT. No. Just no. SMH

The large noisy work areas help you concentrate. Because it's so distracting you have to stay focused. The best part is a few people in a small area on different teams on conference calls at the same time. The constant distractions of people coming and going, talking over each other. A great way to drive innovation through necessity to get anything done. It works for short term worker, where it's contract or H1B for a year, see where it's going. No concern for any worker, totally disposable

I work longer hours from home because it is more comfortable and easier to do. Work hours in the office usually revolved around avoiding the traffic nightmare.

It was also easier to work when we had cubes, they were a bit more private and the noise was more muted, in the open office plan you hear all the people talking with head phones on who are oblivious to how loud they are.

The open office plan is much less productive and the work stations are often dirty.

I can't think of a larger waste of time than being stuck in traffic about an hour each way to and from the office each day.

Agree with poster regarding modern IT world. We have the tools available to collaborate from anywhere when necessary. Why pollute our environment by adding unnecessary cars to the road.

In the modern IT world collaboration does not have to be face to face, there is Q, the phone, online meetings and email. Technical workers collaborate just fine, in fact probably better without being in a dirty, loud office.

White boarding? What are you sales or upper management, mapping out advertisements or layoffs?

Upper management wants to be in the office so their lips can be within range of their boss.

VO workers have to put in more hours because they can't collaborate like the rest of us. They're not as efficient because they can't whiteboard ideas out, see when their questions are disrupting workflow, or spontaneously chime in when their voice is needed.

Upper management doesn’t even understand their own employees. VO workers put in more hours because they can it from their homes. Productivity will suffer. Most Tech ops managers don’t care where you work from. Hope this isn’t implemented.

Do not worry. The company is ramping up its plan to hire thousands of in office experts. The IOX will be in your office, ready to give you free phones and make false promises. IOX is just another union busting scheme, stealing the valuable work from the guy who moves your IP phone and wired network connection.

TPS reports need cover sheets? OMG!

They need to watch you and make sure you put the new cover sheet on your TPS report.

It doesn't inspire confidence in the network and collaboration services that we re-sell (company stopped innovating long ago) that we prohibit VO. They should get rid of Q and teleconferences next.

I heard it was a town hall meeting with Ward Chewning and he was adamant. Either office 5 days a week or be at possible risk.

This is like the trickle down theory of high tech work, a conclusively bogus and false idea of how productive work occurs.

Of course it is pushed by upper management because in their world it is hard to s--- up effectively if you do not have real time access to the target of your lips.

Haven’t heard that officially but wouldn’t be surprised.

I'm in CDO, have not heard that recently, although I do know they are slowly letting people go outside the 'collaboration' areas of Dallas, Atlanta, El Segundo, and Bedminster. If they backfill, it will be with someone in those areas. Don't care if they check VPN, I am going to keep-on as I am until told otherwise.

I am in TechDev and have not heard this (a/o 9/5).

"value stream team" Useless necessary jargon. Where your team is. No wonder the company is in the shape it's in.

VO is dead

When I worked for AT&T, we were required to come into the Dallas office. So I fought traffic to go downtown and pay $8 a day to park three blocks away. Dallas has an open-office environment, which means no desks, which meant I also got to drag my computer and anything else I needed back and forth every day. And it's not a true open environment. People are assigned to a specific floor, so you can't really sit anywhere. On the floor I was assigned to, there were 75 seats and 125 employees. Unless you got to the office by 7 a.m., you ended up sitting in a hard plastic chair in the breakroom, or you went downstairs to the hard plastic chairs in the cafeteria. Several times, I found people working on the benches in the ladies' room. You never got to sit anywhere near anyone you worked with, so there was no "spontaneous collaboration."

My current employer allows 100% virtual teams, and there is more cooperation and collaboration between people than there ever was at AT&T. Yeah, being on the phone several hours a day is a pain, as is listening to people's kids screaming in the background. But we make it work, and it beats paying $160 a month to carry 20 pounds of equipment six city blocks and sit in a crowded, noisy office.

Managers have been getting VPN reports for years, and they are expected to manage employees working remote. our group long ago had the everyone in the office one same day a week. other than that they (AVP down) didn't give a sh-- less where we were as long as the work was done and you were accessible during core work hours. Of course we were a be available 24/7 team.

I respect our customers and will do what ever it takes to keep them paying their bills because they pay my salary. With this said, if a customer issue comes in between my "numbers" and me staying employed, guess who is going to win that contest. I don't like it, but I did not make these rules.

And this one of the reasons, that AT&T will never be a Google or Amazon. There is no reason, why certain jobs are tied to a physical presence in an office. At&t will never attract millennial's en mass or at the least, retain them. They are dinosaurs that only manage by numbers. They stifle creativity. The creative ones will leave, only to be left with the ones that learn to manipulate the numbers. Creativity is not rewarded. The metrics make it so that you are punished for taking the time to resolve an ongoing issue or providing a solution to an issue that no one else has taken the time to fix. At&t pays well, otherwise a lot of people would leave. It is not a place for creative minds. It is a place for people that are willing for one reason or another to conform and not rock the boat. This company is ridiculous in it's management style.

The AT&T offices in Atlanta are a dump. I left three years ago and now work full remote. You guys at AT&T enjoy your three hours in traffic so you can collaborate. Also enjoy paying for your parking.

true and yes there will be action taken against those pressing the boundaries. if u think an agreement with your boss to work from home will save you, wrong. they are looking to rid themselves of employees and monitoring. this is an easy way to place u on a performance plan and out the door with no severance. also, the number of collaboration zones will be shrinking to 4 major areas, u know what they are.

That is not the rule in my Tech Dev org. We are 80% in office, but the other 20% we can be VO. Kind of like Google's 20% time where they can innovate on their own projects.

Even though I’m a millennial I can see the value of a team being in the same location to allow “border less collaboration” even though we have technology that allows us to collaborate even if we’re not in the same location it’s not the same.

The dirty offices, just like a poorly maintained public space.

Sweet, more collaboration, just like Google, and those tiny desks with glass, just like in India call centers