It just occurred to me that in the past year, I can't think of a month where we didn't hear about either layoffs or store closings (which, of course, result in layoffs.) Literally, not one out of 12 months was like that. I'm sure it goes even further, but my memory is not what it used to be so I stick with what I'm positive about.
How can this be considered a good work environment? Or even a healthy one?
ironic, you said I should not put words in your mouth and you go ahead and do it. I am not comfy, I know I can be bounced any time even if I do a great job. I know of people who have been laid off despite very good reviews including perfect Customer satisfaction. It happens. IMHO management does some seemingly stupid things at Times and too often they are not held accountable for those screw ups. the higher they are the bigger the screw ups and the less likely they will be to "suffer" (except maybe reputation) from those screw ups. My message is for the whiners who hate their jobs and stay and the ones who wish the company would fail. That is why I have a plan B, all of you whiners should do that too so if you are laid off you won't be so bitter you cannot seem to function. also when a manager treats you like scum you can smile and just think, "well at least I can leave when I am ready". its still a free country. If I remember HR has an anonymous like for us to report abuses, USE IT. if you do and nothing happens, then you have a valid gripe. Guess what? people can be scum (I am sure that comes as a major revelation to you) and based on many of the messages I see here I bet most of those people would be just as nasty when they become managers or supervisors of people. Nasty supervisors more than likely were nasty people before they became supervisors. I have had great managers and horrible managers in my 37 year working career. what it teaches me is don't be like them. treat others with courtesy and respect.
I don't wish for AT&T to fail. Stop putting words in my (virtual) mouth. I don't care if it succeeds either. I've been laid off before, too, and always landed on my feet. My problem with AT&T was that many employees were treated like crap. I have never had another job where a colleague called me obscene names in front of our manager, and the manager did nothing. Getting rid of an employee because the manager thinks that worker is too old is illegal, but AT&T HR's response to suggestions of age discrimination is "prove it." Most companies that see their employees as something besides line items on a budget wouldn't let those kinds of things go unchecked.
For some reason, you seem to feel that all of us must share your opinion that AT&T is a wonderful place to work. Sorry, Charlie. Some of us don't, and never will. If you want to pledge allegiance to Randy, go for it, if that makes you happy. But stop telling the rest of us that we're stupid, or mentally ill or whatever. And don't even consider coming whining to us when AT&T bounces you out of your comfy little job.
@3kiw. you miss the point as do many of the people on this blog who chastise me. I was laid off from another company 17 years ago. I had two choices 1) I could be bitter, whine, curse the CEO/my manager etc 2) pick myself up and look for another job. I will let you guess what I did.
for many of the folks on this blog, its like taking poison and expecting Randy/their lousy director/manager/co-worker to die. let me ask again. how does you anger/vitriol/wish for ATT to fail improve YOUR lives or make the lives of the people you seem to have contempt for get worse? IMHO it seems to make YOUR lives worse. if you have gotten a better job, congratulations, your life improves when you moved on ( I doubt it will last since you have a nasty attitude to begin with). if you are still here, why stay in a toxic environment? as for me, at times its toxic but I adjusted my attitude so I am not bitter and angry like you all. FYI I am not a fan of upper management as I see them make what seems to me horrible decisions. Let me was you all, have you never made horrible decisions that impact others in your lives in a negative way? of course all of us have. in this case these managers make decisions that impact many others in horrible ways. truth be told I bet most of us would make equally horrible decisions when we are in positions of power. you can disagree with the decisions especially when they impact others (and your) lives, but do you all have to be so nasty? SMHIA
I found a better job than the one I had at AT he accused us of wanting to hijack a project and make him look bad.
*A young man who was hired and paid six figures to do social media for the company, but who couldn't compose a 140-character tweet on his own. But he was a drinking buddy for an executive director, so he escaped being fired until he was moved under another ED in a department reshuffle.
*A director who probably had an hour of contact with me during the three months I worked for her, then let me go in January because I was too old and she wanted someone younger who could do the job better. (FYI, it took them four months to find someone even remotely as qualified as me, and then that person left after six weeks because she got tired of being constantly berated. My position is now being advertised again.)
I'm glad you're happy at AT&T. Maybe you're one of those people who thrives in a toxic atmosphere. Maybe you're one of the people who's making so many people's time at AT&T miserable, and you enjoy that. Or maybe you just couldn't care less about anything or anyone but yourself. You're welcome to stay until they turn out the lights. But get off your high horse and stop belittling those of us who weren't/aren't happy in that kind of situation. If you don't, then you're obviously no better than the toxic colleagues I mentioned.
I chuckle a the folks who condemn my comments. look I am not in nirvana, I see instances of what seems tone dumb decisions, I get frustrated at some of what we are asked to do. I am grateful I have not experienced some of what I see people complain about. However, I refuse to get ill due to the garbage I see and experience. If I get ill and worse die, the company will go on. wishing the company to fail is just immature and dumb. the person who said they found a job that is much better than their ATT gig, well, great, now you have the opportunity to heal, but you obviously have some serious mental issues as you cannot even enjoy the better job you have. what that says is its you not the company that is f*** up.
The management who come here to troll and make hard working employees feel bad about being miserable are sick individuals.
I find my work day to be OK by never worrying about the numbers.Hope others find this to be useful.
I have worked for AT&T for almost 30 years and the company has changed alot. I find their 2020 video's worthless and they will not transform this company into a high-tech Silicon Valley company. I work in Silicon Valley and those video's are worthless. I think most 1st and 2nd levels have seen the writing on the wall and AT&T will get rid of a good percentage of us.
I find the job much more stressful since we are so busy with work and do it with fewer people. I do like my job and the company but they seem to be making things much more stressful for no reason. So, I understand if others are critical of the company because they do have good reason to be. I just hope those who are younger see the writing on the wall and prepare themselves. Us older people have a pension so it won't be as hard. I'm just shocked that it is so busy here and they lay people off and talk of layoffs all the time. We do the high-tech stuff and there aren't any contractors that do our job. Not sure how the customers will get service if they get rid of a lot of us.
To the poster who wrote that s/he didn't "want to get rude": You did. There's no need to make fun of someone because the constant threat of layoffs, closings, budget cuts and baseless decisions by management bother them. If you're OK with it, great. It gets to a lot of people.
And before you come back with the trite "then they can leave," yes, they can. And it's fairly easy to do so right now. I was laid off from AT&T in January because my manager wanted someone younger in my job. (She said that to my face.) I found a new gig within a month with better pay, nicer coworkers and an atmosphere that's not toxic at all. The sad thing is, my tenure at AT&T made me so suspicious and grouchy that I'm having trouble adjusting to it.
So, sure, people like the OP can leave if they don't like working in a hostile, unhealthy environment. But then the only ones who will be left will be you and the other backstabbing bootlickers. Won't that be fun for you?
Between layoffs every quarter for over 20 years, and the daily fight to get my MSOC numbers, it does get to me sometimes.
I don't want to get rude, but do you live in a bubble?, this conglomerate gets rid of people every day, how you determined your assumptions? You are very naive indeed, the type of employees this company needs, LOL
A fun day? In my years @AT&T, I would not describe a single day as fun, or even mildly enjoyable.
good point @syo but he does have a couple of valid issues though. the quarterly on again off avail employee surveys do bring up some areas of concern by employees. We should come to work with a good attitude as it could be our last day there with that said, we need to give a fun days work per the rules set down by the company.
@hcb - wowza, not everyone is upset with the company.
This is NOT work. It's torture, pure and simple.
And, please DON't mention words such as "work environment, career, goals, success etc. etc. " , none this is HERE.
Any day could be your LAST DAY at work.