Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

I'm in Consumer Marketing, have the age and years, and can't wait to be out of this $hit$how. My current manager tells me our VP has been told he must cut his 2019 budget by 10% vs. 2018, and that can probably be accomplished without force reduction as a large part of the budget is outside supplier expense. For me that's disappointing, because I'd joyfully take the six months severance and try to forget this ever happened, though I know how hard a layoff would be for most and sympathize. You'd think cuts would be deepest in a place where 90% of the output is useless bull$hit, but maybe not in the parrallel universe of AT&T.

Product has not yet been hit this year. There was a voluntary for L3 and L4, didn't get a high take rate. But they're looking to purge the products that aren't making the numbers and presumably the people that go with them. The signs are unmistakable plus with the 2020 seating, where AVPs etc sit out with the hoi polloi, it's hard to keep a secret. No idea of the numbers but it's rumored to be deep. I thought it would be announced the week of 11/12 (it was this week last year they did the last purge in Product) but have heard it may take 1-2 more weeks, with people rolling off in January.

In my group Chewning is forcing the SAFe methodology & has forbidden VO. Reading in between the lines, looks like positions will be re evaluated & if you don’t fit, goodbye. A good way to get rid of people.

Whoa wait a sec. OP works in tech dev IT not in the field. OP can't cross over into wire tech from software tech. The union missed their chance to bring in the worker bees in Tech Dev desk jobs.

To the Mark Twain quotes, he also said, "a person who doesn’t read has no advantage over a person who can’t read."

Seems the . readers here can’t quite grasp the math! The OP’s second post clearly states, "pretty sure I’m on the chopping block, I have 15 years." The OP goes on to state, "I’ve known my boss for 20 years."

Sorry Twain, someone else coined the phrase, "talking truth to stupid." The OP is just a rumor monger, perhaps an employee, but a rumor monger just the same.

@W0E3tFz-4hki, you have 15 years so you should be able to get a wire tech position. If you can dodge dogshit and get a service tech or facility tech to help finish your job you’ll do ok.

Anyone that really knows anything signed an NDA. So no one will be telling you all when, what department, how many, or anything like that until the calls are made. With that said.... there are always “reorganizations, streamlining, or right sizing” that happen this time of year.

I agree. 30-40% is too deep of a cut to take seriously. The only way it makes sense is if we do a major outsourcing and rebadging, like Verizon did with their IT.

Sorry @4kzf, but I agree with Mark Twain, my radar went off as well, not with the OP original, but the OPs follow up.

The OP is a 15 yr veteran (and still working) but then says "I’ve known my boss for 20 years" and the ‘fuzzy math’ just has to make you stop. How do you reconcile this? I’d be interested for anyone’s reasonable ideas.

And don’t sell me the, ‘they knew each other five years prior’ routine. That dog don’t hunt!

@4uwy - why on earth would you suspect that comment to be a lie? I am in DevOps and that post makes absolute sense to me. And you can easily check who retired on Friday. I've seen obvious trolls on this site, but appreciate those who are truly trying to assist others with legitimate information. Thanks for the info 4hki.

@4hki, Mark Twain once wrote, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Are you the original OP? Maybe.

Have you worked for T for 15 years? Possibly.

Have you known your boss for 20 years? Hmmm

That same great writer & author also penned, "if you tell the truth, you won’t have to remember anything." Trolls usually trip themselves up with such ‘memories.’

Why do I sense your post is halfway around the world?

Att can get 5 Indians in baglore for the price of one American from a contractor. Sure it takes three of them to do the same task but att doesn’t have the burden of keeping them as employees.

Hi, I'm the author of this post. Just got some more info, it looks like the actual layoffs won't be before EOY, was told my job is safe until next year. But did anyone see the huge reorgs at the top yesterday (Friday)? Several SVPs/Presidents (Pam Parisian & Bill Leahy for example) "retired" and silos were combined. Kind of ominous. Can't get any more specific info out of my boss (he says that's all he knows for sure), but pretty sure I'm on the chopping block (I have 15 years) as my boss warned me as best he could without actually saying so.

Now hearing rumors in the company from other BUs that the cuts will be 30 - 40%, hard to believe even from AT&T but I'm not discounting it totally because I've known my boss for 20 years and never quite seen him this upset - he may be worried about his own job.

The numbers are created but there is some flexibility down the chain as to how you meet those numbers. Some VPs declined lay-offs in their orgs because they were already operating too close to the bone.

T Conglomerates run in autopilot, layoffs lists are created by algorithsms based on strategic data feed,from oracle budgetary systems, therefore can't be predicted

@ fgk - entirely possible .. i remember last december they went after a bunch of cwa union techs the very next day after some contracts were settled and they announced the tax cuts. they did not care if it were right before christmas or not. if they are filing a warn act then it means it will happen for whatever group they are targeting.

It is possible that they announce layoff in December and the last day will be in February 2019.

Reference: The WARN Act Listings 2017 of Texas. There are 2 records for AT&T.

https://twc.texas.gov/files/news/warn-act-listings-2017.xlsx

They're too busy doing important stuff, like the mandatory DevOscars...

I'm in tech dev, too - under which group is this happening? Anderson, Summers, Alapati?

@1mwd, ‘’please stop the BS and predictions, one thing is for sure, those cuts will be going somewhere overseas.’’

For the record, is that statement BS, or just a prediction?

Here is the current WARN notices for California, you can find the 10/19 layoff number in San Ramon.

https://www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_training/warn/WARN-Report-for-7-1-2018-to-10-25-2018.pdf

"If the company would just sweeten the severance a bit with these offers (similar to what Verizon just offered) they would see so many 20+ year employees jump at it their heads would spin." Big AMEN to that (from one of them).

1eme- Re: any non bargained for surplus activity...you can expect the standard management severance until such time as that plan is revised. Go to HR One Stop and search on "severance" and you'll find it. Basically tops out at 6 months. That said, no one on this post has provided any credible evidence that there will in fact be another surplus notice before EOY. If you attended a mandatory call re: a surplus event, please state your business unit or AVP (name) organization. I am not saying more surplus events aren't coming, just that this before EOY stuff is nothing but rumor at this point. Also just speculation on my part but I think we have seen the end of these "MVO's" or voluntary separation offers. People just aren't going for them in large enough numbers. If the company would just sweeten the severance a bit with these offers (similar to what Verizon just offered) they would see so many 20+ year employees jump at it their heads would spin.

Anything on the grapevine regarding packages for anyone and if so what the terms might be. There is definitely something coming. I'm just wondering if the inducement to get people to leave is over and it's just head-chopping time the rest of the way.

Lots of things around WARN notices. Have to have more than so many in single location. Also a lot of the bargaining agreements have policy as to how much notice is given for surplus. the 60 days they give only to non-bargained and management is policy been in effect in severance policy for years. I have seen some union agreement where only 30 days notices is given.

I do believe that they will continue to farm out more and more work to foreign contractors sense they cost only 1/4 of us US workers.

WARN or NOT, 10%,40%,15% please stop the BS and predictions, One thing is for sure, those cuts will be going somewhere overseas.

I think 30% is too high. 10% more likely, with surplus selection before EOY and last day at the company in Q1. How close are we to to the 200,000 employee target?

Nope, AT&T CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT, THAT IS WHAT LAWYERS AND LOBBIEST ARE FOR.

So if there is a "big" layoff at the end of the year, the affected people should be informed 60 days before their last day right?

Everyone keep in mind, that mo--n at the top Randy has buried this company in so much debt he is looking to off shore and contract everything he can so they can cut the healthcare cost. Anybody who thinks Randy cares about them is either delusional or sleeping with his fake a$$. AT&T is garbage and any of these college flunked they get to take 1/3 of the money guess what your time in the cross hairs is coming. Look at the last lay-off what were the number of people in their 40’ or 50’s with 15-22 years. That asshat doesn’t want people retiring and taking benefits. First things I did when I got hit moved all my 401k money out of AT&T backed stocks, and moved my cell service to T-Mobile.

I have seen some warn acts filed in the past for call centers but a lot of the time they find other ways to cut around the edges because of performance and location and don’t need to file the warn act because the number of people affected don’t add up to qualify for the warn act. You still get sixty days notice.

RE: WARN ACT. I could be wrong, but the WARN ACT in itself is one of the drivers behind the company giving you 60 days to search internally before your last day on the payroll if you are identified as being surplused. Is this not case?

@acl - "30%. Announced end of year off payroll Jan of next year. Pretty much a crossed the board." You're one of those folks that gets their jollies off of making statements like this that have no basis in fact. I don't understand why. If I am wrong, tell me the business unit involved and how./ when you got the information. What AVP call (name please) was this announced on?

Right they have techniques to lay off quietly to avoid the warn act and not even alarm other groups that will have no clue others were cut. They’ve got the process down to a science. It’s the only thing they are good at.

30%. Announced end of year off payroll Jan of next year. Pretty much a crossed the board.

I will believe it when I see it.

@lfy, you should re-post your Q as an OP thread, it’s a good question.

That said, the WARN act ‘may’ not come into play unless a minimum amount of employees come into play. If that were correct, T never announces numbers, they keep it open to Voluntary Surplusses

first.

The rumor is there will be large cuts to the 2019 TechDev budget which will cause layoffs. Nothing is finalized yet however.

Should AT&T provide 60 days notice in advance for layoff based on the WARN Act?

Its coming - Based on my experience in Tech Dev, they will make the announcements before Christmas with them taking effect in January. Such caring people

The people in C suite have no concern, its all politics and neoptism, you can sit for years in Tech Dev as long as in the "right" group.

And the jobs will be replaced by contractors, Freshies from H1B for new hires.