The dumbest thing they can do is eliminate telecommuting and force people to come in to the office, just too stupid for words. They want to operate as if it is 1957.
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"The dumbest thing they can do is eliminate telecommuting and force people to come in to the office"
It's the smartest thing they can do to entice people to quit. Just wait until they move you to a work location in another city. There's another attempt to make you quit.
They do this to their craft work force all the time. Close an office and move the work to another non-commutable city. They'll usually get quite a few people taking buyouts. Then for some unknown reason they'll move the work BACK to the original location. It's been done before and it'll be done again.
You people haven't figured out why AT&T wants people reporting to work locations? It's one of the tools they use to reduce headcount.
You cannot put your diverse workforce on display if everyone is working from home.
A company whose product is marketed towards bringing people together when they are not in the same location is requiring their employees to be in the same physical location. Do I have that right?
Further, a company who prides itself on being for the environment wants to put more people on the roads. Do I have that right?
The whole situation with telecommutting is BS. Why does ATO promote satellite zones on tSpace if they're just going to punish folks in those locations. Eliminate satellite zones and tell us which locations are the important ones. These are peoples' livelihoods on the line.
@2noh, 5-6% of CDO (Chief Data Office) FTE's are going to get hit this round. That number was given outright by Kate Hopkins during a December meeting.
@2noh, there are also office based workers in non-collab locations.
The McElfresh org has 161k employees. If they surplus every single telecommute (3k) and flex office employee (14k) that only totals 17K, about a 10% cut. That is significant; but not near as deep as rumors seem to suggest. If I had to guess, there are a ton of people working from home who are not authorized; and I imagine there are lots of flex office folks who are not making it to the office the required 2-3 times a week. I bet that is where the VPN logs and and badge swipe logs are going to be used against people.
@2sbg collab zones and hub cities are different, there is only one hub (San Antonio) city not included as a collab zone.
There is a wiki on the intranet that shows them on the map. Go to wiki.web.att.com and type collaboration zones in the search bar, should be the first result.
@2cvx - not saying you are wrong, but where did you find 10? We were told by our Director there are only the following hub cities : LA (El Segundo), Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, and Bedminster(NJ)
There are 10 collab zones - Atlanta, Dallas, St Louis, Chicago, bedminster (NJ), Oakton (VA), Denver, El Segundo, San Ramon, Seattle
Could someone please list current collaboration zones (U.S.)?
I agree, telecommuting is a component in job satisfaction and is a non-dollar form of compensation.
A forward thinking company would be embracing it even more rather than using it as a lever to push out senior people.
The "collaboration" effort is because AT&T can no longer attract both new grad or experienced TOP talent. The company is hoping that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The best of the best used to beg Bell Labs to hire them but now that kind of person is going to Wall St. or Google/FB/AMZN/MS etc.
In-person collaboration only works when there's enough talent to spread around (which is currently NOT the case). Eliminating WFH/telecommuting to bring people "together" still requires that rare special talent that comes up with the great idea. How many great ideas originated in a group setting?
Bottom line is the lack of talent along with really poor management is destroying the company from the inside out. Eliminating WFH on a company wide vs individual basis only accelerates the demise.
good grief ,stop crying and just quit then.
They’ve said it over and over - they are phasing out all corporate management remote workers. They do not owe anyone severance for making you come in to the office, remote work was a privilege and a perk. The trend is over. People far from hub locations will slowly be surplused and/or given the option to move (at their own expense). People currently near a hub will be required to be in the office all or most days per week. There is no secrecy about this, the VP’s and AVP’s have been forewarning people since at least last October.
I haven’t heard any of the leaders say full time telecommuting is being revoked.
At&t is nothing but a polished turd. The lack of innovation is astounding. They are a metrics organization. Fake your numbers and you are golden.
If you're a full-time telecommuter and they tell you that you must begin reporting to an office and you refuse, I suspect they can and will fire you . . . but then aren't you entitled to the severance payment?
Telecommuting is a form of tax free compensation. It also allows me to better manage a chronic health condition I was born with. I have never used that as an excuse or to get an advantage either. I put in many more hours working remote than in the office where the amount of distractions is unbelievable. My work is independent and doesn't require face to face collaboration. I go to the nearest hub if I need to attend a town hall or big meeting. My performance rating has always been exceeds expectations. I have turned down job offers for more money because of telecommuting. If they push me into an office my search for a new job outside the company will start immediately.
For me, eliminating telecommuting is a huge factor in job satisfaction. In our positions we will never "collaborate" face to face in any office, as we are maintaining a system. We don't work with scrum teams, etc. I worked long hours at home, now I am 8 hours to the minute in an office. I know every keystroke, badge swipe, URL is monitored & has been for quite some time. Shame on management for not being cognizant of the people who DID take advantage of WFH. The people forced back into an office (for whatever BS reason given) are miserable. Tech Dev will reap what you sow.
Sad thing is for people in the hub locations that want a severance and willing just to move on, will not get that option. No MVO or volunteering offered this round is what we were told. I think the head cheese wigs are banking on natural attrition vs paying layoff packages.
I think telecommuting is a real factor but I agree, maybe not the most important or the main motivation.
as other posts imply, this isn't about telecommuting, it's about reducing the workforce by 25-50%. managers are the target as the work has changed. people know this, budgets have been reduced significantly and the wireless landscape is much different. expect this to continue, now going on year 3 or 4. the "business" will also reorg soon, expect consumer and enterprise to combine at some point, which will have a major impact on ATO
@ iev you're lucky you got a choice ..... others in the past did not
If it was purely about eliminating telecommuting, each surplus letter would provide a choice of severance package or following the work to a collaboration zone. But the positions are being eliminated, not moved. If you get a letter and are willing to relocate, you're still stuck trying to find an open position on a new team even though you would never have been on the surplus list if you were already in that location with your current team. Rediculous. Telecommuting is being used as a scapegoat to pare down the workforce in a way that keeps the Kool-Aid flowing.
i can see them going back to VO after their 2020 goal of weeding out a lot of accruing pension liability. as the old saying goes AT&T stands for "At This Time."
Tons of companies do this in cycles. As @pxe says, it gets rid of lots of low commitment employees without severance every few years.
@xvb you are WRONG on all counts. I've worked VO since 1995. My work was always done on time, no screaming kids, no dog barking. I've put more hours in in than most people. Now, send me back to an office, you get 8 hours to the minute, and yes I count it down. This "collaboration" is BS, just a way to weed out the people who won't conform to the Dallas boys who don't have a clue of what people actually do. It will fail, as this company will.
Telecommuting is the biggest scam. You end up spending your whole life working. Best to be in 9 to 5 and that's it.
Actually it’s brilliant on one hand. It creates a situation where some people will quit so they don’t have to pay severance.
But no way will enough quit for them to make their numbers. They will have to lay off. Plus where will they put these office people? It will be a mess.
Yep