AT&T ANNOUNCES THOUSANDS OF LAYOFFS, FIRINGS JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
32,548
15,424
136
Even more devious is that Att will use these bonuses to lower their tax rate for this year. There will also be more layoffs in att's future as they are likely to shutter some of their corporate stores. If their buyout of turner happens I would also expect more layoffs as they would likely eliminate duplicated positions.
 

harry johnson

Junior Member
Dec 29, 2017
1
0
1
People still have landlines? And DirecTV is losing viewers left and right, so ...
I think that cord cutting is everywhere in US and as a result, all the Pay-TV operators are laying off employees which are impacting the people as they start losing jobs.Currently, I found the article where got to know that DirecTV laid off 700 employees
Got this on the website:
https://americaclosed.com/directv-layoffs-2017-att-700/
 
Last edited:

newrigel

Junior Member
Sep 1, 2008
18
5
76
Heh, so is Trump going to take credit for this too, or is this one going to be credited to Obama?

Fvck'in glory grabbers like Trump are all over the place, but why oh why are the vast majority of them in management?

And why oh why are these same folks also seasoned experts at playing the blame game?

Gee, what a coincidence that Trump fits this profile so well, huh?

GO TRUMP!!!!!!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: trenchfoot

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
My good friend, a 27 year employee was let go. On the same note, they missed her last paycheck due as well - 1 week before Christmas. Meanwhile she sat there are got to read about these greet bonuses everyone else was getting.
 
Feb 4, 2009
35,245
16,716
136
DirecTV laid off almost 700 Home Installer, as Cord cutting is increasing all the Pay-Tv operator are laying off employees.
I found this :

https://americaclosed.com/directv-layoffs-2017-att-700/

My guess is ATT wanted Direct TV for the broadcasting rights only. They really didn't want the satellite portion of it. When I worked at ATT they always dreamed about owning a dish company to complete the full service, wire-line, long distance, internet, wireless and TV.
Now I believe they are perfectly happy streaming all the TV crap and letting satellite fail so they can reclaim that bandwidth for wireless.
 

Ventanni

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2011
1,432
142
106
My guess is ATT wanted Direct TV for the broadcasting rights only. They really didn't want the satellite portion of it. When I worked at ATT they always dreamed about owning a dish company to complete the full service, wire-line, long distance, internet, wireless and TV.
Now I believe they are perfectly happy streaming all the TV crap and letting satellite fail so they can reclaim that bandwidth for wireless.

Pretty much exactly this.

The entire television model is moving to stream-based. When Twitch.TV started sending me emails that they were now airing some American football games, I realized the direction that content was going. The whole point of ending net neutrality was to allow for the big tech giants to cash in extra on this. I would imagine in the next 10 years or so that the big tech giants will reincorporate their television subscription model into their streaming subscription model.

Ironic, given that all that broadcast data is moved by satellite on the back end.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
I cut the cord years ago.

Roku in the bedroom and nVidia Shield TV in the living room. Both rooms have smart TVs, but I have not seen a TV as smooth and fast as a Roku or Shield.

I have the Shield because it is the only device that can pass on TrueHD and DTS HD to my home theater over Plex. Plus, I can play my PC games streamed from the office to my 75" 4K TV in the living room. So, bonus!

I'm an Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu subscriber.

I cut the cord in 2009. But it wasnt quite ready for primetime. Cut it again last Fall and it is solid. I use PS Vue for live TV, Netflix\Amazon Prime to fill in the void for movies\shows. Biggest change was dropping Comcast for internet due to their cap. Centurylink does not have data caps on their DSL service. After switching we went from ~350GB\month to ~1.3TB a month.
 

WackyDan

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,794
68
91
ATT does this regularly, layoffs announced before the holidays with end of work date in February is the norm.
I was laid off from ATT in the same way in 2010-2011.
Thing that pissed me off was employees that had their jobs eliminated didn't get preferential treatment regarding new job posts. I found that pretty fucking insulting. Process may be different now.
From others I still know at T, the 1k bonus started as a CWA new contract demand and there was fear non bargained for employees would be pissed.
There is also talk that T is simply stocking Trumps ego regarding the CNN purchase

Welcome to the way things work. At my current and past employer if you were laid off you were viewed as damaged goods by executives. At my current employer they essentially black list you from being rehired. Keep in mind that yes, lay offs done proper get rid of the bad unproductive employees, but ultimately some good ones go too. When I was laid off from my previous employer I had received numerous awards that year as well made it into their 100% club. I was just one of too many people in the same place and position at the wrong time.
 
Feb 4, 2009
35,245
16,716
136
Welcome to the way things work. At my current and past employer if you were laid off you were viewed as damaged goods by executives. At my current employer they essentially black list you from being rehired. Keep in mind that yes, lay offs done proper get rid of the bad unproductive employees, but ultimately some good ones go too. When I was laid off from my previous employer I had received numerous awards that year as well made it into their 100% club. I was just one of too many people in the same place and position at the wrong time.

I know same here. I don't remember my final attainment but I usually finished 110-120% to goal.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,536
16,306
146
I cut the cord in 2009. But it wasnt quite ready for primetime. Cut it again last Fall and it is solid. I use PS Vue for live TV, Netflix\Amazon Prime to fill in the void for movies\shows. Biggest change was dropping Comcast for internet due to their cap. Centurylink does not have data caps on their DSL service. After switching we went from ~350GB\month to ~1.3TB a month.

I discovered I have no need for live TV. I'm not a sports fan so... yeah. That's about the only reason anyone would need it.

And I can get my How It's Made fix on Hulu. :)
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,939
7,456
136
I discovered I have no need for live TV. I'm not a sports fan so... yeah. That's about the only reason anyone would need it.

And I can get my How It's Made fix on Hulu. :)

I am fixated on that show. That show helps me better understand the many different electronically/mechanically/hydraulically powered components that come in to our shop for repairs and mods. As a result, my wifey now wants her own TV and bluetooth headset or I will get sent to my messy man cave to ruminate and mull over the many inconsiderate transgressions I committed against her. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amused

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,147
4,847
136
Wasn't it a U2 song with the lyrics "everything changes on New Year's Day"? I've been on unemployment before and it sucked as my employer went through a period of layoffs.
 

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
9,671
580
126
I am fixated on that show. That show helps me better understand the many different electronically/mechanically/hydraulically powered components that come in to our shop for repairs and mods. As a result, my wifey now wants her own TV and bluetooth headset or I will get sent to my messy man cave to ruminate and mull over the many inconsiderate transgressions I committed against her. :D

The Dad-Joke-worthy puns at the start and end of each segment just kill me though.

 
  • Like
Reactions: trenchfoot

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,090
136
My good friend, a 27 year employee was let go. On the same note, they missed her last paycheck due as well - 1 week before Christmas. Meanwhile she sat there are got to read about these greet bonuses everyone else was getting.
MAGA.
 

MooseNSquirrel

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2009
2,587
318
126
You think these layoffs are noteworthy?
How so, do you think they represent a growing trend?
Afraid that there are more people than jobs?

One would think with all the nirvana promised by the Trump tax plan that AT&T could have figured how to reassign these workers with all the extra hiring they will need to do thanks to their corporate tax cut.

Ooooorrrrrrr its BS, like most intelligent people said it was.
 

WackyDan

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,794
68
91
One would think with all the nirvana promised by the Trump tax plan that AT&T could have figured how to reassign these workers with all the extra hiring they will need to do thanks to their corporate tax cut.

Ooooorrrrrrr its BS, like most intelligent people said it was.

My employer does the same. On the one hand, many times it is a under performing business unit taking the hit, or the end of a project and sometimes the skill set of the employees laid off don't have a clear match internally which is hard to understand given the size and scale of the company. My employer just laid off four engineers on our team whose product wasn't selling well. That makes sense, but I work with a different product, and my two peer engineers are fucking useless and don't contribute anything or build their capabilities. What should have happened is we could have kept one of the four that was laid off as he was awesome at his job and had the skills to learn the platform I work on. We should have laid off one of the useless ones on my product.

....But no. The decision on who to axe was made several levels up and not even the first line, second line managers were given a voice to retain the best talent. It's one of the reasons I'm interviewing.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
34,004
8,040
136
One would think with all the nirvana promised by the Trump tax plan that AT&T could have figured how to reassign these workers with all the extra hiring they will need to do thanks to their corporate tax cut.

Ooooorrrrrrr its BS, like most intelligent people said it was.

There are Trump's promises. And then there is reality. Our future will hold far fewer jobs than today.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
136
My good friend, a 27 year employee was let go. On the same note, they missed her last paycheck due as well - 1 week before Christmas. Meanwhile she sat there are got to read about these greet bonuses everyone else was getting.

Let me guess... The pension plan magic numbers are 55 years old & 30 years of service, otherwise you wait until you're 65 to get anything...

The bean counters are always beaming with pride whenever they can deliver that beat down...
 

WackyDan

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,794
68
91
Let me guess... The pension plan magic numbers are 55 years old & 30 years of service, otherwise you wait until you're 65 to get anything...

The bean counters are always beaming with pride whenever they can deliver that beat down...

They receive bonus for their efficiency... Bad way to reward that sort of job. Does ATT even have a pension plan still? I know IBM did away with theirs and converted people over to 401k back in the late 90's. Then in 2012 IBM decided to only match employee contributions at year end... and if you quit, are fired, or laid off before December 15th you don't get your entire match... So no wonder IBM lays people off in October every year in the U.S. to fuck them out of their match. IBM has faced multiple suits over targeting 45 and older in their cuts. So far they've dodged every one. I'm sure ATT is no different.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,147
4,847
136
Let me guess... The pension plan magic numbers are 55 years old & 30 years of service, otherwise you wait until you're 65 to get anything...

The bean counters are always beaming with pride whenever they can deliver that beat down...
When I worked at Armstrong World Industries the defined benefit plan magic number was 90 but they did have an annuity to augment it plus offered 401k's on top of it. If employees invested right they could have a very decent retirement from them. If you left early like I did then 65 years old is the magic number to draw your benefit and its the same for my other plan as they both start paying within one month of each other.

At the opposite end of the defined benefit spectrum was RockTenn (I worked for Smurfit-Stone when they merged) which merged again 3 years later to form WestRock. Grandfathered employees still have a defined benefit plan that doesn't pay very much per year (it was only $31/year when I left them) and newer employees only get a 401k.

Both of these companies have tried to buy me out of my defined benefit plans which I firmly rejected and you don't need a business degree to work the numbers out. I hope that Trump and Co. leave the retirement laws intact or else these could be jeopardized in the name of corporate enrichment.
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
On January 4, 2019 a company memo went out from Jeff McElfresh that a major restructure and workforce calibration would be taking place. Over the 2-3 weeks that followed, it was estimated that 8-10% of the employees under McElfresh would be affected. This, conservatively, would make the numbers about 8-10,000 people losing their job as the company directory has 169,000 employees under McElfresh. What I, and several others have wondered, is how the news reported this, or rather how they DIDN'T report on this.

Shockingly, CNN and many other news outlets reported how Verizon asked for volunteers to leave the company and managed to get 10,400 to voluntary leave. But AT&T surplussed 8-10K employees (management and non-management collectively for Q1) and nothing seems to have gotten reported. Now, I thought it was normal for bad news to get reported before good or neutral news, and I thought a surplus event of 8-10K in Q1 2019 would have been better bad news to report than, say, reporting 10K of volunteers at Verizon but then I had to think about the whole Time-Warner merger and the benefits [to AT&T] therein.

AT&T now owns CNN. So, naturally the cynic in anyone would reach the conclusion there isn't a way for AT&T's CNN to report on them ousting 8-10K employees in one quarter and I doubt the Trump-favored Fox is going to report on such a line item as then Trump would have to respond to that. And I know of a lot of people that were affected by this current surplus, the larger in one swipe of a long succession of swipes that have affected every company division, including those high-profit divisions such as mobility. And the worse icing on this surplus cake is that AT&t has an European workforce of about 8,000, some 5,600 in the former Warsaw Pack country of Czechoslovakia (now the republics of Slovaki and Czech).

So, it is nice that Verizon got so many volunteers, but it is almost sinful that AT&T can surplus so many in one quarter while their overseas work forces have remained exempt from such reductions since it all began back in 2014. The cuts this time will affect 5G, but then again AT&T has that covered by calling its 4G/LTE by the new name 5Ge.