Monday, August 16, 2010

Lets Chat!

As promised, here is a detailed report on each of the items listed that must change at AT&T. And lets start with....

Attendance
Every employer has an attendance policy, but the policy at AT&T screws everyone. Now, there are people who take advantage of the system and deserve to be fired. But others have legitimate reasons for an absence. This system of points is flawed on multiple levels. To break it down in lay terms, here is the policy.


  1. Don't get sick EVER
  2. Don't allow your family or friends to die
  3. Don't allow bad weather to stop you from driving to work
  4. Don't let your family get sick or have surgery. And of they do you cant be there
  5. Don't have kids (Refer to rule 4)
  6. At that, don't have a family or get pregnant
  7. Make sure you don't have any car problems
  8. Make sure if you or your family has a medical emergency, give 48 hours and use PDO.
  9. Don;t have a heart attack. But if you do make sure you die so your family will get your employer sponsored life insurance before they fire you for not being at work. (You think it is a joke?)
  10. Don't believe in God. Why do I say that? Ask the two former employees from Texas who sued AT&T and got paid $$$ for being discriminated against and leaving work for a religious event.
  11. If there is a tornado or hurricane (Or snow storm if you live in a cold area) you still have to go to work. They tell you that since you are a utility company employee, you are exempt from the emergency situations that require most everyone else to stay home.

Bottom line amounts to being at work no matter what. There have been people taken out of AT&T in ambulances that have been fired for leaving work early. It is true. These are not just rumors, they are factual stories.

There have been other cases of people being fired of going to a funeral of a family member. AT&T defines who family members are. So, if the parent or grandparent of your spouse dies, they do not qualify as your family and you will not be excused from work to go to their funeral.

Most employers can look past their attendance policy in certain cases, especially when it comes to life, death, and health situations. AT&T does not feel they have to be humane with their employees.

SHAME ON YOU AT&T

An Open Letter To Glen Sirles

Glen,

Do you think we are all blind or just stupid? Your video was a slap in the face to every customer assistant in the company. Out of all the upper management, I thought you had a heart and a mind of your own. Boy was I wrong. I am very disappointed in you and hope you sleep on all this and have a change of heart. Why are you not talking to YOUR boss and asking what they are thinking? Your video was too late and really wouldn't have helped anyway. We already made our minds up about the vote on the contract. You really have some nerve to end you video thanking us for our "hard work" that we do for the company. What a crock! We know that management doesn't believe that anymore than you do. You give a pay increase to Tier 2 employees but CA's get the shaft? We do the most work!

No, I am not a Vice President of anything at AT&T, but I could be the CEO of common sense. We work hard all day and deal with the issues, and you smack us in the face with your joke of a video? What were you thinking? How can you do this to us?

We are the employees that take the calls from angry customers who scream at the outsourced offshore reps who barely speak english. The customers are happy when they talk to us. Well, they are happy after they yell and complain about the off shore reps who can't troubleshoot to save their lives. The outsourcing is a modern day AT&T sweat shop. How can you people continue to take away American jobs? AT&T made a HUGE profit last year and all year this year. Why not invest in America? Why not pay your employees what they are worth. While you sit in your office, we work our asses off for AT&T. Why don't YOU come out and take calls for a week. Follow DAWN. Follow our metrics. SEE HOW HARD WE WORK FOR AT&T. Then you can go back and tell your boss what a mistake they are making by not investing in us.

AT&T does not know how to prioritize for all the tea in China, or in our case, the Philippines.  These metrics do NOT help our customers. They just make the employees miserable. Maybe if you would make customer satisfaction a priority and solving the problem without DAWN a reality things would be better at AT&T. Maybe make it harder to get a job as tech support agents. Instead of hiring anyone off the street, make a real test and require some real knowledge. Oh wait. Our jobs are disposable! Just keep firing and re-hiring instead of helping your good employees stay happy. AT&T could be a great place to work if you upper management folks would really learn how to make it a desirable place to work!

AT&T needs to make many changes, and those changes will need to start in management. Instead of looking for ways to fire us, why not look for ways to keep us? Everyone walks on egg shells at AT&T, and no place of employment should be that way.

I hope you take this constructive criticism and think it over. Talk to your upper management buddies and make some changes.

Sincerely,
Joe Employee

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Help! We are sinking!

AT&T really does not care about their employees. And at that, AT&T does not care about their customers. I sometimes wonder if the policies are reviewed at the top or if middle management takes it upon themselves to make us work in fear.

Working In Fear
On a daily basis, you constantly worry about losing your job. What are reasons that would cause you to lose your job? I will detail them here and elaborate later on each one.

  • Attendance (An unequal policy that screws everyone equally)
  • Metrics (Completely unreasonable and not geared toward helping customers)
  • Politics (Many managers will go out of their way to fire you if they dont like you)
  • Limitations (If you help a customer too much you are getting fired!)
  • Intimidation Tactics (Certain managers love to make idle threats that are so idle)
In upcoming posts, each of these subjects will have its own post that will bring details to light that will blow your mind. If I have left anything out, feel free to email me and let me know.

Who cares? We know AT&T doesn't!
You would think that being good to your employees would make the work environment and moral at a level that is appealing. Not AT&T! The modus operandi at AT&T is the beatings will continue until the moral improves. Submit or be subdued; not a fun environment. It could be a great place to work if the upper management would make some serious changes. (More on this later)

To AT&T, customers don't matter, employees don't matter, and employees families don't matter. Some of us actually like helping customers, but that is not our job. Our job title and description are all about helping the customer, but when you get into the company you quickly learn the truth. Its almost like joining a cult.


When will it get better?
We hope soon. Again... change and awareness. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

At AT&T there are too many chiefs and not enough indians. The chain of command is ridiculous. There is a manager for a manager for a manager for a director for an area director for a vice president.. it goes on and on. At some level you just want to ask what they do for the company besides sit in an office and look busy on conference calls. Way over paid to sit and micro manage and go out of their way to make employees miserable. (LOTS more on this later!) Its high time to let some of these people go and distribute those salaries to the people doing the real work.

Management thinks we are all replaceable and their solution is to outsource jobs. Well, I cant count the amount of calls that are transferred back to me from offshore EVERY DAY because the customer wants to speak with an American here in the United States. Even customers are getting angry about AT&T policy!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

COBC Violation?

I think not :-)


AT&T may not like the truth and will, in fact, call this a COBC violation. That's OK though. AT&T is free to define it as a COBC violation but they will NOT define what is free speech.

Blogspot is owned by Google who is a firm supporter of free speech. As long as no one starts spewing garbage from their computer, there should be no issue with Google.

But thanks for the email warning that someone sent me! Im not worried.

First Post and Reasoning

Why This Blog?
Two words; Awareness and Change. Those two words will be the theme of this blog.


Let me start off by saying that Alexander Graham Bell is probably turning over in his grave seeing how employees are treated at AT&T. History says he was a generous and kind man who made constant contributions to society. He was known for treating his employees well and there are numerous accounts in history telling of his compassion for mankind.


Now, we all know that Bell is dead, but why can his spirit and candor not live on through the industry that he created? Had he not invented the "speaking machine" AKA Telephone, none of the corporate elite in Dallas would even have jobs at AT&T.


It is time that the public know how employees of AT&T are treated. I want you to know what your money is paying for. The money you spend with AT&T is supporting this environment we work in. We have families too and work to support them just like you do. We are there to listen when you call and have an issue, and DO OUR BEST to help you within our ability. Believe me, many of us take your side when you call and are upset, but we are bound to corporate rules. The new slogan "Rethink Possible" could not have come at a better time. It fits perfectly! It certainly is possible that AT&T could rethink the way they treat us.


An Open Invitation
I am inviting ANY AT&T employee to join me in this blog. Send me an email and I will give you posting access to participate in the blog. I don't need your name if you dont want to give it. I don't care if you are management or bargained. And before anyone gets upset about that, let me tell you this. NOT EVERY MANAGER BELIEVES IN THE WAY WE ARE TREATED. MANY managers side with us and have hearts. Many of them were just like us before they moved into management. Its true!


With this invitation comes a certain degree of responsibility. This blog is NOT being created to slander or to make libelous comments about the company. All posts and comments need to be factual TO THE BEST OF YOUR BELIEF AND UNDERSTANDING. If you just want to call out managers and bash the company, dont bother. That defeats the purpose of this blog. This blog is about awareness and change; rights that we have as employees and human beings.


A Note To AT&T's Legal Staff
I know that at some point your department will become aware of this blog and do anything and everything in your power to shut it down. But we are protected by free speech in the United States. If Google feels the need to shut it down, then so be it. It will just be put back up somewhere else. I hope that you will read these entries and understand where we are coming from and help us implement change from within the higher levels of the company. But if you decide you want to go against us, thats fine. You are a small team, we are 1000's of employees who DESERVE better than what we have now.


You may contact us at THEREALATT@HUSH.COM


1, 2, 3, 4 AT&T WE WANT MORE