Re: Bonus roundIt might be interesting to contrast the 200 million paid out in bonuses to the salaries and benefits conceivably saved from the 2,000 empolyees losing jobs. I wonder if there's something about long term savings that way outweight the short term bonus money?
Re: Bonus roundSpeaking of Sprint, it looks like the Notorious Mr. Combes has landed on his gilded feet (again) -- trading on his curious reputation as a cost-cutter (personal paycheck notwithstanding).
curious how many techs (installers?) are subcontractors though. I have seen telecom/utility field workers with out of state license plates.
About layoff, also curious how many got hired back as contractors, although it is less likely (than my former life in the financial service arena) since telecom unions are still alive and would resist such attempts.
When I was a contractor at a Verizon former self (non utility division) decades ago, a lot of my full time colleagues rose thru the rank (the systems district mgr was a lineman!) perhaps they had some "muscle memory" left. These days, they are MBA types who wield their spreadsheets for a promo. I used to feel indignant but perhaps I too mellow out. Look at Sprint, the CFO hinted at some spending and the stock got pounded, even if Softbank owns 80% plus
Re: Bonus roundI'd be surprised if AT&T has a substantial number of DirecTV techs on the payroll. DTV pretty much used contractors for most of its installations for years. There might have been some back-office overlap. Maybe someone inside the company could provide guidance.
Re: Bonus roundCan't speak to what's happening in Texas or Missouri, but Q317 results showed a loss of about 400k DirecTV subs compared to Q416, so not a big shocker that they may have more satellite techs than they need. Meanwhile (self-install) DirecTV Now has cracked 1m.
Re: Bonus roundYes, those of us who experienced the first trickle on -- I mean, trickle down -- era are familiar with the plot. And those who don't learn from history etc.
Re: Bonus roundMendyk is right. Bonuses, like "saved" -- only temporarily -- jobs at Carrier plant get all the news, the layoffs treated like a correction at the bottom corner of page 2, even though that news is probably more impactful to many.
Come on...I was once flown into a meeting with a previous employer and told we were having a huge (call it 20%) layoff. I suggested a modest sympathy executive pay cut, when I was screamed at. The entire point of the layoff was to ensure bonuses. I mean heck, they only laid off like 1%. Maybe they needed to fund a Sales Meeting or buy another building to house a new senior executive.
Bonus roundHardly surprising, but trump-eting bonuses while knowing full well there would be job cuts shows remarkable callousness, even by today's severely lowered standards.
curious how many techs (installers?) are subcontractors though. I have seen telecom/utility field workers with out of state license plates.
About layoff, also curious how many got hired back as contractors, although it is less likely (than my former life in the financial service arena) since telecom unions are still alive and would resist such attempts.
When I was a contractor at a Verizon former self (non utility division) decades ago, a lot of my full time colleagues rose thru the rank (the systems district mgr was a lineman!) perhaps they had some "muscle memory" left. These days, they are MBA types who wield their spreadsheets for a promo. I used to feel indignant but perhaps I too mellow out. Look at Sprint, the CFO hinted at some spending and the stock got pounded, even if Softbank owns 80% plus
Come on...I was once flown into a meeting with a previous employer and told we were having a huge (call it 20%) layoff. I suggested a modest sympathy executive pay cut, when I was screamed at. The entire point of the layoff was to ensure bonuses. I mean heck, they only laid off like 1%. Maybe they needed to fund a Sales Meeting or buy another building to house a new senior executive.
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