AT&T Layoffs

I hate AT&T, just as I hate Comcast. 

But I hate the company, not the people (at least non-executives) who work there.  So I'm sad to hear AT&T is joining the layoff bandwagon, letting go off 4% of their workforce, or 12,000 people.

There are two factors that are leading to this:

Firstly, they are seeing their landline customers defect - that business is shrinking by 11%, while AT&T's own wireless business is growing by 14%.   Their landline business is still bigger, and needs a bigger workforce compared to the wireless business, so that feeds directly into the total workforce.

Secondly, they are seeing people stop taking add-on services, and manage their minutes on limited plans more carefully (AT&T is one of the worst companies at charging through the roof for a single extra text message, or a single extra minute on your calling plan). 

Signs of a Downturn - Imeem Lays off 25%

San Francisco based music startup Imeem, which has raised about $19 Million in funding, is the latest to lay off staff, asking a quarter of their 80 employees to leave.

SAP-ping Morale - SAP's Spending Freeze - Layoffs Not Far Behind

Wisely, SAP is going to stop any unnecessary expenditure.  But the severity of the moves they're making  point to a soon-to-come layoff announcement. 

Among the actions SAP is taking:

• No new expenditure on IT.  At all.  No new equipment to be ordered, at all
• Complete headcount and hiring freeze,  including contractors, interns, students  (wait, why wouldn't you keep students?  Just make them unpaid internships - in this economy, the students would fight for unpaid internships.... as my batch did back during the dot com bust)
• Employees leaving through natural attrition are not to be replaced
• No internal transfers;  yes, you can leave your group, but you won't have a place to land at
• Internal transfers or written offers to new candidates sent before October 7th will be honored, all others to be called off
• Stop working with external recruiters immediately  (oops, sounds like SAP's HR group will be among the first to go!)
• Stop working immediately with all management consultants (ok, so the consulting firms are about to start 'counseling out' folks, too)
• Stop all external training sessions
• No meetings off-campus.  No renting off-campus meeting rooms or hotels
• Cease ALL internal non-customer-facing travel in October…Any non-customer-facing travel already booked should be canceled immediately, even if this incurs penalties  (they're serious!)
• Fly coach from now on