Working at AT&T in Homestead, FL: 3 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Homestead, FL Area

What do you like about working at AT&T?

"The technology is amazing. I learn new things every day at work."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Unless you're desperate, don't do it. Really. If you do, AT&T will needle and prod you for the stupidest reasons..."

What don't you like about working at AT&T?

"Management constantly figures out new procedures that affect our numbers or metrics, which can cause huge problems. For example, we can get fired because we took 15 minutes longer by calling some number before returning to a job. Even if we were on hold for those 15 minutes, AT&T doesn't care - it is your responsibility to not use those 15 minutes, so you end up suspended."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Teach, teach, teach! AT&T expects employees to learn their jobs through osmosis; to just touch the IFD and download all the manuals into your noggin like The Matrix! Time and money are saved by actually SHOWING US how to use our equipment (rather than relying on us to figure it out while we're on the job sweating our efficiency numbers and our meters aren't working properly). Stop blaming the little guy for things that are completely out of his control!"

"The premises technician position is HORRIBLE."

What do you like about working at AT&T?

"I like receiving a paycheck, assisting customers with their issues, and being the one guy (after 10 technicians out) who fixes the issue they have been having."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Take my advice, just as I should have taken the advice of my uncle who worked for AT&T for 35 years. DO NOT apply as a premises technician, at least until union. If you do, don't expect to last for more than a year or two before you get the dreaded if it happens again speech that EVERY technician gets. AT&T's new slogan should really be Re-think Impossible. Only take this job if you're in debt, broke and needing quick cash, or are former military and are thus used to being put up for target practice every day. Seriously, don't apply unless you're desperate."

What don't you like about working at AT&T?

"I absolutely hate and loathe AT&T and how they treat non-union U-verse. They constantly change metrics that literally have no bearing on how well a technician works or whether he cares about his job. The dreaded five star propaganda AT&T management uses against us is an unmovable boot heel on our necks, and it constantly causes us to fail at achieving our goals. A perfect example of this is dispatch efficiency, where they grade us on how many jobs we complete every day. Suppose our goal for the month is 84%, and we go to 4 jobs: 2 installs and 2 repairs. We complete the installs with no problems, but on the two repairs, the customers were not home and would not answer our phone calls. At the end of your shift, you only completed 50% of your jobs. The next day, at the morning meeting, the manager points out the 50% guy (you) and says, I'd better not see that from the rest of you, I had 4 other guys at 100%. What that manager doesn't understand is that those guys only had one 7-box TV order, and that one order took all day. They were lucky enough not to encounter any problems! For real, managers are lazy and ignorant about how these numbers are formed. Oh, and where we get put on performance review if we miss 5-Star, the manager always gets 5-Star and walks around with brand new free iPads and stuff. They're living the sweet life while we're constantly reprimanded for things that mean nothing to an intelligent, unselfish individual. Another aspect that absolutely disgusts me is the Customer Rules aspect, where AT&T surveys customers on how everything is doing overall, communication, and other similar factors. Sounds intelligent, right It would be, if it weren't for the fact that the survey is solely based on the premises technician. For example, AT&T calls the customer two days after you complete an install, and the customer says Oh, the shady sale people told me that Ooga Booga channel is available with U-verse (and Ooga Booga channel is an old 1950's Brazilian channel which has never aired in the United States, let alone in their native country to which they are so fond). What AT&T hears from this customer and translates to on YOUR survey is, Oh, that technician was terrible, please fire him immediately. He spit in my baby's face and peed on the carpet, what a scumbag. At your morning huddle the next day, you are wondering why your manager is giving you the stink eye. After the meeting, he says, Let me talk to you. Yesterday, you got a bad survey, and the customer did not leave a voicemail recording so we cannot appeal this. That means we cannot afford for you to affect my management 5-star month, and thus you will be serving a two day suspension so that I can get my seventh free iPad in a row. Please enjoy your temporary vacation. Oh, and if it happens one more time, since you are already on a performance plan, it will be a permanent vacation. As you're sitting there with your mouth open, shocked at the audacity and belligerence of your manager, a dark feeling comes over you. Suddenly, you realize that you should have listened to the other 30-or-so Bellsouth Technicians who warned you to leave, or not even to have bothered applying to U-verse.Long story short: Whenever AT&T takes someone over, they COMPLETELY obliterate good working systems, making them unmanageable. When in doubt, they blame the technicians who are under incompetent managers. Managers might get a talking-to by their superiors, but nothing more."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"For the love of God, look at both sides of the story. Stop focusing on percentages or facts on computer screens, and using them to make prejudiced, unfounded decisions that affect hard-working, honest people and their lives / families. Shame on any manager (lying, arrogant human being) who does the practices stated above!"

"I'd rather find a better work environment."