Last month, AT&T CEO John Stankey responded to an employee engagement survey with a companywide memo. While it was, in large part, a response to feedback on the end of hybrid work for online employees, he discussed a “shift” far beyond work commutes.
“For those of you who are fans of management science, this shift can be characterized as moving away from an orientation on hierarchy and familial cultural norms and towards a more externally focused and competitive market-based culture,” wrote Stankey.
“I understand that some of you may have started your tour with this company expecting an ‘employment deal’ rooted in loyalty, tenure and conformance with the associated compensation, work structure and benefits. We have consciously shifted away from some of these elements and towards a more market-based culture — focused on rewarding capability, contribution and commitment.”
The memo sparked various responses from business leaders — some arguing it was merely an evolving social contract of loyalty, and others warning the tone was alienating and would cause disengaged workers.
"The days of lifetime job security and pensions are long gone," Business Insider's chief correspondent Aki Ito wrote regarding the memo. "But CEOs have rarely acknowledged the change, because they've gotten a lot of hard work out of their staff who still believe they'll be taken care of in return. At least Stankey is clear: He won't even pretend to be loyal to his workers."
‘Management by fear’
If Ito laid out the reality, Hanna Hasl-Kelchner explained to us the cost. A seasoned attorney, leadership development consultant and award-winning author on fairness in the workplace, she considers Stankey’s approach an example of “management by fear” that erodes trust and the social contract between employer and employee.
“If he wanted to scare people, I think he accomplished it,” she told Broadband Nation. “Right now, the job market is favoring employers, but that's a pendulum that goes back and forth. There's going to come a time where the market is improving for workers, for employees... and if [leaders] want to treat it as transactional, then okay, it will be. And as soon as [workers] get a better deal, they're gone.”
Hasl-Kelchner understands, on one hand, the pressures for a CEO, frustrated and needing to “set the record straight,” but ultimately, his broad-brush “get with the program” styled directive missed the mark.
In a company as big as AT&T, the C-suite looms many floors above the frontline boots on the ground — and the daily problems they face. From Hasl-Kelchner's perspective, a far more effective pursuit would have been in letting managers take more personal case-by-case approaches with their teams and sectors — especially when the change doesn’t mean the same thing for an installation technician as a store sales rep.
Hasl-Kelchner would remind leaders like Stankey that the transactional, all-or-nothing mentality of ‘staying competitive’ is short-term thinking narrowed by the pressures of shareholder happiness. But longer-term health — even in business — relies on relationships.
“You're not moving chess pieces around a board,” she argued. “These are people with expectations and obligations and, oh, God forbid, feelings.”
What to do if that memo finds you
For the more than 99,000 workers who received this memo — or folks working under similar cultures — Hasl-Kelchner shared clear advice.
“Number one, always protect your physical safety,” she advocated, emphasizing that for workers doing physically demanding jobs like aerial linemen, it adds another layer of pressure to what’s already a high-stakes environment.
The harness, the height, the voltage — there are already enough hazards to heed. “But then at the back of your mind, you’re also worried about the safety of your job, about whether your boss is there, about how you’re being evaluated by what metrics,” she detailed.
“All of that creates a certain amount of stress, because you want to protect yourself, not just in your physical environment that you’re working in, but also the emotional environment that is part of the relationship with your immediate supervisor,” continued Hasl-Kelchner.
That's why she advises touching base with a manager and “letting them know that you're on their side and you want to be a good team player.” She posed it as a chance to collect information and really assess the impacts of a 'culture shift,' like the one at AT&T, on the team — and, ideally, present any worries.
“If you've got a good manager that has your back, they can talk with their peers and together, you know, take it up another level to point out issues that don't make it to the CEO's office,” said Hasl-Kelchner.
Many experienced broadband technicians will underscore the need for adaptability in this industry, when new technology and practices constantly evolve the trade.
But adaptability isn’t just about shifting to new tools or tasks; it’s about reflecting on all you've learned and gained, according to Hasl-Kelchner, both in skills and in connections — and putting them into practice professionally.
“It can never hurt to update your resume. It’s incredibly empowering to say, 'Yeah, I did do that, and I did this: Damn, that’s pretty good,' and to also maintain your network," she reflected, "keep in touch with people who maybe left the company that you're friends with, people in your industry, if you are part of trade groups.”
Hasl-Kelchner's insight is grounded in the notion that careers last for the same reason companies do — because people invest in one another. Workers carry that forward in the skills they develop and the relationships they maintain. Businesses do it by valuing that same investment in their own workforce.
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