The company AT & T was originally known as SBC Corporations in the year 1883. It was incorporated under the laws of Delaware wherein it was organized as one of the various regional holding companies made to hold AT & T Corporation’s local telephone companies (“AT & T”). The company offers its products and services to people around the United States as well as to companies that needs its services involving telecommunications. The company also offers telecommunications services world wide. The specific products and services of the company include local exchange services, wireless communications, long-distance services, data/broadband and internet services, telecommunications equipment, managed networking, and wholesale transport services and directory advertising and publishing (“AT & T”). The AT & T company is composed of 310, 000 employees and is currently located at San Antonio, Texas.
In staffing planning, there is a need to predict sales and sketch potential production levels, approximate the quantity and nature of work that will be essential, recognize who can do this work, and classify the training and recruitment required to fill any gaps (CBS Interactive, Inc, 2009, p. 1).The internal and external factors that affect that staffing planning in AT & T must be analyzed in order to retrieve an insight of the company into the local employment market. Staffing planning becomes effective when internal data like head count reports, turnover statistics, days to hire numbers, training results, employee opinion surveys, and exit interviews are used to understand impacts on the staffing process. On the other hand, external influences like industry reports, salary and benefit surveys, local unemployment rates, and business closures and openings are also proper factors to be analyzed in order to know how these factors affect staffing planning of AT & T.
The growth a company needs proper planning on personnel hiring. The future of the business relies more on the people who would raise its banner in the competitive market. In the case of AT & T Company, the head count of the key executive, board of directors and executive committee are 5 personnel each department. These fifteen people determine the overall picture of the whole company in terms of growth and competitiveness. It can be remembered that the staffing history of AT & T is viewed as ineffective from its executive officers down to the lowest level wherein it was akin to a gang that could not shoot straight (Martin, 2005, p. 2). AT & T monopolized the telephone industry as regulated by the government so many years ago, but competitors filed suits against it affecting the entire operation of the company. As a result, seventy percent of its assets and its employees were used to start all over again at the glaring eyes of its competitors, Bell on its lead. Basically, the company has to apply proper staffing planning in order to get back on its feet and fight against its competitors.
The crossroads experienced by AT & T was solved when the heir apparent of Bob Allen, company president Alex Mandl continued to boost its revenue and increase its qualified employees (Martin, 2005, p. 5). The external factor that hits the company is public relations in general. Knowing that public relations is a skill that must be embraced, it should be applied in general management particularly the most senior leaders of the company (Martin, 2005, p. 6). In relation to staffing planning, public relations in general includes the daily operations of the company as well as long range strategic choices and not only news releases and publicity stunts (Martin, 2005, p. 6).
Recently, AT & T and its subsidiaries are dedicated to equal employment opportunity. Basically, the company adheres to staffing requirements on legal matters like protection of its employees from harassment and unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation and other factors. It continues to hire career options under any of these divisions such as occupational and hourly, professional and management, and wireless division.
Finally, AT & T announced a mass layoff in its employees last year due to economic downturn of the country. The 12, 000 jobs were announced to be cut due to pressures in the economy, change in business mix, and streamlining in organizational structures (“AT & T”). As a result, AT & T union workers protest in edging them out from the company. The plan of the company in training its management employees in case union strike would happen stirred union members to go on protests. Therefore, in this difficult economic setting of the country, training in AT & T companies is no longer equivalent to the development and improvement of the skills of the workers and employees but preparing management staff to face union strikes.
References
AT & T Website. 2008. AT & T. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www.
corp.att.com/attlabs/about/mission.html.
CBS Interactive Inc. 2009. Planning Staffing Requirements. Retrieved March 23, 2008,
from http://www.bnet.com/2410-13059_23-68806.html.
Martin, D. (2005). Tough Calls: At and T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the
Telecom Wars. New York: AMACOM.
