Pros
AT&T values its employees and takes good care of them. It's a flexible and family-oriented work environment, and most people in senior management have children (of all ages) as well as aging parents so colleagues can relate to the unpredictability of being in the "sandwich." Quality of the health insurance depends on the market where the job is based. For instance, Dallas and Atlanta senior employees are served by better healthcare networks than other markets. Salaries are competitive but because the stock has languished so much in recent years, bonus and long-term compensation has not delivered as much extra income as it once did (typical 3-year vesting cycle) Bonuses and long-term comp are paid in cash and stock. Typical bonus + longterm comp at the AVP level is about a third of annual salary. This portion increases at levels above AVP. Work environment is friendly and easy-going. Although the circumstances vary from unit to unit, generally AT&T is not a pressure cooker workplace and expectations for performance are medium-high but not high or intense.
Cons
AT&T is still recovering from the misguided business decisions of 2015-2016. The company significantly overpaid for DirecTV and then overpaid again for Time Warner's entertainment businesses. These acquisitions added huge debt to the company's balance sheet. AT&T's debt is a drag on it's stock price. Otherwise, the core wireless and telecom business is dependable and cash rich. The Dallas-based executives of the company haven't demonstrated much business acumen and are often lagging behind business trends. It's an insular culture and senior executives are "lifers" with little or no experience outside their sector or outside AT&T. Yet, they demonstrated (in the time I worked there) lots of arrogance and ultimately hubris about business trends that I attributed to their experience working only in telecom and in their home markets. AT&T was not a business savvy or culturally-attuned company.
