Under T-Mobile’s new Chief Executive Officer, Mike Sievert, employees are under pressure to meet strict sales metrics — so much that they're resorting to shady practices. A Reddit post reveals the horrible lengths staff go to meet their targets. An anonymous interview uncovers how pay cuts have affected morale. While T-Mobile addresses these issues, it leaves the question of whether it's just damage control or an honest effort to fix their mistakes.
T-Mobile’s work culture is failing its employees
T-Mobile employees resort to adding extra phone lines without customer consent and forcing customers to buy extra accessories. An ex-staff, who has served the company for seven years, took to Reddit to express his unhappiness with the company's direction after the merger with Sprint, and shared instances where sales representatives did illegal things.
“There was a time when a rep falsely told customers that T-Mobile was changing everyone's plan to Go5G Plus, manipulating them into unwanted changes. Meetings where district managers encouraged bundling accessories with phone payments further highlight these unethical practices.”
Former T-Mobile employee
Despite commiting to doing the right thing, the employee has faced oppositions and hinted towards the management being aware of the crimes — and having a hand in them. Commenters under the Reddit thread have also shared their experiences dealing with misinformation and dissatisfaction with T-Mobile's service quality post-merger. Most of them happen to be customers, past employees, and current employees contemplating departure.
Another Reddit user confirmed these activities with their own experience. They recount how they were forced to buy unnecessary accessories along with an iPhone. An employee had informed them that not selling the accessories could lead to penalties, which eventually caused the customer to switch to a different carrier.
Things were better under John Legere, chime T-Mobile staff & customers
On July 10, PhoneArena anonymously interviewed one of T-Mobile's Mobile Expert (ME), who has been with the company since 2014. He shared that the working environment had deteriorated since the leadership transition from John Legere, former CEO and President of T-Mobile, to Mike Sievert. With Legere, representatives operated with metrics, whereas under current CEO Mike Sievert, metrics are now “opportunity-based”.
Basically, staff are now being evaluated based on their ability to upsell or cross-sell additional products and services to existing customers. It's no wonder they're prioritizing revenue generation over customer satisfaction and ethical sales practices.
Worse, they've had to deal with pay cuts, as revealed by the anonymous employee. He suggested an increase to boost morale and bring an end to the unethical practice — and he's not wrong. Employees won't feel like they have to meet sales targets at any cost and make up for their lost income. In the long-term, workers become engaged, productive, and actively involved in customer satisfaction.
Following this interview, a conveniently “leaked” internal email has appeared on Reddit. T-Mobile addresses its employees reminding them of company values and to put a stop to contrary practices. They also went further to ask that employees report anyone caught involved.
