Breaking Job News: AT&T’s Failed Employee Surveillance and Layoffs Surge

Layoffs are rising, CEOs are cracking down, and even the government’s job data can’t be trusted. Is the American workforce heading for a breaking point?

Jobless claims just surged to 263,000, the highest since October 2021, raising urgent questions about the stability of employment and the direction of the economy.

In this video, we break down the most pressing labor market headlines you need to know:
1. Why unemployment claims are climbing and what it means for workers and businesses.
2. How Novo Nordisk’s five-day return-to-office mandate, announced immediately after 9,000 layoffs, signals a shift in corporate power dynamics.
3. AT&T’s failed experiment with employee surveillance through badge swipes, network monitoring, and mobile tracking.
4. The stunning revelation that the Bureau of Labor Statistics overstated 911,000 jobs, and why the Department of Labor’s Inspector General is investigating.
5. Plus: the surprising truth about which weekday sees the fewest sick calls.

News Articles:
1. Jobless Claims Hit Highest Level Since 2021: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20251377.pdf
2. After Layoffs, Novo Nordisk Announces RTO Mandate for Employees: https://www.thehrdigest.com/after-layoffs-novo-nordisk-announces-rto-mandate-for-employees/
3. AT&T Backtracks on Employee Surveillance: https://www.businessinsider.com/att-system-for-tracking-employees-rto-compliance-2025-9
4. Labor Department inspector general announces audit of BLS data collection: https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/labor-department-inspector-general-announces-audit-bls-data-collection-challenges 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Rising Unemployment Claims
• 0:49 Novo Nordisk's Controversial RTO Policy
• 1:37 AT&T's Employee Surveillance Failure
• 2:34 BLS Under Investigation
• 3:41 Friday Fun Fact

Transcript

Pete Newsome: 0:03

Today's job market headlines include Novo Nordisk, somehow making things worse for employees following a recent layoff, at&t, realizing spying on employees isn't a good thing and the BLS is being investigated. But first jobless claims rose again last week. The Department of Labor reports initial claims for unemployment insurance climbed to 263,000 in the week ending September 6, which is up 27,000 from the previous week. This is now the highest weekly level since October 23, 2021. The four-week moving average also rose to 240,000, which is up by about almost 10,000 jobs week over week. Now a single jump doesn't make a trend, but this is another data point showing the job market is weak and possibly getting weaker.

Pete Newsome: 0:49

Hr Digest reports that Novo Nordisk is sending employees back to the office immediately following a massive 9,000-person layoff. New CEO Mike Douster has ordered all employees back to full-time, five days a week in the office. Now the company says it's designed to foster a stronger sense of belonging, strengthen relationships, enhance collaboration and accelerate decision making processes. It's intended to restart this company that's clearly struggling. I don't know if it will work. But also this RTO news has become almost daily recently and to me it just doesn't seem like a coincidence that it's happening as a job market continues to tighten. Employers are well aware that they have much more control than they did just a few short years ago, so if you're a corporate employee who's remote, it's probably wise to assume that your company may be next. In other news, this is somewhat hard to believe, but AT&T built a surveillance system to track employees and then realized it was causing more harm than good. Apparently, nobody stopped to question whether this was a bad idea before implementing it. According to Business Insider, at&t rolled out a presence reporting tool to monitor return to office compliance. It used laptop network connections, badge swipes and even mobile devices to track how long people were in the office, with the intent of identifying employees who weren't coming in enough. Chief Marketing and Growth Officer Kellen Kinney admitted the reports had inaccuracies and were quote driving people to the brink of frustration. Going forward, the company says it will rely less on individual tracking and more on broad behavioral patterns. Unless someone is an extreme outlier, can you imagine being in the room where this was first brought up? If this is the idea that made the cut, I would love to see which ones they scrapped In the final headline.

Pete Newsome: 2:34

Today, fox Business reports that the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General has launched a formal review into how the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects and reports key economic data on jobs and inflation, and how it handles monthly revisions. This follows a recent benchmark revision that showed employment was overstated by about 911,000 jobs in the year ending March 2025. In a letter to the acting BLS Commissioner, assistant Inspector General for Audit, laura Nicolosi, wrote our focus will be on the challenge and related mitigating strategies for one, collecting PPI and CPI data and two, collecting and reporting, including revising monthly employment data. For years, economists have noticed and pointed out cracks in the data, but this audit signals the errors, once considered acceptable, have now officially undermined the Bureau's credibility. Businesses, individuals and families have relied on these numbers for strategic planning, but at this point, any trust has all but disappeared. We'll have to wait and see if it can be regained at some point. I have my doubts, but hopefully, for everyone's sake, they will turn it around.

Pete Newsome: 3:41

And finally, before we go today, friday, it's Friday, everyone should be happy. And here's your fun fact Fridays, it turns out, are the least common day for people to call in sick. When I read that, I was surprised. I thought people would want to start their weekend early, but we know that oftentimes they will call in sick on Mondays to keep the weekend going longer, so maybe that's why so it is Friday. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Please like, subscribe, share with anyone who might be interested and if you have comments, I'd love to see those too. Talk to you next week.