Few Accept At&T; Buyout Offer Mediocre Response Sets Stage For Layoffs Starting Next Month

One day before AT&T Corp.’s buyout offer to 72,000 supervisory employees was set to expire, the telecommunications company said 2,900 workers had accepted the severance package.

While the response appeared mediocre, AT&T said the 4 percent acceptance rate was in line with initial expectations and another 700 managers might sign on by today. Additional workers will be laid off beginning in January to meet the company’s unspecified job-reduction goals.

“Tomorrow will be a busy day,” AT&T spokesman Burke Stinson said Thursday. “We could get to 5 percent or better, given the human nature factor of filing at the last possible minute.”

The incentive package was announced in mid-November as part of AT&T’s plan to trim down and split into three separate entities.

AT&T hasn’t said precisely how many jobs it needs to cut as part of its breakup, but some analysts have estimated as many as 30,000 positions will be eliminated eventually. Overall, AT&T has almost 303,700 employees.

The buyout pace quickened last week as 800 managers accepted the offer, bringing the total to 2,624. About 275 more had signed on by Thursday morning, and the total could swell as high as 3,600 by the deadline, Stinson said.

In a sweeping move to compete in the rapidly changing telecommunications industry, AT&T announced in September that it was dividing into three new companies - a communications services provider, a communications equipment maker and a computer maker.

The communications services business, which includes long distance, cellular service and credit-card calling, will retain the AT&T name.