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 

Don’t miss out! Subscribe for weekly updates on the latest job news. 

🧠 WANT TO LEARN MORE? Be sure to subscribe and check out 4 Corner Resources at https://www.4cornerresources.com/

👋 FOLLOW PETE NEWSOME ONLINE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewsome/
Blog Articles: https://www.4cornerresources.com/blog/

Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:03):
Today's job market headlines include Novo Nordisk,
somehow making things worse foremployees following a recent
layoff, at&t, realizing spyingon employees isn't a good thing
and the BLS is beinginvestigated.
But first jobless claims roseagain last week.
The Department of Labor reportsinitial claims for unemployment
insurance climbed to 263,000 inthe week ending September 6,

(00:27):
which is up 27,000 from theprevious week.
This is now the highest weeklylevel since October 23, 2021.
The four-week moving averagealso rose to 240,000, which is
up by about almost 10,000 jobsweek over week.
Now a single jump doesn't makea trend, but this is another
data point showing the jobmarket is weak and possibly

(00:47):
getting weaker.
Hr Digest reports that NovoNordisk is sending employees
back to the office immediatelyfollowing a massive 9,000-person
layoff.
New CEO Mike Douster hasordered all employees back to
full-time, five days a week inthe office.
Now the company says it'sdesigned to foster a stronger
sense of belonging, strengthenrelationships, enhance

(01:08):
collaboration and acceleratedecision making processes.
It's intended to restart thiscompany that's clearly
struggling.
I don't know if it will work.
But also this RTO news hasbecome almost daily recently and
to me it just doesn't seem likea coincidence that it's
happening as a job marketcontinues to tighten.
Employers are well aware thatthey have much more control than

(01:30):
they did just a few short yearsago, so if you're a corporate
employee who's remote, it'sprobably wise to assume that
your company may be next.
In other news, this is somewhathard to believe, but AT&T built
a surveillance system to trackemployees and then realized it
was causing more harm than good.
Apparently, nobody stopped toquestion whether this was a bad
idea before implementing it.

(01:51):
According to Business Insider,at&t rolled out a presence
reporting tool to monitor returnto office compliance.
It used laptop networkconnections, badge swipes and
even mobile devices to track howlong people were in the office,
with the intent of identifyingemployees who weren't coming in
enough.
Chief Marketing and GrowthOfficer Kellen Kinney admitted

(02:11):
the reports had inaccuracies andwere quote driving people to
the brink of frustration.
Going forward, the company saysit will rely less on individual
tracking and more on broadbehavioral patterns.
Unless someone is an extremeoutlier, can you imagine being
in the room where this was firstbrought up?
If this is the idea that madethe cut, I would love to see

(02:32):
which ones they scrapped In thefinal headline.
Today, fox Business reports thatthe Labor Department's Office
of Inspector General haslaunched a formal review into
how the Bureau of LaborStatistics collects and reports
key economic data on jobs andinflation, and how it handles
monthly revisions.
This follows a recent benchmarkrevision that showed employment

(02:52):
was overstated by about 911,000jobs in the year ending March
2025.
In a letter to the acting BLSCommissioner, assistant
Inspector General for Audit,laura Nicolosi, wrote our focus
will be on the challenge andrelated mitigating strategies
for one, collecting PPI and CPIdata and two, collecting and
reporting, including revisingmonthly employment data.

(03:15):
For years, economists havenoticed and pointed out cracks
in the data, but this auditsignals the errors, once
considered acceptable, have nowofficially undermined the
Bureau's credibility.
Businesses, individuals andfamilies 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 ifit can be regained at some point

(03:36):
.
I have my doubts, but hopefully, for everyone's sake, they will
turn it around.
And finally, before we go today,friday, it's Friday, everyone
should be happy.
And here's your fun factFridays, it turns out, are the
least common day for people tocall in sick.
When I read that, I wassurprised.
I thought people would want tostart their weekend early, but

(03:57):
we know that oftentimes theywill call in sick on Mondays to
keep the weekend going longer,so maybe that's why so it is
Friday.
Hope everyone has a greatweekend.
Please like, subscribe, sharewith anyone who might be
interested and if you havecomments, I'd love to see those
too.
Talk to you next week.