From 2012 to April 2020, T-Mobile’s CEO was John Legere. With his shoulder-length hair, Legere looked very unmanageable, especially in his usual attire of magenta T-Mobile t-shirts, jackets, and sneakers. Legere was known for putting customers first and disparaging competitors. But he loved mobile phones much more than his rival CEOs, and he not only made T-Mobile relevant, but also turned it into the fastest-growing and most innovative of the big four. Legere also led T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint, which gave the company the 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum that Sprint held, making T-Mobile the arguably 5G leader in the United States. In 2019, Legere was named the best CEO in the wireless industry for the fifth consecutive year. From April 2020 to the present, T-Mobile has been run by Mike Siebert, but things have gotten worse as Siebert appears to have changed the company’s focus from helping customers to boosting the stock price.
This week, I had the opportunity to speak with a T-Mobile Mobile Expert (ME) who has been with the carrier since 2014 and will remain anonymous as he still works there. He told me that things have gotten better under Legere and that many other T-Mobile employees agree. Many of the issues T-Mobile is currently facing have to do with the standards their salespeople must meet to keep their jobs. This has led to some salespeople allegedly misrepresenting promotions and adding lines to customer accounts without approval.
Mike Siebert (left) and John Legere during T-Mobile’s booming days. | Image courtesy of T-Mobile
“Morale is terrible… Morale is terrible. [that] It’s hard to do your job right. You’re constantly torn between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing because you’re at the mercy of management. So it’s often hard to make money or hit your metrics.” -Anonymous T-Mobile mobile expert
And while under Legere, salespeople had to hit metrics, ME says that’s not the case now. Under Siebert, he says, metrics are “opportunity-based.” And while he agrees with the assessment that under Siebert, T-Mobile’s focus has shifted from customers to stock price, he says that employees are feeling this change the most. One anonymous employee I spoke to, for example, said he felt disgust for the company after his base salary was cut.
A T-Mobile employee offered suggestions to put an end to the constant stories of salespeople scamming to make a living. He believes that if the company raised salaries, it would take the pressure off unscrupulous salespeople. He also explained the difference between when T-Mobile completed its acquisition of Sprint and the decline the company has experienced since then.
“Oh man! Legere was so much fun, I had the chance to meet him a few times and he was just as much fun in person. Siebert on the other hand… he’s such a bad actor lol” – Anonymous T-Mobile Mobile Expert
