The merger between Sprint and T-Mobile may not be finalized yet, but that reportedly hasn’t kept Sprint from throwing together incentives packages intended to encourage some employees to stay after it’s complete. That’s according to a new report from the Kansas City Business Journal which states that the retention bonuses are intended to assuage fears about job losses following the merger. However, the bonuses are also said to only be made available to select employees and may not guarantee a continuing career with the company. In fact, the company itself has said that the bonuses are neither a reflection of the employees’ worth to Sprint or a promise of continued employment. Although none of the offers’ finer details have been outlined, this seems to primarily be an effort to stop a panic among managing employees. There’s a good chance that those jobs will already be filled by current managers at T-Mobile if the merger goes through.
The concerns expressed by Sprint employees, meanwhile, are not at all unfounded. If regulators approve of the deal, Sprint will effectively be absorbed into what the two companies are calling “the new T-Mobile.” What’s more, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray recently explained that Sprint’s vast spectrum holdings are the primary advantage of the merger. That seems to imply that although some of Sprint’s infrastructure will undoubtedly be used, the majority of what separates Sprint as a company is likely to disappear. That’s going to put a substantial amount of pressure on current employees working at the company, in addition to a sense of diminished worth. The detriment to Sprint is that the merger is, by no means, final or guaranteed but a decrease in employee morale could be the result.
That could, in turn, harm the company as a whole in spite of the fact that similar mergers between carriers have failed in the past and job loss may be far less than some expect. In the meantime, there is a chance that employees who chose to take the bonuses will be able to claim those even if the merger falls through. So this is arguably a smart move on Sprint’s part since it serves as an incentive for employees to continue performing optimally.