CenturyLink Cancels Holiday Bonuses, CEO Blames Cash Flow

Employees at AT&T and Comcast are getting surprise holiday bonuses, while CenturyLink workers have been told they won’t be receiving theirs because of reductions in operating cash flow.

CenturyLink told employees this week that it it won’t be offering a holiday bonus as it has before, according to a Yahoo Finance report, Last year, it gave unionized employees $200.

In an email sent to workers, CenturyLink CEO Glen Post said, “We must make progress in stabilizing and growing our cash flows.”

“Although we have seen success in certain areas this year, our overall operating results are well below our expectations,” he added.

CenturyLink declined comment.

Last month, CenturyLink confirmed it is laying off more than 150 employees after the recent close of its $34 billion acquisition of Level 3 Communications. About 165 employees are being impacted by the layoffs, including 37 in Louisiana, where the company is based.

In the meantime, this week’s passage of tax reform legislation and the Federal Communications Commission’s recent unraveling of net neutrality is prompting Comcast to give special $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 eligible frontline and non-executive employees. It also expects to spend more than $50 billion during the next five years investing in infrastructure, adding “thousands of new direct and indirect jobs.”

Now that President Trump has signed the tax bill, AT&T plans to pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. employees, all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers. The carrier also plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States.

“Congress, working closely with the president, took a monumental step to bring taxes paid by U.S. businesses in line with the rest of the industrialized world,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO. “This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs.”