FORBES article
As evidence that return-to-office mandates are failing, many employers are already backtracking. Look at Elon Musk. He initially insisted on a strict return-to-office approach, then later shut down his Seattle offices in favor of employees working remotely. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has also been a very outspoken critic of remote work. Yet, in his annual letter to shareholders, he admitted that working from home "will become more permanent in American business." He estimates that about 40% of his employees will operate under a hybrid model.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2023/05/14/why-return-to-office-mandates-will-backfire/?sh=793f515c78a1
16 replies (most recent on top)
If they treat employees with such disrespect, why would I as a consumer want to buy any of their services? I will switch away from ATT for good.
Many engineers have been with the company (or one they bought) for going on 20 years and have NEVER worked at an office, but are being forced into one. Think about this.... They are only listing ONE office in the entire SE of the US, and they did not include the Bat Building in Nashville. These are crazy times folks. They will lose some of the best talent they currently have. This is one of the most short sighted moves in corporate history
Non-compliance is the answer. Just keep doing your job from the house and wait for them to fire you. You are not getting severance either way, and lets face it, after taxes, our severance package is far from generous anyway. Rise up.
Stankey spent $10M to add a staircase between his floor and the executive floor above him because he “doesn’t like taking the elevator”. He also has an executive chef and an osteopathic doctor on staff. The Dr is scheduled to talk about well-being after this news. The chef cooks like one of the contestants on Worst Cooks in America. This child doesn’t know how to manage money.
Elon laid a bunch of people off, so return to office did work for him. AT&T just following his lead.
This isn't simply calling remote employees back to their prior office. This is closing offices throughout the country AND THEN telling employees to return to one of the offices that remains.
Imagine an employee that worked in the NYC office and lives in or near NYC. They have to relocate to the middle of NJ. And then what. They could be fired the next day (employee at will). Someone was very tired when they thought of this plan.
This will be another fiasco. Whatever Stanley touches it became a failure. This guy never did anything good for the company. There is no cost savings. He thinks he can do it because he opened a division of T in India and he has thousands of people lined up there. Good luck Stinky.
I don't think CRE got the message and is now scrambling. They let the lease expire on the old Bedminster building and downsized to a new one. My directorate was originally allocated 10 drop in spaces. Now we're asking for 30 to accommodate everyone. My group can't be the only one with a 300% increase in demand for space. If I'm sitting on a floor with my laptop literally on my lap, trying to work off my cell phone, forget that. Let them put me on the noncompliance list. I see a lot of quiet quitting in ATT's near future.
Wow, I just never dreamed the company would deteriorate so fast. I knew we were in serious financial trouble with our heavy debt load but wow, just wow.
There is always one thing you can count on at AT&T, constant change. Pop a bag of popcorn and sit back and watch the RTO sh-t show. Employees still control the workforce since the job market is still so hot. This RTO policy will bite AT&T in the a-s.
Yes if we all stick together RTO will fail. Employees don’t stick together like this we are scared and do as we’re told. Would be so much easier to track if the guideline was 100% office.
They're doing RTO for two reasons:
- Push out those who are willing to leave instead of coming back into the office.
- Keeping the ability to reduce headcount by moving employees to other geographic regions. You keep your job if you move otherwise bye-bye. Repeat when more headcount reduction is necessary.
Keeping your skills up to date and staying debt free will give you options if you're suddenly faced with a job relocation.
It’s a desperate move to achieve their insane 2023 free cash flow targets. If a corp needs to raise $2B fcf in a very short term, there’s only one way to do it - cut back staff. It’s a corporate restructure couched as RTO and it’s a slimy move to pitch it as collaboration and values. You should’ve heard the voices on our team call where folks in Colorado and Louisiana slowly digested that they’re being laid off. The gentle crackle and reserved tone descending on 6 genuine words of astonishment “so this means I’m laid off?” Our boss was smart enough not to say “yes” but we all know what it means. ATT be like ‘bye felicia!” to some of my dearest coworkers. How does Stanky John continue to have his job? Screwed up the TMO deal, face planted on Warner, tripped over DTV, and now this? The board really needs to can this dude asap he wastes BILLIONS repeatedly. Clowns love to surround themselves with a circus because that’s where they feel most at home and we’ll I guess he’s aced that one. Bravo di----t.
Here’s the thing, if they fire one for failing to hit the 3 day metric, they have to fire all. It will require managers to performance improvement plans and follow HR coaching rules. It will be a GIGANTIC headache for supervisors and completely unmanageable. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
AT&T is going the same way. RTO at AT&T is largely driven because they own these offices. But aren't they letting the leased offices go?
That's what I'm seeing. If you own an office, use it and get a marginal benefit, but if you lease, let the office go, because the marginal benefit doesn't pay for the office. So, I see hybrid. But what they're doing is shared office - if someone is working two days a week, someone else can use that office on two other days. The process only pays off if they can reduce real estate footprint.
What's happening at AT&T isn't really a "Return to Work". It is far broader than that, with the massive consolidation of work areas, purported reorganization of distributed teams, etc. It is being couched as RTO- but that is gas lighting; that this is ostensibly the "fault" of the workforce for not being "RTO" enough. It's a reduction in force without having to pay severance. It seems like a desperate move.