I have been with the company for 15 years and have always worked from home. I've spent exactly 16 days in the office during that time. I had to familiarize new employees with our processes. I chose to do it in person all 4 times. We've never needed a second car, and my work hours have been pretty flexible, depending on business demands. Some months flow by easily enough. Others might require crazy hours. We live 31 miles from the office so I will drive 62 miles each day. I've been monitoring the route on google maps, and the route stays red (traffic) during the morning and evening commutes. No realistic public transportation, so we had to buy a car. Then there's the full coverage insurance since the car is financed. We guesstimate for fuel will be about $135-150. Monthly commute will be about 800 miles, so there is depreciation on that new car. My team does a collaboration call on Teams 3 times each week, but we largely work independently, so I won't be collaborating with anyone in the physical office space. I've participated in a couple of calls in recent months where other teams are so excited to be able to talk with coworkers face to face, plan extensive lunches and events, and to play games. Yeah...play games. Working from home, I go to my home office and no one disturbs me until I either break for lunch, or the end of my shift. It is clear how much my family is losing due to the RTO mandate. I would love for ATT to prove to me that my individual sacrifice is worth it.
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doing my part, I collaborated 6 hrs yesterday, worked 2
OP, what kind of car did you buy? New or used? How much you pay? If new, any dealer markup or add ins@A?
I live less than a mile from the office. I have averaged 1-3 days in the office since the covid restrictions ended. This was mostly by choice. I DO leave the office on days where significant numbers of workers plan to come in on the same day. There is too much goofing off and catching up going on. I see this being a problem when RTO is actually enforced. My manager wants us to document distractions beginning next week. We tried to explain that it lasts most of the business day. I definitely see a potential downside to Return To Office. What we need is a Return To Work.
You're talking anecdotally. AT&T has a picture of how things were prior to Covid, and the situation after Covid. Seems management has made the decision that they like the pre-Covid arrangements better.
The problem I see is, they're mixing RTO with a force management program involving moving work from one location to another.
When they offer relo, they get 25-33% of the people taking it. If they're not offering relo, they're going to look at someone relocating on their own dime as a fool, depending on whether the additional service with AT&T will actually lead to something.
"It’s about doing as you are being asked. Do you want to continue with T or do you prefer moving on to another employer? T is not required to prove anything to you. Make your choice."
I see the corporate PR bots have arrived.
"“Those people that are being told to move across country to come to Atlanta and Dallas have no choice.”
This is also a choice."
I love how we fetishize "choice". Nothing is bad as long as we preserve the illusion of choice. Nonsense. We've decided to pluck your eye out but it's ok because you get to choose which one.
"Too many here relish the pain of others. Be thankful you don't have to work with them. Best of luck"
Very accurate.
“ Get into the office and actually work. Instead of sleeping in, personal shopping, paint the house.”
Said the guy who comes into office early, says “hi” to all the collar poppin suits when they arrive, shops on sports memorabilia sites all morning on EMO, gossips about Mickey Mantle ball he bought with people trying to get work done so they can GTFO at 4pm, eats at desk and then tells everyone that they ate at desk as they come back from eating out and then he sends an email that no one reads around 4:30pm with action items.
If they did “paint the room”, there are only 8 to 10 rooms in a house, so they miss 8 to 10 days max. You waste 30 hours a week waving to the bosses and wagging your finger at WFH peeps.
You don’t work in the office. You aren’t fooling anyone. You get nothing done in the office. No one reads your emails. They have a BOT to delete!!
“Those people that are being told to move across country to come to Atlanta and Dallas have no choice.”
This is also a choice.
Get into the office and actually work. Instead of sleeping in, personal shopping, paint the house.
To people in shoes of person who is complaining about driving 31 miles, I say this, you have a choice. You can continue to work for AT&T and drive to work, or you can look for a differrent job while you still have full employment. Those people that are being told to move across country to come to Atlanta and Dallas have no choice.
they don't care they want people like you gone.
they want contractors and the rest of the employees a revolving door lasting maybe a 2 or three years and then move on.
long term employees are nothing but a expense that their creative financing cannot figure out how to deal with like they do the customers.
so the easiest method is for you to disappear.
I would go to the office 3 days a week, deal with it and be quiet.
If you raise a big noise about how you can only collaborate with your direct team and that they're located all over the US, well that's sounds like a good group to centralize in Dallas. Thats how they think.
I'd tell the boss yes I am collaborating every day I am in the office.
Hey OP, you've obviously made the decision to stay, and I can empathize. I went through something similar during my 4th year, though not as extreme as what you are facing. Ignore the troll comments. Too many here relish the pain of others. Be thankful you don't have to work with them. Best of luck.
I have often found that employees pushing back the hardest on any type of office presence are the biggest abusers unavailable the majority of the day and rarely responding to messages.
you can always quit and let somebody else take your place.
“VPN, call logs and location tracking via MobileIron/Avanti reveal significant abuse. You can argue it either way but data doesn’t lie.”
100%.
WFH will quickly be a thing of the past for all major corporations. They simply don’t trust employees. With T, yes, those with discipline are more productive however the vast majority take advantage of it. VPN, call logs and location tracking via MobileIron/Avanti reveal significant abuse. You can argue it either way but data doesn’t lie.
“Not sure what group you’re in, but it’s been proven repeatedly employees are more productive in a WFH model. This is the future. Micromanaging and watching what everyone else is doing is counterproductive.”
Actually the WFH model is declining rapidly. We are just way behind. Again
`We live 31 miles from the office so I will drive 62 miles each day. I've been monitoring the route on google maps, and the route stays red (traffic) during the morning and evening commutes. `
Welcome back to the real world where the majority of us live.
Then there's the full coverage insurance since the car is financed. We guesstimate for fuel will be about $135-150. Monthly commute will be about 800 miles, so there is depreciation on that new car.
So you know about these costs and the daily commute mileage yet you bought a new car. That's what we sane people call an insane financial decision.
You have valid complaints but the terms of employment can change. You either accept them or move on to another job. In this case you've accepted the new terms of employment. Time to be an adult and live with your decisions.
there sure are a lot of troll comments coming from the bros - white sons of the VPs in Dallas who do not understand a good ethical company runs by people like the OP who get the work done rather than going out for happy hour at 3pm with the team so they can learn about what the boat they bought and plan to take out to the lake over the weekend.
I'm personally leaving, not waiting around for the severance. Does AT&T win? the c-suites sure do but i don't care. I'm out and moving on. Like the OP, I am 15 years in. top performer. Am i expendable? yes. It's an every day fact of life. but AT&T is being cruel about it, having us commute just months before getting laid off so they withhold severance.
Hope people at the tippy top monitor the badge swipes for adherence. Managers are already hearing some orgs won’t even be checking and it’s up to Level 3s & 4…
Not fair for those who won’t be treated the same.
Thats what getting a job is all about.
It’s about doing as you are being asked. Do you want to continue with T or do you prefer moving on to another employer? T is not required to prove anything to you. Make your choice.
Reread stankeys bullsh-t email and the FAQ's and stuff. It's about the vaguely defined "culture" and "purpose". Nothing to do with productivity. Really though it is about the huge frigging debt and pulling every possible lever to rein it in
you worthless arrogant plebe ATT is a machine that will keep working with or without you.
This is the exact opposite of the goal for RTO. You need to adjust your perspective.
Some maybe do, but for many of us, it's a set of duties and projects, that we complete every day and every week. If I don't get my daily tasks completed today, I'll just have more tomorrow, and if I don't get them done then, even more the following day. So I get them done, I have the best control over my performance, it's my own time. No one is doing the stuff I do but me, and there is no need for me to talk or collaborate with anyone to get my work done. Before you say, if you can do it from home, then someone from overseas can do it, or maybe even AI... maybe, but it's the kind of stuff that required manual inputs, experience and knowledge, there is judgement involved, so someone else can probably do it, but it won't be done right. There are different scenarios, and the fact that the company is this unwilling to consider them on the individual bases, to me, once again proves that they don't really care about collaboration or productivity, they're just looking to remove people where ever possible. At the end, our customers will be affected, and our bottom line, but it just doesn't seem like a priority to them. It's very short-sighted.
It sounds like you have WFH for too long and are going to have a hard time adapting. It is probably time for you to leave.
Same boat as you. Been VO for MANY years. Have always worked my behind off for this company. Now it’s a long commute in massive traffic both ways. Thx Stankey and team. Another awesome job. We all know this is about headcount reduction and we also know it’s about some individuals in upper mgmt (who never should have been promoted to those positions) who continue making poor decisions. If mgmt thinks this will make me and others more productive, guess again. If mgmt thinks I’ll continue to go above and beyond like I have for MANY years, not happening. If this is the gift I get for going above and beyond for MANY years, I’ll just repay the favor with an average job and 0-days notice when I eventually leave. Just another in a long line of poorly made decisions at this company. But then again I’m just one person so they don’t care….and nor will I anymore. No crying here. Just facts that you just made a very good highly regarded worker an ‘average’ one with your d-mb decisions.
STOP with the belly-aching. Our employer has the right to ask us to RTO, or move our work to another city. Don't like it?
(A) QUIT!
(B) FIND ANOTHER JOB!
(C) START YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND BE YOUR OWN BOSS.
As my AVP said... ... ... ... ... Shut your mouth as he has to deliver much worse news to people.
"I'm more likely to get a knock on my door"
There aren't doors in the future AT&T office world. If you have a 'door' to even a cubicle, consider yourself living a charmed life.
Imagine you're a programmer used to three full size monitors and proper lighting as you do heads-down development. Now imagine showing up to work in the office and finding the only open spot is a barstool at a cacophonous shared table, and you're left to content with a single laptop monitor and trackpad.
I'm one of those rare people who prefer in office. I went in everyday during the pandemic, when I could have worked from home. I do have people I collaborate with in the office and look for those opportunities. Since more people have been coming in lately, there have been many organic conversations that have led to identifying or fixing issues, that likely wouldn't have happened or at least not as fast if it weren't for the "water cooler" chats.
On the flip side, in the office I'm more likely to get a knock on my door distracting me from a time critical project.
Pros and cons to both.
“Ensuring more reliability with workers actually working.”
Not sure what group you’re in, but it’s been proven repeatedly employees are more productive in a WFH model. This is the future. Micromanaging and watching what everyone else is doing is counterproductive.
A few days a month in the office for training newbies, mentoring etc is fine. Watching every keystroke and restroom break isn’t being an effective manager. It’s exerting unnecessary control 1980s style
My girlfriend was surplussed last year. I was also in the group that was notified but was spared selection. We immediately cut our expenses to the bare minimum. While doing so we decided to switch service to Verizon. We were expecting I would be on the next cut or the next or the next. I have been doing 3 days in the office since March. For me it is the aggravation with the commute. Takes a good hour to really get my head in the game on my office days. My team definitely experienced a loss of productivity
“so I won't be collaborating with anyone in the physical office space.”
This is the exact opposite of the goal for RTO. You need to adjust your perspective. You are going to gain a lot of new contacts and physical coworkers once finally back in the office.
Working here right now is nothing but a transaction. Time spent = $. When quality of life < $, it’s time to move on.
Ensuring more reliability with workers actually working.
This isnt about added value to your life, this is value for the company to get rid of as many employees as possible. You dont matter to at&t noone does
The only added value is to make enough people miserable that they’ll quit. There is nothing positive that will come out of this that will ever make employees more productive and certainly isn’t going to do anything for the toxic culture at T.