#rto

For everyone complaining that the backlash to RTO gets tiring, here's why it won't go away.

Outsourcing means they don't believe you can't do the job remotely.

Work has changed. You can do everything with an internet connection.

Housing prices and cost of living are insane, but America has a lot of undeveloped land where we could build affordable housing for decent costs if you didn't have to commute to one building just to be on your computer.

Teams are not co-located, so collaboration is a made up reason to be in the office.

Commuting and office buildings are huge carbon emissions contributors, so I dont want to hear from any of these companies what they think of the environment.

The world has changed. We should embrace it. Companies could get teams together for one offs. They can even have optional offices or offices for execs who love it so much, but the excuse that this is what we've always done just doesn't make sense anymore.

As of 8/26/25, Exelixis began laying off more employees, across departments, but seeming to zero in on remote employees. Exact number not yet known.

Be honest, HBAs want to silence voices questioning the current policy because the status quo because it benefits them. They don’t want the firm to revisit its current policy of allowing HBA roles based solely on geographic location because it might mean a change that disrupts their ability to work with little to no accountability wherever and largely whenever they choose without incurring the costs of commuting. They don’t want ANY disruptions to their sweetheart deal and will shout down anyone that even tries to advocate for a change.

HBAs shouldn’t point the finger at the firm while selfishly praising and protecting both explicitly and implicitly a two-tiered, unfair system that unilaterally benefits only them. If HBAs actually cared about the negative impacts of RTO on hybrid associates they would push the firm for a policy that treats all associates fairly. Instead, to preserve their own interests in keeping the current policy in place they push narratives of “isolation” and raise fears of lack of career progression (as if there is any for hybrid workers) to the forefront so the firm focuses on those manufactured concerns instead of crafting an equitable solution for everyone.

To me and many others, HBAs’ silence, fake concerns, and hostility to change the real problem are as much to blame for the firm’s stance as the c-suite.

If they truly cared, HBAs would push for a policy that is equal for all workers even if that means hybrid are paid more to offset commuting costs or barring that embrace accountability metrics like the badge swiping and other surveillance hybrid associates have to endure. I’ve seen none of that.

Anyone have info on what RTO will look like aside from it being implemented next year and which divisions will be at which location?

Last I heard. There was going to be another large RTO Wave in October.

Recently seen several people get changed from core location to remote status. They don’t seem to have a history of illness and have worked in the office for years. I thought this was an act of Congress to get done?

Anyone heard of possible force scheduled days in office?
I was on my weekly manager call this morning and the topic came up of division heads possibly setting forced days in office so that everyone is able to “freely collaborate” without needing to worry about trying to coordinate days in the office together.

In a nutshell the message today was "if you don't like the idea of RTO, then leave". If you want to be promoted and you don't live in a main hub location "too bad". In other words you are just a damn number. Tone deaf leadership to think that people want to move just to move. They should all be fired! They have done zero for this company and simply waste money. Many of us have been to this rodeo show before.

Notice went out that all central arkansas workers will have to spend at least one day a week in the office soon. The wording of the communication sounded like it will increase once they test the water.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91376683/fords-reimagining-offices-starting-with-a-historic-engineering-lab

This article should ask how much the employees love RTO! Papering over cracks. You can't polish a tu-d.

If you love wasting time and money commuting to an office so you can send emails and sit on teams calls all day, here are a few other things you can do:

1. End direct deposit of your paycheck. Get a paper check and run to the bank to deposit it so you can collaborate with the bank teller.
2. End online bill payment. Write a check and mail it in for everything - Netflix, credit cards, everything. And for your AT&T bill, go down to the store every month and use a paper check so you can collaborate with your retail colleagues.
3. End all online shopping. You need to buy something for someone across the country? Go to a store, buy it, then go to the post office and ship it. Collaborate with your mailman.

Don’t complain. Back in my day you had to walk 10 miles in the snow uphill both ways to get a jug of hooch.

It’s called progress and evolution.

Execs are obsessed with pushing employees to accept change even when the employees are hurt by it. That is EXCEPT with RTO because the execs don’t get the ego boost of and control from being able to survey all that they command. We need to turn back progress in that case. Same goes for anything else that is more of a bottom up benefit than top down command.

RTO isn’t about collaboration or customers, it’s about control, ego, and cutting costs. Execs aren’t in the hubs 5 days a week, but we’re forced to waste hours commuting just to sit on Teams calls. Hubs are overcrowded, unsafe, and nothing gets done. Productivity is down, morale is dead, and the best people are leaving for better remote jobs. RTO isn’t saving AT&T, it’s accelerating the collapse.

Anyone else wonder if productivity has diminished with the 4 day a week requirement? Everyone was already burnt out from the ever growing workload. Add the commute and I continue to see people’s ability to care fading away.

It is getting harder to keep up as more people leave and the remaining team ends up doing twice the work. With RTO, things are only going to get much, much worse. Leadership really needs to address staffing before more talented people give up and walk out.

What's to keep employees from staying at home and boycotting RTO? My direct manager has worked from home the past 2 weeks with no explanation.

when do we expect return to office mandate to expand? some mentioned after labor day, but that seems too soon.

https://www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/article/2024-07-26-execs-hr-admit-rto-mandates-are-meant-to-make-staff-quit#:~:text=A%20leading%20motive%20behind%20many,before%20their%20in%2Doffice%20counterparts.

RTO next week. Here we go!

Is the orlando office on 12150 research pkwy going to be a hub?

VBG specifically has been hosting VP/AVP level all hands calls where the leader will say “we expect you to be in full days. Talk to your manager if you need an exception”, yet Sam’s video and the VLC letter say “3 days with flexibility”, no mention of what flexibility’s definition is. Can this be enforced if it’s not in writing?

I am just going to leave this here:

Verizon

• Requirement: 3 days per week for hybrid management and corporate staff
• Effective date: Day after Labor Day 2025
• Reported date: Jul 29, 2025

Rogers Communications

• Requirement: Phase 1 4 days, then 5 days for corporate staff
• Effective date: Oct 1, 2025 then Feb 1, 2026
• Reported date: Jul 28, 2025

Tata Consultancy Services

• Requirement: 5 days per week in office for US employees, immediate
• Effective date: Immediate
• Reported date: Jul 23, 2025

TD Bank

• Requirement: 4 days per week
• Effective date: Execs Oct 6, 2025, others Nov 3, 2025
• Reported date: Jul 23, 2025

Sherwin-Williams

• Requirement: 5 days per week in US and Canada
• Effective date: Jan 1, 2026
• Reported date: Jul 17, 2025

Starbucks

• Requirement: 4 days per week for corporate employees
• Effective date: Sep 29, 2025
• Reported date: Jul 14, 2025

Target

• Requirement: 3 days per week for most HQ roles
• Effective date: Sep 2, 2025
• Reported date: Jul 11, 2025

3M

• Requirement: 4 days per week for most US non production staff
• Effective date: Sep 2, 2025
• Reported date: Jul 9, 2025

HSBC

• Requirement: Managing directors 4 days per week
• Effective date: Oct 2025
• Reported date: Jun 29, 2025

BMO

• Requirement: 4 days per week
• Effective date: Sep 15, 2025
• Reported date: Jun 26, 2025

Ford

• Requirement: 4 days per week for most global salaried staff
• Effective date: Sep 1, 2025
• Reported date: Jun 25, 2025

ING

• Requirement: At least 2 days per week, one of Mon or Wed or Fri
• Effective date: Active as of Jun 2025
• Reported date: Jun 25, 2025

UnitedHealth Group

• Requirement: 4 days per week for hybrid staff in MN and DC
• Effective date: Jul 7, 2025
• Reported date: Jun 25, 2025

Amazon

• Requirement: Relocate to hubs or exit, tied to stricter in office push
• Effective date: Rolling from Jun 2025
• Reported date: Jun 18 to Jun 20, 2025

RBC

• Requirement: 4 days per week
• Effective date: Sep 2025
• Reported date: May 29, 2025

BlackRock

• Requirement: Managing directors full time in office
• Effective date: 2025 rollout
• Reported date: May 8, 2025

BNY Mellon

• Requirement: 4 days per week for most employees
• Effective date: Sep 2, 2025
• Reported date: May 1, 2025

Uber

• Requirement: 3 days per week for all employees
• Effective date: Jun 1, 2025
• Reported date: Apr 29, 2025

Thermo Fisher Scientific

• Requirement: 4 days per week company wide
• Effective date: 2025
• Reported date: Apr 30, 2025

Honda USA

• Requirement: At least 80 percent in office
• Effective date: Oct 6, 2025
• Reported date: Apr 25, 2025

IBM

• Requirement: US sales and US cloud teams at client site, flagship office or hub at least 3 days per week
• Effective date: 2025
• Reported date: Apr 2025

Intel

• Requirement: 4 days per week in office
• Effective date: Sep 2025
• Reported date: Apr 24 to Apr 25, 2025

Google

• Requirement: Hybrid 3 days per week enforced, team level strictness or exit
• Effective date: 2025 update to 2022 policy
• Reported date: Apr 23 to Apr 24, 2025

Caterpillar

• Requirement: 5 days per week for US office staff
• Effective date: Jun 2, 2025
• Reported date: Apr 10, 2025

Qualcomm

• Requirement: 5 days per week for corporate employees
• Effective date: 2025 after Feb internal meeting
• Reported date: Feb 20, 2025

Gap Inc.

• Requirement: 5 days per week for corporate staff near offices
• Effective date: Sep 1, 2025
• Reported date: Feb 9, 2025

Dell Technologies

• Requirement: 5 days per week for employees within about 1 hour of an office
• Effective date: Mar 3, 2025
• Reported date: Jan 31, 2025

Home Depot

• Requirement: 5 days per week for employees within 50 miles of Atlanta HQ
• Effective date: Jun 2, 2025
• Reported date: Jan 10, 2025

Rogers Communications announced a new return-to-office (RTO) policy that will ultimately require all corporate employees to be in the office five days a week. The policy was issued on July 28, 2025 and will be phased in: starting October 1, 2025, employees must work four days per week in the office, and from February 1, 2026, the requirement rises to five days per week. Rogers, which employs about 24,000 people, said the phased rollout is meant to give workers and families time to adjust.

The update comes just two months after layoffs in May 2025, when the company cut roughly 2 percent of its workforce (around 2,000 jobs). While not officially tied, many recent RTO mandates across industries have been announced near the time of workforce reductions.

Compared to Canadian peers, Rogers’ new policy is among the strictest. RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, and TD Bank will require four days per week in-office later in 2025, while many other employers still follow three-day or hybrid models. Only a few large companies, such as CIBC and Brookfield Corporation, currently enforce five-day office mandates.

Source:

• https://buildremote.co/return-to-office/rogers/

Here are some companies that go through RTO right now. Almost all of htem have RTO thereads here on layoffs.com:

Microsoft, Amazon, UnitedHealth Group, JPMorgan Chase, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Humana, Accenture, International Business Machines, Charles Schwab, CDW, Medtronic, PepsiCo, Best Buy, CVS Health, State Street, Target, American Electric Power, Dell, Emerson Electric, Cisco Systems, Intel, Abbott Laboratories, Anthem, American International Group (AIG), Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, Truist, Verizon Communications, Starbucks, Nike, Fiserv, Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), TransUnion, Illumina, AMN Healthcare Services, Cenovus Energy, SeaWorld Entertainment, Zoom Communications

Careful with how much time you are spending in the office.. They are watching and firing people who arent in the office "enough time". Keep in mind there is NO policy which outlines time in office but they will still fire you!

And it’s only going to get worse. Anything management can do to make it more miserable, more difficult to comply with, more absurd or outright humiliating, they’ll do it. Because no matter what they’ve claimed, the real goal of RTO has always been the same - to make you quit. Pure, distilled attrition.

I'm a manager in Manchester and I have just been told today that despite what the in office scorecard for flex employees is telling my team, they must start doing 4 days a week from 1st September (despite one week to go of the 4 week period). Seems pedantic and fussy to me.

Anyone else been told this? Not sure how will enforced.

Hey you guys, I received a call today that I will have to start working from the office again “soon” and I work in Risk. Has anyone else received such notice recently?

We all know this is the hot button issue right now. Management has created a downright demoralizing environment by their refusal to get with the times and allow more remote work. We’re now being told that (against HR policy) we need to be in 11 days a month no matter what. You were sick? Make up the day. On two weeks of vacation time? Make up the two weeks and add a day to the month. That means that even if you’ve gathered weeks of PTO and you want to go on a vacation and use 10 days of PTO you simply can’t because there are 20 working days in a month. I worked at another dinosaur bank just before coming here not long ago and even their RTO policy was less aggressive. I’m not sure why the obsession on being in office - are they just forcing attrition? Why continue to hire new talent if that’s the case as it is in my organization? Guess I need to dust off my resume again. This is getting ridiculous.

I was laid off in December without being given the option to move. My former boss, who also lives outside of a hub location, is still working! Are managers exempt from the location strategy?

So I work in Everett and we are being told 4 days a week will occur for some time now it's fine I get it. I am on a specific client so I am in a certain secluded area, what I do not get is there is now being asked to return on specific days per person. I wasn't in office when asked due to vacation so my slotted days are just being demanded upon me. There is not enough desks where I am now for what we have in terms of my team at 3 days a week and Managers at 4, How are we going to cram Boston people here too. My manager claims they are getting a new section for us or an additional section with seats but like anything here it was false promises. This place is so terribly ran Site wise I am amazed the little ground hog that runs around here has a job still.

As an agency worker I'm fortunate to not have to return to the office. I feel for the full time employees but hey its a perk of being agency.

Isn’t the stated point of return to office that we collaborate with our team in person?

It looks like our team will be divided up across the building. We don’t even sit by each other.

What a great day. I received the call this AM. I heard in my managers voice uncertainty about their own future. What a mess, they have a whole heck of a lot of stuff they need to unwind to get themselves off the firing line. For those who did not want to speak up for me that is OK, I forgive you. I do not feel bad for standing up for myself when I did. Nobody slots me into incorrect alignments and gets away with it. At this point, I appreciate the paid 60 days PTO and severance. I am going to use this as an opportunity to reset my mental health and find a better position for the remainder of my career. Feel free to position these changes as (right-sizing all you want). I have watched for years as you've hired your friends and diversity hires. Thank God those days are over for me. I should have never put up with it in the first place, but with COVID and forced RTO the market contracted making a move a little more elusive than I had hoped. Again! Thank you all very much. This is a weight off my shoulders.

I was just asked, well, told to come in to the office 3 days per week. This is ridiculous as I've been working remotely for years and years. Is anyone else dealing with this too?

Looking forward to see how everyone starts driving to office 4 days a week in traffic and complain about missing little Tommys dance classes. LBT will probably start badge tracking for hours spent as well. I am fully remote so I will continue to WFH

There is not much clarity about agency workers if they are supposed to be RTO or no

For the mandatory 3 days in, people have been working 4 hours in the office and then going home to finish their day. Is this accurate. I don’t see anything that states it’s acceptable per WF.

Anyone else being told they need to make up vacation or sick days to meet the 3 days in office mandate? This is opposite of what the guidelines stated when rolling out the HUB.

I have heard from multiple people that some groups are not having to go into the office four days a week in a month. TSG and some folks in TS are exempt. While this is great for them, what the actual F. This place just wants us gone. I won't say anything at work as I honestly think "good for them" but I'm pi---d for myself.