#returntooffice

I was just told by my manager they are enforcing and requiring everyone in the company regardless of title to be in office 3 days a week starting November. I believe the announcement will be this Monday.

I saw that a new “business address” was added to my outlook contact card. I will not share what it says but I will say it is an office about 100 miles away from me. My location code still ends in “950” which designated telecommuter but I don’t like this new addition. Wonder what it means. If you type in your location code into sparq or the business address location. it will bring up that office address…

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ford/comments/1nikmlo/ford_rto_mandate/

RTO kickstarted the gossip-mill. “So and so did/said/posted this!!” Did. Ot miss that at all.

I don't know about you but I would be willing to pay for WFH days.

Anyone else?

Not ideal, especially since they already took a week of vacation away from 20+ year managers; but it would be worth it some days.

Perhaps it's a new revenue stream?

It's complete bullsh-t that so many people are still working remote without any monitoring at all. I don't understand why they have been protected.

How is the company tracking compliance with the RTO? Are they just looking at badge swipes or the total time spent as well

Following a layoff of 9,000 employees globally, Novo Nordisk has announced a new return-to-office (RTO) mandate. The pharmaceutical company, known for its diabetes and weight-loss dr-gs like Ozempic and Wegovy, is requiring all office-based staff to work five days a week in the office. The new policy is set to take effect on January 1st.

The layoffs, which amount to about 11% of the company's workforce, are part of a restructuring plan by the new CEO, Mike Doustdar, to streamline operations, reduce complexity, and save an estimated $1.25 billion annually by the end of 2026. The company plans to reinvest these savings into its core areas of diabetes and obesity treatments. The job cuts, which include 5,000 positions in Denmark, are a response to slowing sales growth and increasing competition, particularly from rival dr-gmaker Eli Lilly.

The RTO mandate is being implemented to "foster a stronger sense of belonging, strengthen relationships, enhance collaboration, and accelerate decision-making processes." According to reports, the company did not have a universal work-from-home policy before, and rules varied by country and department. While the new mandate is a full-time return, the company stated that individual agreements between managers and employees are still possible to balance both personal and business needs.

The decision has been met with criticism from some employee representatives, who were "surprised" by the change, arguing that remote work and a vibrant office culture are not mutually exclusive. This move by Novo Nordisk aligns with a broader trend of companies reversing remote work policies, with some experts suggesting that RTO mandates are being used as a way to encourage employees to quit, thereby reducing headcount without having to pay severance. However, the company's new CEO has emphasized the need for a shift in mindset to become faster and more agile in a competitive market.

There’s literally nothing else to it.

Saddened by this announcement - with culture being at the center of so many conversations this year, I’m disappointed that leadership thinks this is a step in the right direction for our culture (And from whose perspective? Culture isn’t what leadership says it is - it’s what employees actually feel when they work there.).

There are a lot of hardworking employees who thrive professionally (and personally) while working from home AND actually get more done there than in the office.

And those that KNOW they get more/better work done at the office make a point to go there since it’s open 5 days a week to them.

If Chevron is worried about competitive performance, focus on hiring and retaining GOOD workers who know how and where they do their best work and let them do it.

You won’t get better work from people by forcing them to come into the office - this simply reflects that leaders are more productive in the office than at home.

I share the sentiment and agree wholeheartedly with the poster. Putting it up for visibility.
OP: @b1+1k4z0p2ve

AT&T tracked employee attendance to find 'freeloaders.' Now, it admits the system is driving workers to the 'brink of frustration

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/t-tracked-employee-attendance-freeloaders-095701036.html

AT&T is dialing down its use of a controversial attendance tracking system for enforcing its RTO policy.

The so-called presence report uses a combination of inputs to log employees' time in the office.

The company's CMO says its goal of finding "freeloaders" has been met, though trust issues remain.

AT&T is reducing its reliance on an employee-attendance tracking system, admitting to workers that it hasn't been fully accurate and is "driving people to the brink of frustration."

The system, known internally as presence reporting, automatically tracks the hours workers spend at their assigned office. Most are required to log at least eight hours a day, five days a week, on-site.

Come on. He's smarter than that.

The Agile crew is still chilling with their sweet 2-day setup.

How is this RTO thing even "news"? This was already announced and widely covered months ago.

The world is more unpredictable and dangerous than ever, yet corporate America is dragging people back into offices. At a time when safety, flexibility, and family should come first, pulling people farther from home makes no sense. If something were to happen, being close to loved ones and communities matters most. Forcing rigid return-to-office policies isn’t leadership — it’s reckless. Real leadership means empathy, foresight, and moving forward, not clinging to broken traditions. When does the next pulse survey go out?

I heard a rumor today that a 5 DAY return to the office announcement is coming! Has anyone heard anything about this?

Have to start going into office 4x a week min 6 hours a day starting 1/1/26. Talk about id--tic.

Do they even want us to work or not? When I arrive at the office, most of my team members have already logged off, since I’m the only one in the U.S. and the rest are in India. At this point, it feels like they’re just trying to tell us to give up

Oracle’s stock just exploded 40% in one day, the biggest move by any company this size in over 30 years. Why? Because they’re winning massive AI and cloud deals, building the future, and actually innovating. They’re projecting half a trillion in revenue backlog, and Wall Street is rewarding them for results.

Notice what they aren’t doing: forcing employees to waste hours commuting just to swipe a badge and sit in fluorescent-lit cubes. Oracle isn’t obsessed with RTO and control theater, they’re obsessed with delivering value.

Meanwhile, AT&T and other RTO-obsessed dinosaurs are draining morale, bleeding talent, and still struggling to grow. Employees are exhausted, productivity hasn’t improved, and customers don’t care if their rep is in Dallas, Atlanta, or their kitchen. All they care about is service that works.

Let’s be real… badge swipes don’t drive revenue. Results and innovation do. Oracle just proved it to the world. AT&T “leadership” could learn something here stop pretending RTO is about collaboration. It’s about control, and it’s ki-ling this company. Do something innovative instead!

If Oracle can ignite history-making growth without dragging people back into cubes, then what’s AT&T’s excuse?

We all know it’s coming. Anyone got any insight?

Its interesting that no one seem to be complaining about the 5 day RTO at Q. I dont know if its because Q has got everyone by their b*lls or people genuinely want to come back for 5 days a week.

Is everyone ok coming back 5 days ?

3 days is understandable. But 5 days. Really ?

CEO WORD V0MITS ABOUT RTO (AT&T)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq10jrnO2SM&t=6s

This guy's stuff has been posted before, but the comments are pretty funny. Keep signal-boosting this kind of bad press.

scoop: Microsoft has just announced a return to office policy. Three days in the office will soon be the new norm for Microsoft employees in late February. "This update is not about reducing headcount," says Microsoft's chief people officer.

https://www.theverge.com/report/774414/microsoft-return-to-office-policy-announcement

RTO either has a lot of no shows, or 3M cut that many! Hearing some avoiding RTO because boss and co-workers are in other states or countries, so why RTO? For those that are in office, most are just on calls with global employees anyways. It makes no sense to push a RTO

For those who don't currently work at Ford, you may think the posts about having a chair taken, restrooms in disrepair, parking lots on overflow, and people camped out in cafeterias that were not made for working are all an overstatement. As a current employee I'm here to tell you they are absolutely true and being reported by our coworkers on an increasingly frequent basis. I have personally witnessed each of those things in my building in Dearborn.

Current employees, I encourage you to join the viva engage channels where folks are sharing their experiences from around the world. You can share your experience, you are not alone.

In Mexico, they are commuting 1-2 hours each way due to the traffic congestion around the location where the Ford campus is located. In Dunton, a 20 mile drive can take 1-2 hours with traffic.

These are not employees looking to complain for the sake of complaining. These are employees who have done what was asked and showed up to their assigned location, only to be continually failed by leadership and Ford Land.

Someone posted about occupancy limits and fire code violations. They are cramming so many people into spaces that were not meant for people to be sitting at. Cords are draped across tables and the floor since there are no power outlets on tables that were meant to eat lunch at.

It doesn't have to be this way and it shouldn't be this way. Please speak up. Use the onsite feedback site that I'm sure has been shared in your channels. This is not healthy, it is not productive, and for those of us who truly want to see the company succeed, it is accomplishing nothing but tearing us apart.

The wider we share our experiences, the more chances we have to put some real social pressure on those who made these decisions.

To all of those showing up, hang in there and know you're not alone. And also, I'm sorry, we used to be so much better than this.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/09/04/paramount-5-day-a-week-mandate.html

Any truth to the Compliance department being told they need to be in the office 4 days a week starting Jan 1st?

Has anyone heard anything credible about the bank forcing people back to the office 4 days per week starting in 2026?

They just implemented a plan for full time return to office 5 days a week for EVERY employee (including hybrid or remote)....or take the package and gone by Oct 31st...with more layoffs to come in November.

Phase 1 - Jan 5 for people assigned to LA and NYC offices

Phase 2 - TBA in 2026 for all other employees

We were told today RTO will be 5 days in January 2026. Can anyone in HR confirm this? What about remote workers? Will they be required to relocate near a corporate office (i.e. LA or NY) or will exceptions be made for some?

Teased the RTO mandate for so long in every staff meeting, and now its finally here. Someone has clearly had enough with remote work. But to force it on existing employees, to uproot their family to continue to work for them? How does this make any logical sense? Will this company continue to exist even a few years from now?

Seeing, hearing, and sharing the same air space with all of you reminds me just how much I hate you people. And this dump a-s company. Too bad I’m too big of a piece of trash to get anything else too. Intel stink. What a fkn loser.

I heard recently that a remote person who is less than 30 miles away from the office is being converted back into hybrid and forced to go in. This employee is out at the moment so I can't ask them. Anybody else hear anything to this effect

From the AT&T board
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1w2xikUC

Good luck!

Because we’re not a-s kissers like that other guy.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

ANONYMOUS, Employee of Teradata (TDC) Corporation

RTO really boils down to two drivers: control, and the financial interests that CxOs hold in commercial real estate companies. The more employees are physically in the office, the more those properties stay profitable. It has little to do with productivity and everything to do with money and power.

On a personal level, RTO has increased my monthly costs by about 25% compared to working from home. Between gas, parking, meals, and other daily expenses, the difference adds up quickly. On top of that, I’m losing about 90 minutes a day to commuting - time that could have gone into either more focused work or simply maintaining some balance at home.

So while companies frame RTO as being about culture or collaboration, for workers it often just means higher costs, less time, and no real improvement in output.

I’ll never understand the people on these threads who equate working from home with not working. It’s frustrating that even the ELT has started to adopt that attitude. We’re three rounds of layoffs in after three years, and it’s not because people were slacking off just because they weren’t physically on site. In my group we were almost entirely WFH, regularly putting in 50-hour weeks.

Ironically, WFH actually makes it easier to work longer hours, since the project is always right there in the next room, waiting to be picked up again in the evening. Now, to drive attrition, the ELT wants me to give up an hour and a half of my day to commute. I’ll still end up bringing work home, but I won’t be able to put in the same evening hours or keep up with household responsibilities once the commute is added on.

Quick question for folks across departments—curious about your current RTO setup.
Our team has known for a while that starting in September, we’ll be required to be in the office for a full 8-hour stretch each day. As it gets closer, though, I’ve been hearing that other departments may still have more flexibility—like being able to finish the day remotely if they’ve spent most of it in the office.

Just trying to get a clearer picture:
Is your team expected to be in the office for a full 8 hours straight, or do you have a hybrid option that helps with traffic and overall balance?

Appreciate any insight—just hoping to understand how consistent this is across the org.