#rto

There’s been a lot of discussion lately around compensation concerns. One potential path to address this is by transitioning to the Cloud Migration team under the Head of Cloud Transformation (A.C.). This group is strategically positioned within the organization and maintains strong alignment with executive leadership, including the CIO.

For those aiming to significantly increase their compensation, roles such as Technical Senior Product Manager or Principal Engineer within Cloud Transformation appear to offer substantial upside. Many individuals in these positions have recently received promotions, recognition awards like “Legends,” and compensation packages reportedly in the $300K–$500K range. Some team members also benefit from flexible, home-based arrangements, with less emphasis on traditional cloud delivery work.

Additionally, there seems to be less concern around return-to-office expectations for this group, as both the leader and their direct reports are viewed as operating within a more flexible or privileged setup. There are even instances where individuals have received top recognition despite not being directly involved in cloud delivery.

Crazy to me that it's been falsely reporting for about 2 weeks now.

If im them, I announce both at the same time. People left won't be complaining about 100%

Work at a different bank and curious how your RTO5 (return to office 5 days a week) is going? Are people doing it? Coming in late/leaving early? Any modifications or messages from sr. Execs? Thanks for any info.

Say it ain’t so! Are the rumors true?

In the BNY annual letter, BNY leadership credits ‘culture and connections’ for our strong performance. Really? Or is this just a poetic way of saying the balance sheet looks fantastic when thousands of employees mysteriously vanish through ‘efficiency initiatives.’ Apparently 2025 was a triumph because nothing boosts margins like RTO‑driven attrition, frozen hiring, and AI agents quietly absorbing entire job families.

And 2026? Even more ‘opportunity,’ which is corporate code for deeper cuts wrapped in inspirational hashtags emojis.

But don’t worry — leadership says we’re all thriving together. Afterall, check the stock price and EC Compensation Plans. Some of us just happen to be thriving right out the door.” #onwardandupward

Makes no sense.

They just can't get enough people off of payroll. They are now threatening managers if the employee's MOOSE is marked incorrectly. A manager with CLO and MS employees sent out a notification to their employees that while MS might be 2 days, the expectation is 5 days, and that the CLO employees are expected 5 days at the customer site.

There was a big emphasis on MOOSE being correctly coded, and that any telecommuting be preapproved by their manager. The quote was "They aren't losing their job because I don't know where you are"!

So as managers you're not being treated as customer serving managers? Also, how can you tell where your CLO employees are if they are always on VPN?

Just please lets all look out for each other, and do what we are told. It's awful but working in an office beats getting fired for non-compliance and then not having one to work in at all...

After all, it's what we all make of it.

Seems pretty obvious that the tech center in ATL is going to be shut down this round. But what about other remote roles in GT? Are they over? Most of my team is in NY

Someone posted on fishbowl that full return to office in 2027. Does that mean remote workers would have to relocate to keep jobs? Or do you think just those hybrid will be required 5 days a week.

"Don't leave negative comments because the message that sends is the employees aren't happy anyway might as well make them come back in 5 days a week" -an excerpt from a meeting with my manager

Leave negative comments, it pi---s them off

Gross. Supply chain/procurement.

from the FAQ on WFH mandate

In case you missed the earnings report, they have reduced staff by 3% and plan on aggressively reducing staff to be replaced by AI. They consider employees liablities not assets. I have tried and tried to get out but being middle aged is tough. The discrimination is real. I hope the younger generation leaves and doesn't deal with this BS. BTW the employees that are not coming into the office? Their bonuses were NOT impacted. This means they were effectually making more than the rest of us su-kers going in. Unreal.

The Insider: The one who actually knows what’s going on behind closed doors. We’re all just here for your leaks. Keep the scoop coming.

The Doom-Scroller: The person paralyzed by layoff anxiety. If you’re this stressed, just close the tab. The cuts are coming whether you read about them or not.

The Lifer: The employee who’s been at AIG too long and doesn’t know what to do. You can Leave. Just Walk Out! If it su-ks, hit da bricks!

The Rookie: The wide-eyed new hire. Do yourself a favour and read the archives. You’re looking at your future. Get out before you become a permanent fixture here.

The Alumnus: The former employee who can’t stop checking the ex-girlfriend’s Instagram. You made it out! Go enjoy your freedom and stop posting here.

The Grudge-Holder: The one who really hates the Retail Casualty CFO. You’re shouting into a void because they aren't reading this. It’s time to drop the vendetta.

The Offshored: The one venting about their role moving overseas (and is a bit racist about it too). We hear you, but there’s nothing you can do. No one is safe from the pivot.

The Speculator: The "Any rumors?" guy. Yes, there are always rumors. It’s either layoffs or a buyout, but it’s all noise until the checks stop clearing.

The "Wait for the Severance" Strategist: The veteran who actually wants to be laid off. They’ve crunched the numbers and are actively rooting for their own department to be laid off. Good luck, we’re rooting for you too.

The Ghost of Corebridge: The person who still hasn't figured out they're no longer part of AIG. You really need your own forum.

The HR Plant: We see you.

The Remote Work Zealot: Regardless of the thread topic: Layoffs, earnings, whatever. They will find a way to argue that forcing people back to the office is the root of all evil.

The Pension Clock-Watcher: The person who has been there 25+ years and wants another round of VERP. Good luck but it’s not happening anytime soon.

Who did I miss?

The flu usually takes 3–5 days to recover—but how can I manage a four-day in office while I’m still sick? Taking 4 days off doesn’t make sense.

Just stay at home and don’t distract everyone else. Trying to concentrate is hard enough even with the whole flex desk BS. No one needs to hear a blow by blow of your personal problems. There are still people at this company that actually have deliverables.

Today, Cara Sylvester shared that 150 TMs had their remote roles changed to Minneapolis-based hybrid. Impacted TMs seem to be concentrated in core IM and planning, as well as some PIM Ops TMs as well. They stated that they are providing relocation assistance or separation packages.

Thank you John for RTO

GK wanting us to be a category 2 bank is the real reason for RTO and offshoring more and more.

Buildings give us more assets and offshoring more of a global footprint.

Research to learn more.

Not about collaboration, which we already knew.

I work for US Bank's competitor and out of curiousity checked this site. I see a lot of uproar about RTO...believe me, we also went through it in 2022.

My advice to all of you is to be careful.
If they aren't checking your in network office time, they will be. A bunch of our employees got fired over swiping badges and leaving or minimal office network connectivity.
A bunch of others got fired because they were in non compliance.

Sadly, you won't win this fight. We have also tried everything and the push back was immense. Corporate America is all copying each other and they want people back in offices.

Wish you all the best.

Do our WFIP staff have to be in the office 3-4 days per week for 8 hours a day too? I realized I haven't heard a word about it from anyone, ever, so am curious how evenly the rules are being applied. Probably another best kept secret to alienate the US employees hat Charlie hates so much

Hearing from several different LOB friends that the RTO reporting is no longer being monitored. Any managers have intel on this?

Manager here — trying to sanity check something.

I haven’t been given any formal tools, dashboards, or defined thresholds for tracking RTO attendance on my team, but I’m hearing a lot of specifics (e.g., ~50% thresholds, rolling 2–3 month averages, automated notifications).

Are other managers actually seeing concrete metrics behind the scenes, or are these assumptions based on when HR flags something?

Trying to understand what’s real vs inferred.

Got the RTO communication and this line stuck out:

“Seating is prioritized for employees first, with unassigned areas and seats an option for contractors on an as-available, first-come, first-served basis”

Read that carefully. They aren’t saying there’s plenty of room and contractors just get second pick. They’re saying contractors get whatever is left over on a first come first served basis. That’s not a seating policy, that’s a disclaimer. They already know there aren’t enough seats.

And FTE seating isn’t even assigned, it’s open within neighborhoods. So the “priority” is theoretical. A contractor walks in, sees an open desk, sits down. Nobody is checking IDs at the door.

The part nobody is talking about: are contractors even on a 5 day mandate? Because if FTEs are legally obligated to be there every day and contractors are not, you’ve got people who’ve worked there for years eating a full commute while embedded contractors log in from home.
This email answered nothing and accidentally raised three new questions.

Anyone else getting actual clarity from their managers?

With or without set daily schedules?

They ain’t tracking sh*t keep doing it…

BNY Mellon’s transformation now resembles a tightly coordinated execution of the McKinsey cost reduction playbook, and employees on TheLayoff.com have been documenting the pattern in real time.

What appear to be uncoordinated, isolated decisions — RTO pressure, minimal merit increases, shrinking teams, selective backfilling, and quiet office closures — align directly with the consulting frameworks used to drive sustained operating expense reduction. This is all by design.

The Platform Operating Model (P-O-M) is the structural engine behind this shift. By standardizing processes, consolidating technology, and centralizing work into platform hubs, P-O-M enables organizational delayering, automation, and location strategy at scale. Employees describe this as work being “platformed,” automated, or reassigned to lower cost regions, particularly Pune.

International labor laws also shape the strategy. In the U.S. and U.K., strict notification rules, severance expectations, and WARN Act thresholds make large layoffs expensive and highly visible. In contrast, offshore hubs operate under more flexible labor regimes, allowing faster scaling, easier restructuring, and lower long term cost commitments. This is why employees increasingly observe that even offshore roles are not permanent; as the cost model scales globally, work continues migrating to the lowest cost compliant jurisdiction available.

RTO, low raises, and real estate consolidation are deliberate levers within this model: RTO increases voluntary attrition, minimal wage growth suppresses labor cost inflation, office closures reduce fixed costs and concentrate work in platform hubs.

The TheLayoff.com threads reflect this architecture in motion — “stealth layoffs,” “jobs shifting offshore,” “constant reorganizations,” and “RTO used as a filter” — all consistent with a long horizon, platform driven cost transformation strategy.

If RTO policies are enforced with strict measurement, tracking, and compliance expectations across employees, why doesn’t the same rigor apply to Cloud leadership (Head of Cloud and his directs)?

GL17/GL18 leaders—many already significantly compensated from prior Amazon equity and long industry tenure—operate with materially less visible accountability, while execution is heavily dependent on engineering teams under them or contracting firms.

The pattern is consistent: delivery is externalized or engineering team , credit is cloud leadership , and accountability becomes diffused.

If operational discipline is the standard, it cannot be selective. It must apply uniformly across all levels—including senior leadership—based on measurable impact, not hierarchy.

Otherwise, it stops being governance and becomes structural protection of the top layer.

If anyone is negatively impacted by "not meeting the RTO goal" and is fired, you better run and file a case. Document that they admitted their data and reporting was inaccurate and inconsistent. They falsified reporting!!! Also, its a tad bit discriminatory if they are punishing people inconsistently and there is no Policy or equal treatment but "discretionary". This is too easy and seems targeted. Are you over 40? A woman? A POC? Regardless of whether people like it or not, there are laws that are still applicable and you cannot target, discriminate or retaliate. File complaints. Document! Document! Document! Our HR is a joke! They leave it vague depending on no one knowing their rights and think their too big of a company to fail. Learn your rights and how to fight. Too many running on fear and thats how they got you.

Been thinking about this a lot lately. Going back to four days a week in the office with the open plan unassigned seating (HMP) has definitely brought some good energy. You run into folks from different teams, have those quick real-time conversations, and get problems solved faster than the endless email chains we had before. Its helped cut down on friction and made collaboration feel smoother.

That said, I keep noticing how our field teams run on a solid 5-day rhythm and it shows in their consistency and momentum. Maybe bringing the office side to a full 5 days could line everything up even better across the company. Wrapping the week strong with everyone in on Friday, plus the occasional half-day on Saturday when it makes sense, might give us that extra edge to stay ahead of the competition and feel more like one-team.

Chevrons culture already feels special, and pushing a bit more on the in-office side could make it even stronger. Its one of the reasons Im still optimistic about sticking around long-term.

Anyone else seeing similar things? Especially curious how the current 4-day setup is landing for field and ops folks. Are you noticing quicker decisions or better handoffs, or do you think more consistent office time would help?

Every time I see stories about “coffee badging,” it’s hard not to feel frustrated. Some people are effectively gaming the system and collecting paychecks, while others are putting in real effort and trying to make a meaningful contribution.

FIRE THEM ALL!

How many in here moved to Dallas and what decision led you and your families to do so? My family is going through a forced relocation. We are choosing to move to keep the job, for some social life and probably better opportunities for jobs.

Is it true that we are being asked to move in July? Manager has no information. Told that we have time till September. Looking aggressively for an opening in Philly area jut no luck. Have to start looking for apartments if moved to NYC than commuting.

Apartments are very unaffordable in N Jersey or NYC suburbs with commuting time and cost. The overall tax impact is also high, if one has to move to NYC location.

Effectively a pay cut in these hard times.

Yet there are only five days left. Any ideas? Am I sc--wed? Has anyone hacked into the Workstyle database?

I'd say they depends on how they were hired. If they were hired during covid as 100% remote, the salary they negotiated took into account the lack of a commute. Dell has changed that deal now. You don't think those folks have a right to feel a little pi---d? I negotiate/expect 20% higher salary to be in the office.

If they were hired onsite, and went remote during covid, they have nothing really to complain about, but Dell hired a ton of people full time remote during covid and has spent the last 2 years trying to sc--w them into quitting. That's a problem, and even the "get back in the office" types should be able to recognize that.

This, @av+1kpdrarz1.