#rto

Dell mandated the 5 day RTO for multiple reasons but one of them I think is because they have a plan and that plan is to use it to let go a LOT of people who either never abided by that policy, OR didn't go in enough/quarter. Which technically speaking, is a valid reason to lay someone off as they are not following the company policy.

They have a solid years worth of badge tracking now and those who were supposed to go in but didn't, are likely gonna be on the chopping block. They made it so that anybody who is within a 60 minute drive has to go into office, which is very unreasonable and they know it was. 30-35 minute drive should have been the cutoff IMPO but it was an hour because they know that a lot of those who do live "within that hour" but have a 55 min commute, are likely either going to quit or straight up not go in 5 days/week.

idk, I've lost the incentive to do an amazing job. Why should I when there is no "pot of gold" at the end for me?

I dont know where Dell is trying to go or what their "plan" is but, I feel like at this point people are just doing the best/minimum they can simply to keep their job - considering the consistent, constant, and year round layoffs they've had for the last 5 years.

There literally is no incentive to do more than the minimum anymore and to literally do what is expected of you, and no more than that. Insperity points are fine but like, I think people would far prefer actual MONEY than points you still get taxed on... and yes, you DO get taxed on those points. Go look at your paycheck stub things on Fidelity or whatever the site is and you'll see. Last year (2025) we couldn't even give out points for half the year because of the minimal budget lol.

Promotions seem to be a thing of the past at Dell so, why do extra work or try being a "star" when there is nothing in it for you at this point? If not for my insanely good raises the last 6 years, and constant promises of promotion, I'd have been long gone by now. My first year at Dell (2020) I got a 9.7% raise which was insane. Then last year I got a 12% raise which was mind boggling lol. The other raises were between 4-6% so pretty normal I suppose. That's all great but I want my promotion that I'm owed now.

Then, since they flattened the mid level management and basically put everybody under a director, which ours wants nothing to do with my little team and has NO idea what we do, chances for promotion are slim to none along with solid raises.

Then with the RTO bs, I'm now also driving 64 miles round trip every day + spending $30/week on tolls alone, and another $40/week on a tank of gas, only to go into an office in which nobody on my team works at/goes to. An unnecessary $70-80 a week and wear and tare on my car. I wouldn't mind if at least SOME of my team was there but I just go sit in a comfy booth for an hour, then go home. IF I even go into the building, anyways lol...

You know what makes employees work harder and better? INCENTIVES! aka promotions, better raises, more money. Let's be honest, nobody works for Dell because they love the company. People work there for a paycheck and that is IT. I personally do love my job but I'm at the point where I am looking to get out since I'm not seeing growth opportunities anytime soon.

Has anyone heard anything more about the in office changes?

This is coming from your friends across the highway in Deerfield (for now) at Essendant. Sycamore will destroy Walgreens and it will be torture before death. Watch out for yourself, try to get out, don't wait around for things to get better or any claims of severance payouts or bonuses. If not be ready for that day to happen at any moment. Don't get comfortable. This is just the beginning, they are not out for the best interests of the company or employees but rather their assets and any money they can su-k away. For a little context, at Essendant, they bought in their own management to play the game from the top. You have them now. First they need to get rid of employees so they would try to make people quit, RTO, unachievable goals, confusing business model/plans. Then they would change the severance policy, usually days before the layoffs and reduce it every time until there's nothing left. They will start selling off anything they can, in our case the core of the business, the warehouses, and business units they could get money for they sold. They sold off the core of the business, and all that remains is the empty shell of what once was a fortune 500 company. Always with the narrative it was low performing or best for the business. The top people will leave, they will torture anyone willing to stay on because they know they are desperate until the end. It might not have been great before, but it's surely not going to get any better. Also, it appears we will be abandoning Deerfield at the end of 2025 (in days), leaving the lease for the HQ building, with no plans on what will happen next. Bankruptcy maybe? Our parent company Staples is just holding on as well, and Quill also nearby saw their whole company be destroyed. All the other Sycamore holdings are also just barely existing just to keep those assets on a balance sheet so they can convince investors to move onto the next victim. Walgreens is and will be nothing more than a cash grab and a way to pad their holdings. There is no long term strategy, no business plan, and everything will just be scam. Just look at the partnerships with Amazon for their other businesses. It's all a distraction, and minor income, distracting from what is really happening. Wish you well and in closing, please care for yourself, find something else, f*** the PE.

If you could continue WFH for a pay cut, would you do it? I'd be more than happy to accept such a trade, as long as the pay cut is reasonable.

RTO is an antiquated strategy based on how the company was in 2010 not 2025. Our roles have changed as have the people, and their locations, that we all interact with. There will be no measure of success because it’s based on a belief in collaboration and nothing more. There is not a single metric that will support it. However I will lay money that sickness and absence rates will rise.

Well said, @a9+1kc3yqn6p.

No more hiding and evading RTO. The policy is the policy for one and all. Firstnet or Fiber, 5G or Gwiz, time to move has come and gone as all will be on Friday 1/16. The exceptions and favoritism end in Cohen and Leggs orgs so bye bye teachers pets who join the breadlines like the rest of us. The smug untouchables now lose their favored nation status and will get a reduced severance down to four months. A few have already been given a heads up. Other’s will get notified next week before the official notice comes. Sad but central plains and midwest are not hubs and people have had years to move and they did t. Not fair and now pet status ends.

If you missed the 3 days in office average for 2025- you are about to get an “Inconsistently Meets” rating for the year. We had managers in our area that had to downgrade team members from “Exceeds” to I/M. It was escalated up to legal and management was told no exceptions.

Just when the furor over 4 day RTO began to die down now this.

Was told by a reliable source and that will be no exceptions.

Freshen up those resumes.

What is the latest with Phase 2 RTO and remote workers?

https://www.webpronews.com/dell-mandates-5-day-office-return-for-sales-teams-in-2025/

Is this for real? Have they even figured out the logistics yet?

Preferably for free. They’ll keep setting conditions and requirements harder to meet, so we either quit or give them grounds to fire us. Make your decisions accordingly. I wouldn’t relocate for a job these days under any circumstances. I want to keep my job, and I need it, especially now when the job market is horrendous and the future is very volatile. But the cost of relocating, both material and social, can’t be justified for a job that doesn’t pay all that much and that you could lose the day after you move.

I keep seeing people say “we are returning to working in the office because that’s how it always was”

Quick question - who had issues finding assigned seating, food, and stocked bathrooms with good toilet paper before covid?

Answer - nobody. Because RTO is not a return to how it was. It is way greedier and designed to be humiliating on purpose. Quit licking boots and be honest.

Did everyone see the email John Stankey sent us this Thursday morning? There is a video link of him showcasing AT&T's accomplishments this year and imitating Home Alone at the same time.

How on earth does the CEO of a major Fortune 50 company have time to film and act for this stuff while RTO-ing to an office 5 days a week.

Started at Schwab a while ago.

I have noticed that less than 50% of the people show up on a given day where I work. Many clock in at 9:30 or later, and are gone by 3:00, plus take a looong lunch break.

I am puzzled. Will the 4 day RTO really matter? Most people are not even showing up 3 days a week now, and nothing seems to happen

Has anyone heard any updates on RTO? How many days in the office and when would it start?

I have recently joined the MSR team. People talk about using JAR for RTO. Can someone explain what that is?

Can anyone confirm if remote employees will still need to relocate to an area office. The office in my market closed and I must say I am exited with the future opportunity to relocate to an office.

And where exactly do they plan to squeeze all those people?

I obviously hear and read about the horrors of Broadcom and every company. Are there any positive groups or orgs at all ? I was also told RTO is mandatory. Is there anything positive about the company or would you recommend new hires to avoid ? The stock might be good but means nothing if you get laid off prior to vesting

Most Ford management and employees lack ingenuity.

The leaders tries to copy other automotive companies and fails miserably. Constantly ties ways to burn cash. Flip-flops without proper market research or vision.

Employees constantly blame the leaders for failure. Few with good ideas are shot down, so now they have low morale and lack motivation.

Some great talents are lost due to RTO and low performers are still around us because they can badge in every day.

Ah yes, the latest RTO decree—marketed as “structure,” experienced as punishment with better lighting. It’s the corporate equivalent of saying “We care deeply about your well-being” while handing you a cage and a feathered costume.

Associates now shuffle back like coal-mine canaries, expected to chirp cheerfully while inhaling the fumes of hollow empathy. Leadership insists this is about “connection” and “culture,” but the only culture anyone feels is the petri dish of distrust spreading across every floor.

The irony? The very employees they’re chasing—the masters of remote camouflage—will simply relocate their hiding skills to cubicles. Instead of dodging Teams calls, they’ll dodge eye contact in open-plan seating. Mission accomplished, Executive Committee.

Meanwhile, the rest of us lose the flexibility that actually fueled productivity. Remember that quaint concept? It thrived when associates weren’t commuting two hours to sit in meetings that could have been emails. But optics matter more than outcomes. Nothing screams “strategic leadership” like forcing everyone to show up for the illusion of collaboration while trust remains missing in action—buried alongside the latest batch of layoff casualties.

And empathy? It rings so hollow it could double as an empty Christmas stocking. Every memo drips with “we understand” and “we value your contributions,” yet translates to “we don’t trust you unless we can watch you suffer in person.” Associates have cracked the code: empathy here is garnish, sprinkled on punishment to make it LinkedIn-ready.
BNY Mellon has perfected optics-as-strategy. The Executive Committee beams about “rebuilding culture,” while associates quietly wonder if culture is just another word for surveillance—or HR justification for not paying severance. HR and PR polish the fantasy, posting glossy updates about “thriving together,” while employees mutter, “thriving where, exactly?”

So yes, structure without trust is punishment. Punishment dressed up as empathy is satire. The Executive Committee may think they’re leading a renaissance, but associates know the truth: they’re just the canaries, feathers ruffled, waiting for the next puff of corporate smoke.

And now, the holiday “grace period.” The EC retreats to lavish resorts and second homes while commoners aka associates are told to recharge, believe the theater, and stop chirping about RTO.

Spoiler alert: the canaries aren’t fooled.

Division meeting today just ended. T.P says more ISPs coming. No number given, just the same ole same ole "transformation" jargon. Also, 700 HBAs impacted by the new RTO policy. They did this knowing a lot of those folks will rage quit or simply not be able to do RTO, leading to termination. Why is EDJ leadership actively at war with the very people who make the company home office work? It sure as Sh1t aint the GPs pulling this wagon.

Just heard from a source that field employees will potentially have to start going into office to work if they are not at dealerships. Seems to be on some high ups balance scorecard that they want to get all employees in office 5 days a week again.

Can anyone who attended the provider data ops meeting speak to the segment regarding the expansion of RTO mandates in 2026? I’ve heard mentions of a phased approach nationwide, but would like some confirmation as I didn’t attend that meeting.

Dear Uncle Billy,

I have decided that I do not wish to return to the office. Therefore, I won’t be doing so. This conclusion is final; and just to be clear, entirely beyond your power to control. You may find this frustrating, but rest assured, your ability to compel my presence in the office exists only in your imagination.

Sincerely,

Your #1 Teammate

I am being laid off as a direct result of the company’s return-to-office policy. I do not live near an office and relocating without financial support is not feasible. Despite being a top performer, there has been no acknowledgment, appreciation, or even basic empathy from leadership regarding the impact this decision has on me or several of my teammates. And to add icing to this cake, we will not be given severance and we will not be given our annual bonus.This “business decision“ impacts livelihoods- kids, tuitions, rent/ mortgage, etc! So who’s getting richer off of this? RV is.

For anyone considering joining the company, it’s important to understand that people are treated as numbers, valued only for what they contribute to the stock until they no longer fit the model.

Very common for companies to try and reduce costs with layoffs so I do get the reasoning behind that.

However, with that said it now seems with this unnecessary RTO, mandatory low performance ratings, and a variety of other items such as a large exodus of leadership..are they setting up the groundwork to find a buyer for the bank?

In other words it's as if they don't care how miserable they have made it working for the bank because it won't matter since the goal is to reduce employee costs to make the bank more attractive to a buyer.

I mean how are you supposed to grow the business when morale is way down and your employees have no faith or confidence in the leadership.

Pivot assignment: make Amazon stock price reach $350/share in the middle of 2026 without doing further layoffs (forced or RTO/silent).

I am officially designated as a hybrid employee in MN.
My manager and entire team are fully remote.
I have not been going to the office since the RTO policy took effect.
Are there others in a similar situation, and if so, how has this been addressed under the current RTO policy?

Anyone know how they’re handling this? I’d assume the 2025 reviews won’t count since those are about to be released, and December probably won’t roll into the 2026 cycle either.

I’d hope they are a little more lax with the holidays.

Has anyone gotten approved for medical exemption to not RTO?

Has anyone been able to not RTO due to a medical condition?

Take all your sh1t back and forth, fight for space, zero personalization, spread everyone’s germs, sit on Teams calls with team members down the hall or across the world… and do it 4 days a week.

Enjoy your check and stfu cattle.

I find it almost comical that companies still wrap RTO in “collaboration and efficiency” fluff, when we all know it’s really about pushing people out cheaply. Add in micromanagement and a pathological need for total control, and it becomes truly demeaning and ridiculous. Utterly unnecessary for efficiency, performance, or teamwork. But then again, the substance has clearly never been the priority.

Since the expanded in office 8 hours mandate has it been harder to plan meetings. Most people I know, including me, have hard start and stops now. Good luck trying to set up a call with india, nyc, mn and az. There is a window of like 3 hours. When they treated us like professionals most of us would take calls before going in to the office or after we got home. No more. When the measurement is time and not quality they get time but not quality.

Follow up on TRo:
To nobody's shock, the actual reason behind RTO is due to inflate real estate value.
Confirmed increase in investment in local hire, goal is to eliminate remote hires entirely.
Current remote employees will be eliminated over time, first on the chopping block.
Expect a surge of investment into office spaces.

Confirmed february layoffs