#rto

I've now scheduled my ME day three times, and each time something comes up. Today was the third attempt, and I've been told I need to provide information to my manager by noon. Every time I try to take this day, I'm told there's something due or overdue, and because we’re so short-staffed, I need to step up. I’m just exhausted.

On top of this, my boss has already said I need to start coming into the office three days a week before November 1st. They’ve also questioned why I haven't done any charity work this year, saying it could affect my performance review and that I should try to schedule something. I’m working seven days a week, and yet it still doesn’t feel like enough. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up.

HP has really turned into one of the worst places to work. It feels like nothing more than a sweatshop. I am told, no salary increases and no bonuses this year and that I should be happy to have a job considering the job market. I am just tired and ranting and I am sure no one cares especially here.

The Connected Vehicle all hands ended in the most disappointing way imaginable.

"No-one agrees with what has happened" - Really, now? Then why has it been mandated so sloppily, before anyone was ready for it, and completely ignoring the business needs of a multinational corporation when it comes to collaboration across timezones?

"We can't change it" - Perhaps that is a sign of bad leadership. Was there not an opportunity to challenge the RTO policy? Perhaps involving employees in a cross-company collaborative exercise to investigate ways office time could work.

"That's all the questions answered" - It wasn't. It was a flippant dismissal of employees' very real concerns around incorrect emails harassing employees, threatening termination, and the very real economic penalties this now applies to many people working for this company.

And sure, Ford Land are going to be inundated with complaints at the moment - justifiably - but it's not just their fault. The blame for this lies squarely at the feet of leadership and their reckless rush towards "Time in Office" as a measure of productivity.

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Has anyone heard anything substantial about a return to the hybrid model? As the new leadership from other companies has been coming to AT&T most of them seem against 5 day RTO. I know that my AVP up to my SVP truly don't care for 5 day RTO.

I know many of them have managers who are located in other parts of the world. Do these people have special privileges not to RTO if their manager no concern for them to continue to WFH? Anybody monitoring them?

Anyone else have issues with their pets seeming depressed? Not only is my spouse upset that I'm never home and misses our lunchtime walks and heathy food prepared together, but my cat has acted strange ever since I stopped returning home until the evening. Last year, it was only 3 days in the office and I was typically home in the early afternoon. Now, with full time RTO, he stays in the garage all day, according to my spouse. He always runs to the door when I get home, but then disses me again and goes back to the garage. He used to always hang out in the house with us before this year. It b-ms me out that this has affected him as well.

I am based in Houston and my entire team has been replaced with employees in Buenos Aires and Manila. Does anyone have advice or strategies on maximizing the benefits of in-person collaboration the upcoming RTO changes will offer?

/s

Since it's pretty obvious they want to continue reducing headcount, would they pull the trigger to force returning to the office? I imagine a lot of people would say 'no thanks' and leave, and others would leave simply due to living too far from any office location. It would save them a ton on severance, but would they take the risk of losing people they actually want to keep?

Just got word from my manager. Ekene is going to start tracking us on days we are in office. One of the things I enjoyed about WF was the flexibility. I went my 3 days, sometimes I went 4, sometimes 5 depending on what was going on. Sometimes 8 hrs, sometimes less. Sometimes I'd take a long lunch, sometimes I wouldn't eat lunch. I got my work done and didn't have to be treated like a child.

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

I see a lot of rumors here and elsewhere about the future of remote work. I was recently given remote status and was planning on moving out of a hub. My director and sr director were fine with it. Does anyone have any information on the future of remote work that contradicts what I’ve heard from my leadership?

Dear Valued Employees,

As your fearless leader, I wanted to take a moment—between yacht meetings and bonus recalculations—to share my deep appreciation for everything you do to keep this company running while I take credit for it.

This quarter, we achieved record profits thanks to strategic decisions like laying off 20% of the workforce. I know some of you may be “concerned” about job security, but rest assured: my job is very secure.

Now, let’s talk about our exciting Return to Office initiative. While remote work increased productivity, morale, and sanity, we believe that forcing you back into cubicles fosters “collaboration.” What does that mean? We’re not sure. But it sounds good in shareholder meetings.

We’ve installed new badge scanners to track your arrival times, because nothing says trust like surveillance. And don’t worry—we’ve added inspirational posters in the break room to offset the existential dread.

As for me, I’ll continue working remotely from my ski lodge in Aspen. But I’ll be with you in spirit—and in quarterly earnings calls where I say “synergy” a lot.

Let’s keep pushing boundaries, cutting costs, and pretending this is all for innovation.

Warmest regards (from my heated pool),
Mike Wirth

People show up, smile, type a few things, but you can tell they’re already planning their next move. It feels like working in a ghost town where everyone’s just waiting for the moment they can leave. RTO only made it clearer how miserable we all are at Dell.

At the very least, it shows that few people have any confidence in what’s ahead, from how the layoffs will be handled and RTO forced through, to what things will look like once the dust settles. I’m really curious what the final total of opt-outs will be.

Has anyone heard anymore about if telecommuters will be going in for MN and DC?

Chevron has become such a benchmarking company and focused on following others that it seems to have forgotten how to think for itself. Now we’re adopting this outdated ‘hoteling’ concept, where desks are unassigned and there’s less workspace than people. How dehumanizing is that? We’re required to be in the office at least four days a week, yet our assigned offices and cubes are taken away. This leftover strategy from the hybrid work era makes no sense. Wake up, Chevron…

I don’t need to see the survey results, I want to see the actions and outcomes. It’s the same burnt out feedback as prior years but with less passion… so what’s the point?

“Improve culture” and “improve moral” without improving (or even addressing) the fundamental asks of the employee base.

My favorite, the other day I heard corporate will be removing the coffee machines because with RTO we’re drinking too much coffee, so… lol.

Notice how empty the office is now? Rules are changing. The whole RTO experiment has run its course. The truth is simple: the office is there if you want it, and home is there if that’s where you do your best work. That’s how it always should have been.

If you thrive around people, head to the office. If you’re more productive and less stressed at home, then stay there. Neither option will be punished. Results matter, not zip codes or badge swipes.

The future isn’t about forcing one size fits all rules, it’s about trusting employees to know where they perform best. No more fear, no more micromanagement. Just do your job well, wherever that may be.

Noticing that since the news came out that they are no longer tracking in office presence , the little Flexible workspace In my building is no longer full. It used to be at capacity daily, now half of the seats are empty - people are going back to doing what they want -

Pretty obvious WFC only wants H1B or overseas employees. We need to create side hustles. What kind of hustle have people created? I’m in tech and it seems like it would be an easy side hustle but a small biz needs way different things that a large tech enterprise. Any ideas? Suggestions? What have you done?

Haven’t been to office since September; received 3 noncompliance emails already.
I guess I’ve made it to their slayer list. Ki$$ my A$$..

Meet Paul. Paul is a business major bent on making his mark on the world. Where's a place to start than the Dell EMC NextGen Sales Academy as an Emerging Technologies Specialist?

After speaking with recruiters and the most distinguished of inside sales managers, Paul is promised "incredible growth, tremendous learning, best of breed technology!" After all, Paul is so lucky to be working and commuting to 176 South Street from his little apartment in Southie.

Paul starts with a class of 20 people - these are all the future sellers of Dell that are going to take the company to the next level. Paul goes through the 6 weeks of intense onboarding. Where he learns how Dell is the greatest infrastructure vendor in the world, and that competitors such as Pure, Netapp, HPE, and Rubrik are absolutely abysmal. He doesn't learn from tenured sales engineers and technical solutions architects, but rather gets to hear from fabulous sales development managers!

Paul is then introduced to senior inside sales leadership, who promise him that he can make great money and thrive in the NGSA program. Paul truly believes in and trusts in the executive leadership, even though they RTO'd inside sales on two days notice a couple months before the rest of the company!

Paul completes the rigorous onboarding where he is grilled constantly about the key features of PowerStore and the tremendous benefits of Data Domain. Can't forget the Dell Technology Advantage! Paul and his cohort have to memorize the DTA Buckets and Why Dell for AI messaging for his cold calls! The Emerging Technologies Specialists have to tell IT Managers about Dell's strategic AI Partnerships, and if Paul wants to get to the field, he damn well better know his brief.

Paul is then sent to cold calling. He is goaled on 5 appointments week over week, 80 dials a day, and 2 hours of talk time. However the dial and talk time talk time is inaccurate, causing Paul's brand to go down. Paul gets to see where he stacks on the leaderboards weekly with his team and the rest of the sales floor on emails sent by NGSA leadership, gotta get to Team MVP of the week!

Paul calls a very angry IT director that is tired of the constant unsolicited calendar invites and the 10 different Dell reps calling him. Paul tries to set an appointment to talk about tremendous benefits of PowerStore when the IT Director had already moved to Pure based off price, poor Paul is unfortunately shot down. When Paul asks his brilliant SDR manager, the SDR manager shrugs and says "Maybe you should have delivered more business value!"

Once Paul gets his first cold call appointment, he gets to ring the gong on the sales floor in honor of his mighty victory. After all, senior leadership told him he had to be "All In" and that the sales floor is a magical fast paced place according to JC.

After the first few weeks of cold calling, Paul is granted "BCI Access" by his superiors. What does this mean? Paul and his class are now permitted by leadership to send blind calendar invites to accounts to provide even more business value and generate demand! On a biweekly basis, Paul gets to have the privilege of "floor stand-ups" where the other legendary sales associate managers get to rally the rest of the cold calling as-----ns, because Thursday is the best day to cold call!

Will all RAN National employees need to move to Dallas?

And why aare all Local RAN design teams still heavy in remote locations?

I'm new in the UK org
What is this obsession with days in the big office it seems such a waste of time
Pointless big office and meetings

Be prepared, “ we are a in-person” company !!!!!!!

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

So from what we can tell, John Stankey lives right near Highland Park, which is basically the Beverly Hills of Dallas, TX. He gets driven to the Dallas Downtown HQ, which is a 15 min drive for him - but typically 45+ min for his employees. He gets the closest covered parking available at the firm - but most employees either have to take public transportation or pay for parking further from the building and either take a shuttle or walk amongst the homeless.

If you have ever wandered onto the 4th floor where the executive team works, the floor looks instantly and noticeable different than the 34+ floors in Whitacre tower. The floors are covered in artisan Italian tiles. The walls are outfitted with art deco paintings. Chairs, couches, and flooring are plush leather and carpeting. While there are no public pictures of Stankey's office, he did an interview with Sal of Khan Academy from his office during COVID - which shows a rare view of his office. He even mentions towards the end of the interview the importance of setting healthy boundaries with work in order to be successful and tend to all the areas of your life such as relationships, family, and health.

As you would expect, his office has a sleek executive desk, plush leather chairs, floor to ceiling windows, and even an own lobby for his office! Yet, we are thrown to work on the rest of the floors that look like they are straight out of a 1990s Manhattan skyscraper - economical carpeting, average desks, plastic ergonomic chairs, old computer peripherals, and paint peeling off the walls.

Guys - always remember - this guy only cares about himself. Only the best that money can buy for himself. Nothing but the worse for everyone else.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-still-normal-corporate-america-130000068.html

Corporate leaders now openly admit that RTO was about culling staff sans severance. The new trend is ending hybrid to accelerate this. Given what we have experienced in the last year with "performance culture" aka stacked ranking, would anyone be surprised if this was the shoe to drop this fall?

Its 4days a week RTO. Where is everyone?

The building was empty today and parking lot was less than half full.

Please mark your calendars for the next Dermie PŌM event, which will take place on September 25th. Our esteemed CFO will be delivering remarks on various topics, including his increasing personal wealth and the effectiveness of the PŌM model in leveraging costs without relying on an experienced U.S. workforce. He will also address how we thrive together with strict RTO policy controls, seating assignment charts and the sudden non-performance of 25% of the BNY global workforce

Furthermore, he will convey his deep personal regret regarding the strategic realignment and why it means that your job and mine may no longer be needed. This should be an interesting and informative session, so I encourage everyone to attend and listen to what he has to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq10jrnO2SM

They are openly mocking him on YouTube now

That's all the new RTO policy is about. I've seen several articles in the past few months where CEOs openly admit they're using RTO as an attrition tool, to get people to quit and reduce workforce without paying severance. I'm just wondering, do they really care so little about the best people walking away, since that's what's most likely to happen?

Hey, hey, how was the first week back.

Good to see people at gas stations, writing checks for daycare, and actually getting showered and dressed by 7!

Kind of a wake up call! I think it is the best thing to happen all year!

If you don't like it, turn quit. Drinking coffee doesn't make you an important cog in the company!

That’s been its sole purpose since it started sweeping through the corporate world. Any company with a real long-term outlook would keep flexibility, as it builds a thriving, creative, and dedicated workforce. RTO, on the other hand, is designed to make people quit out of inconvenience or sheer inability to comply. It’s the cheapest way to shed headcount. And the moment you hear words like “collaboration,” “belonging,” or any other corporate fluff used to justify RTO, you can be sure it’s 100% about cutting staff.

Bosses admit they’re using return-to-office mandates to trim down teams—without needing to announce layoffs

With opt-in for RTO Phase 1 due Monday, we could use a thread to focus that chatter this upcoming week.

Are you opting in to the severance?
What made your decision easy or hard?
Have you told your manager and coworkers?
Any indication yet whether you’re out 10/31 or staying on longer?

Can someone confirm if that’s true. I have been hearing that Specialty Markets will start to exit starting 2026 with the aim of completely be operating out of only hubs by 2027, with some exceptions for management to remain remote if they are located at a specialty market.

I know that badge swipes are being tracked, but is time on site being tracked via the LAN line connection? I was thinking of coming in on site working for a couple of hours then leaving back home to finish the day. Technically the badge swipe counts as on site, but not necessarily total TIME on site. I'm hybrid with a 2 day a week in office requirement and wondering how this, if at all, will impact reporting.