Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

RTO = No Collaboration, Just Misery

When we worked from home, people cared more. We gave work extra attention, checked in after hours, and delivered our best because we had the energy to. With 5-day RTO, that’s gone. Now it’s just “do your 8, get out, forget about work.” The commute wears everyone down, the scramble for unassigned seats is ridiculous, and by the time you settle in, you’re already drained.

This idea that RTO “fosters collaboration” is a complete fantasy. There hasn’t been a single in-person meeting. None. Everyone is still on Teams calls with headphones in, just now doing it in a noisy, call-center style cube farm. The only collaboration happening in the office is people bonding over how much they hate leadership and this pointless RTO policy.

It’s not one-size-fits-all. Forcing everyone into the same miserable setup doesn’t make the company stronger, it just burns people out and lowers the quality of work. Productivity, morale, and loyalty are all tanking. But sure, let’s keep pretending warm chairs equal results.


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| 1584 views | | 12 replies (last September 24) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1k5v5vxb9

12 replies (most recent on top)

"I am 5 days per week RTO, still take some calls from home, and check emails at home 7 days per week."

Nobody but yourself to blame for that.

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Post ID: @gp+1k5v5vxb9

@bt

How long did you have to think, to generate that totally original, super funny little nugget?

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Post ID: @bv+1k5v5vxb9

RTO ki-led my golf game

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Post ID: @bt+1k5v5vxb9

I wish it were a cube farm. We’re sitting at cafeteria tables with zero privacy, sound containment, or consideration for others. By 8:30 it’s like trying to work in a sports bar, and let’s not even mention the stew of BO, overperfume/cologne, and mystery food odors. But my 8 is nearly up, seeya.

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Post ID: @bb+1k5v5vxb9

For me and my two decades of VO, I viewed extra hours, weekends, all-nighters on Saturday when a production update rolled out, as a small price to pay for being able to work at home.

A few times over the years a new VP or Director (Randy Tomlin, for one) would take over and order everyone back to the office. I dutifully complied, put in my 8, and never logged in from home, never volunteered for redbook rollouts, slowed development on automating our swivel-chair processes.

Work from home, they got more than 40 hours. RTO, 8 and out. That simple.

Things seemed stable after COVID until the spring of 23 when, I suspect, a cabal of executives sitting on each other's boards were moved by a combination of an inability to use remote tech (once heard Legg mutter "I hate Teams"—we all did Jeremy, but we made it work) , a fear that their massive real estate holdings were turning into blight, and insult at calling town halls that were mostly empty (even if we were tuned in and watching from our remote offices—which is how most people still attend all-hands meetings with VPs and above). Companies from all industries suddenly got on board with McKensey and trashed WFH. Welcome to RTO, wherever you were.

One holdout has been NVIDIA, whose continued support of remote work has proved disastrous /s.

I periodically would visit the office on my own dime if I was passing through on vacation. Lunch, a walk around the campus to meet faces I only heard on conference calls, maybe dinner, and done. Once when we did have a group meeting, my FTO colleague and I decided to attend using remote desktops. Easier to view and share screens No different than doing it from home.

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Post ID: @b8+1k5v5vxb9

“ If you still aren't collaborating, that's on you.”

I grab lunch with folks and bs, but there is literally nobody on my team in Atlanta. We have 1 person in Dallas and the rest are scattered across the country. There is no one I need to “collaborate” with from a business perspective located here or in any of the other hubs. We are a regional team. We were FTW long before COVID. No you can’t offshore or outsource what we do. The one size don’t fit most is the problem.

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Post ID: @ay+1k5v5vxb9

If you still aren't collaborating, that's on you.

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Post ID: @aw+1k5v5vxb9

@a4 The Cabal that won WW2 on the backs of our grandfather's bravery and naivete.

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Post ID: @ag+1k5v5vxb9

“I am 5 days per week RTO, still take some calls from home, and check emails at home 7 days per week.

A co-worker of mine used to be just like you. He is no longer amongst the living. Sad.
But at least he spent the last years of his life doing something that really mattered, is that what you are saying?

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Post ID: @a8+1k5v5vxb9

I am 5 days per week RTO, still take some calls from home, and check emails at home 7 days per week.

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Post ID: @a7+1k5v5vxb9

It has always been about Stankeys retirement. Not RTO, NOT collaboration.

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Post ID: @a6+1k5v5vxb9

Blackrock owns at&t and they use your money to make sure you stay miserable. The only way to win is pull all your money and let them starve

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Post ID: @a4+1k5v5vxb9

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