If this was my first job, I lived in an apartment, did not have any partner or children, I might have considered moving.
I would not know any better. The press coverage glut of major companies copying each other (but still with no data, just "gut feelings") will make a transplant feel good about their new o̶f̶f̶i̶c̶e̶ c̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶l̶e̶ school cafeteria seat with a LAN jack. They'll have a newly enhanced selection in the vending machine, a discount on paid parking after spending two hours driving in a car they didn't need before RTO. (You thought there was affordable housing near our jewel of downtown real estate? Sorry!) Enjoy!
After decades of being fully remote, rooted by a partner with a career and children in schools, there was no way the rest of us would take this bait.
That was the point: AT&T can chase off those of us with higher salaries and accumulating pensions without getting snared by Federal age discrimination law. Well done, HR, well done! Give that people architect a Connection award.
It's not like these senior people bring any institutional knowledge, right? These legacy systems are going away, so what's a few billion lost while replacements take years to decipher what all we did while working remotely? (Hint: it wasn't laundry). Also, we have a few dedicated employees who will go from 60 to 80 to 120 hours per week to fill the gap.
"Ooops, what's a few billion lost?!" seems to be our business model, and apparently our well-compensated board of directors is just fine with that.