Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Re: post…
“Meanwhile people reporting to all sorts of satellite offices all over the city. They did not consolidate to 9 offices. More like 900”

So true…many exceptions outside the 9
That are played as “need to work in a local market” not true - just a safe haven for those who are allowed to work outside the 9.

• “ Not really sure why this needs to be explained again but here goes. RTO at this place was done for these reasons:

To do a mass layoff without having to deal with the negative PR of doing a mass layoff. Just say employees CHOSE not to uproot themselves at their own expense to be a part of this wonderful culture. My VP admitted as much a couple of months ago when he said the number of layoffs on our team were based on how many people decided not to relocate. More movers=more layoffs.
To justify real estate expenses and perhaps (I think in Dallas this is the case) to get tax breaks OP mentioned.
To make execs feel good about themselves by seeing all their minions in the office. Never underestimate the ego factor here.
Maybe to help improve collaboration. However, like others almost all my meetings are on teams. Even when a few of us do sit in a room the meeting is still call-in by necessity. I have an actual useful in-person interaction once a month if that. Most ‘collaboration’ is still done electronically. I have worked at places where being in-person does make sense, but not here.
99% of time I do the exact same thing in the office that I do at home except less of it because the commute means I start later and leave earlier.
What else is there really to say? It isn’t changing and leadership will find reasons to justify it no matter how stupid it is.”

100%
True, and you’re right, there’s no point in rehashing it.
It’s sad & tragic.
Losing so much talent, for no real gain.

Not really sure why this needs to be explained again but here goes. RTO at this place was done for these reasons:

1. To do a mass layoff without having to deal with the negative PR of doing a mass layoff. Just say employees CHOSE not to uproot themselves at their own expense to be a part of this wonderful culture. My VP admitted as much a couple of months ago when he said the number of layoffs on our team were based on how many people decided not to relocate. More movers=more layoffs.
2. To justify real estate expenses and perhaps (I think in Dallas this is the case) to get tax breaks OP mentioned.
3. To make execs feel good about themselves by seeing all their minions in the office. Never underestimate the ego factor here.
4. Maybe to help improve collaboration. However, like others almost all my meetings are on teams. Even when a few of us do sit in a room the meeting is still call-in by necessity. I have an actual useful in-person interaction once a month if that. Most ‘collaboration’ is still done electronically. I have worked at places where being in-person does make sense, but not here.

99% of time I do the exact same thing in the office that I do at home except less of it because the commute means I start later and leave earlier.

What else is there really to say? It isn’t changing and leadership will find reasons to justify it no matter how stupid it is.

• “ WRONG!!!! RTO is about keeping the entire US economy from insolvency due to commercial loan defaults. Way too many skyscrapers sitting empty, NYC alone has the equivalent of 20 Empire State Buildings sitting empty. When loans on these buildings need to be refinanced, look out, the high interest rate will force many commercial real estate companies into bankruptcy. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion!”

Good. I hope it does collapse. The city-centric model where everyone is forced into dirty, dangerous, crime-ridden, overpriced cities needs to end.

• “I’ve just got to say— I’ll never get tired of talking sh-t about RTO. I think everything that’s been said in this thread has been said a million times on this website and it should keep going. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS that RTO is pointless, expensive, cruel, a ploy for power, and a WASTE. OF. TIME.”

Let’s be real though, the way they’ve implemented RTO isn’t about collaboration, productivity, or any of the other nonsense they talk about it’s about cuts…they want to do a layoff without doing a layoff.
If they were interested in people actually moving, they’d be providing relocation packages.

They know the vast majority of people aren’t going to uproot their lives and move cross-country at their own expense just to keep working at a C-tier telecom company.

Some people weren’t relocating for actual good jobs that were paying for relocation packages (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft) so they know the take rate is going to be abysmal and they’re counting on it.

I’ve just got to say— I’ll never get tired of talking sh-t about RTO. I think everything that’s been said in this thread has been said a million times on this website and it should keep going. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS that RTO is pointless, expensive, cruel, a ploy for power, and a WASTE. OF. TIME.

"When you go to work, the company gets a tax break from the township because then their restaurants, shopping centers, parking lots fees, gyms, etc would increase in the flow of business from the employees. The company has to show the township how many people come into work in order to get the credit."

I don't think this is true in a lot of areas.

Same as others have said, my office is the same, everyone goes in just to tick a box and make Stankey happy. No one meets in person, no one wants to be there, parking su-ks, it’s packed, there aren’t enough in-office benefits.

We waste gas and time to go to the office and sit on teams in a cubicle with worse tech than we have at home.
It makes absolutely no sense and for purely technical roles where you spend 75+% of your time with headphones on actually working instead of “socializing and creating culture” (aka wasting time) like management does, it’s also less productive.

• “ Idk about everyone else, but I’m in Atlanta. We’ve been RTO since July. I rarely see any F2F meetings taking place. Most people just sit at a desk and are on Teams calls all day. Most people never even speak to anyone in the office. I was FTW long before covid. No one from my team is in my building, but yet I have to drive in and sit there to just be in Teams calls all day. Everyone on my team is scattered across the US since we have regional responsibilities. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. The future really is fully remote workers for most office jobs. This RTO thing is a last gasp of trying to go back to the way things were and stave off the coming office space/CRE collapse. Best thing the company can do is re-evaluate the mandate, scale down and cut the office space costs and let folks work remote.”

Man after my own heart.

WFAC work from another country

Idk about everyone else, but I’m in Atlanta. We’ve been RTO since July. I rarely see any F2F meetings taking place. Most people just sit at a desk and are on Teams calls all day. Most people never even speak to anyone in the office. I was FTW long before covid. No one from my team is in my building, but yet I have to drive in and sit there to just be in Teams calls all day. Everyone on my team is scattered across the US since we have regional responsibilities. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. The future really is fully remote workers for most office jobs. This RTO thing is a last gasp of trying to go back to the way things were and stave off the coming office space/CRE collapse. Best thing the company can do is re-evaluate the mandate, scale down and cut the office space costs and let folks work remote.

All the nay sayers regarding WFH. Maybe thou protest too much as they are not as responsible as most at focusing on work and productivity when working from home...Reminds me of an old saying, "guilty is as guilty does".

As if there was an actual person in my building who was organized enough to know this information and report it to my city! Pull the other leg now!

Nice. Random thoughts OP but that's not how it works.

I just want to WFH and take care of my personal business. You guys can make up excuses for me, thank you.

• “ Basically, just drive into work and sit there without talking to anyone if you still want to keep your job. ”

Oh I’ll drive into work and JUST sit there alright…

I also (strongly) advise not spending a dime on any local businesses in the Hub city/location. Gas up the vehicle elsewhere & bring your lunch/food from home. Those local businesses & chambers of commerce can stuff it!

WRONG!!!!
RTO is about keeping the entire US economy from insolvency due to commercial loan defaults. Way too many skyscrapers sitting empty, NYC alone has the equivalent of 20 Empire State Buildings sitting empty. When loans on these buildings need to be refinanced, look out, the high interest rate will force many commercial real estate companies into bankruptcy. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion!

20 people show up to my building. RTO for one year now it’s like 35 people the other 100 plus are still home I guess. Meanwhile people reporting to all sorts of satellite offices all over the city. They did not consolidate to 9 offices. More like 900. Meanwhile they spend millions maintaining elevators, chillers the building budget is huge. They must’ve had too much push back and have moved on because it ain’t happening.

A lot of truth to the OP posting especially the “at the moment” part!

I make it a point to not do any of that when I go to the office. No resteraunts, no gyms, not paying for parking, no shopping. Etc. I cut my cell phone plan back to help pay for the gas.

For years, I was a fully approved Teleworker on a national team that was spread out across the CONUS. I lived over 50 miles from any of the approved sites. Before that, I had commuted for 16 years. There was never any issue with my work or accessibility, etc. But I always saw how the company was so concerned about costs, even denying a wireless mouse on a teammate's laptop PC. I scratched my head over all the company's buildings across the country, that were just cubicle farms, and always wondered about the costs of the buildings or leases, maintenance, utilities, landscaping, etc. Certainly that adds up, I thought. Of course, buildings having equipment are necessary to keep, but many employees had laptops and home internet, and I thought that was a brilliant way to shift costs. Of course, McElfish came on the scene in January 2019 and ended all that, when I was surplus'd in that massive wave. LOL. It still makes sense, in my mind, that employees that can work from home, should. Oh well, not my place.

Employee productivity also sharply increases overall.