AT&T employees can kiss hybrid work goodbye as the communications company demands U.S. employees to work five days a week on-site starting January 2025, the Dallas Morning News reports.
The Dallas, Texas-based company spent months accommodating some hybrid employees while trying to figure out its push to a full-time office return. AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said during the summer of 2023 that employees would be required to report to one of the nine corporate hubs — Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Ramon, California, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Middletown, New Jersey, and Bedminster,
New Jersey — at least three days a week. With close to 18,000 management employees returning to the hubs in early 2024, an AT&T spokesperson says the full-time return makes sense. “The majority of our employees and leaders never stopped working on location for the full work week — including during the pandemic. We always adapt our workforce model to drive collaboration and innovation to deliver the best support for our customers,” the spokesperson said.“As we continue to evolve our model, we are enhancing our facilities and workspaces, adapting our benefits programs, and incorporating best practices to ensure our employees are best equipped to serve our customers.”
Before consolidating to nine cities, the company supported over 300 offices across the United States.
AT&T is following in the footsteps of other Fortune 500 companies demanding their employees return to the office full-time instead of following a hybrid work schedule. While salad chain Sweetgreen Inc. requires its support staffers to work four days in the office, Starbucks Corp. threatened termination for staff that didn’t follow return-to-office mandates. Amazon made headlines when it mandated a return, but it has been delayed due to the lack of adequate office space in certain locations. The spokesperson continued to say that AT&T doesn’t have that same i
ssue, but the decision aligns with certain business strategies. “Our workforce strategies are implemented based on business needs and varies by organization, location and other factors,” they mentioned.“There is no universal policy for all employees and, as always, our strategy evolves with business needs.”
The decision is not popular amongst employees and onlookers. According to WFAA 8 ABC, some loathe the move as it limits the flexibility promised to workers seeking extended time
with their families or who moved to less expensive locations. Others wonder if the policy is another way to cull workers without traditional layoffs. However, some celebrate the return as a way to promote a healthier company culture and financial performance.AT&T Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Legg says service workers will be rolled out to job sites beginning Jan. 6 and is expected to be mostly complete by March 3.