AT&T Brings Staff Back to Offices Full-Time in 2025

After a year of hybrid work, AT&T is telling its U. S. employees to put on their business attire and head back to the office five days a week starting in January 2025. The telecom giant, based in Dallas, is making this shift after CEO John Stankey previously required staff to be on-site at least three days a week at one of nine corporate hubs across the country. These hubs include cities like Dallas, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Roughly 18, 000 management employees have already returned to these hubs earlier this year. Before this consolidation, AT&T supported over 300 offices across the U. S. An AT&T spokesperson explained that many employees and leaders never stopped working on-site full-time, even during the pandemic. The company believes that this on-site work model drives collaboration and innovation, which is crucial for customer support. The announcement comes at a time when other big companies are also adjusting their work policies. For instance, Amazon delayed its five-day office return due to insufficient space in some locations. AT&T, however, assures that it has enough space to accommodate its Dallas-based workforce. The company hasn't asked employees to relocate because of this policy. Shares of AT&T have seen a significant rise, about 35%, this year. The company is expected to report earnings on January 27, with projected annual revenue of $122. 34 billion. AT&T maintains that its workforce strategies are based on business needs and can vary by location and other factors. Other major employers are also making changes. For example, the salad chain Sweetgreen Inc. is requiring its few hundred support staff to work four days in the office, while Starbucks has warned staff that they could be fired for not following return-to-office mandates. Despite these policies, offices in major U. S. cities remain half-empty compared to pre-pandemic levels. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the office vacancy rate was 24. 7% in the third quarter of 2024.