AT&T recently announced it will be closing several office locations in an attempt to cut $6 billion in operational costs and increase company growth. Offices will be reduced from 500 locations down to nine, one of which will be AT&T’s headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Atlanta’s location will be a second hub.
Offices in Los Angeles, San Ramon, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, Middletown, and Bedminster will also remain open.
The new office policy also mandates managers involved with operations must be in the office between three to five days a week. Managers are now broken into two categories: Office and virtual. Those who are virtual managers, roughly 10 percent, will be required to be in the office one to five days per month.
Over 60,000 managers are expected to be affected by this decision and some speculate this could inspire a wave of employee resignations.
Since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, most of AT&T’s staff has been working remotely. In total, AT&T has approximately 160,700 employees. While 85 percent of managers live within a reasonable commute of these locations, 15 percent don’t and may not be inclined to move despite AT&T’s relocation services.
Chief Executive Officer John Stankey said “Many will make decisions that are appropriate to their lives. If they want to be a part of building a great culture and environment, they’ll come along on these adjustments and changes. Others may decide, given the station of life they are in, that they want to move in a different direction.” He also added the in-office mandate would help collaborative efforts while AT&T directs its focus to strictly selling services.
We’ll see come July when Dallas and Atlanta managers will be required to be in the office weekly. The other locations will start the new policy by September 4th.