#hotdesking

Supposed to be daily drop ins - first come first served. Well. People are decorating and putting up their plaques.

What happened? Not fair to everyone.

Three people are dead from a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. Two infected patients are now in biocontainment at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Georgia residents who were already in the community after exposure are being monitored.

Officials say "no risk to the public."

We heard that before. In 2020. About something that ki-led millions.

Now look at where AT&T is forcing its employees to sit. Five days a week. No assigned seats. No dividers. No open air. Two feet between people in a sealed office with recirculated air. Badge tracked. Hour monitored. No flexibility. No exceptions.

This is what "market-based culture" looks like when a pathogen arrives in your city.

The Andes strain of hantavirus.... the one behind this outbreak.... is the only strain known to spread human to human. Scientists are still investigating exactly how it spread among cruise ship passengers in close quarters.

Close quarters. Recirculated air. No dividers. Sound familiar?

We've seen this movie before. We know how it ends. Take care of yourself.

Got the RTO communication and this line stuck out:

“Seating is prioritized for employees first, with unassigned areas and seats an option for contractors on an as-available, first-come, first-served basis”

Read that carefully. They aren’t saying there’s plenty of room and contractors just get second pick. They’re saying contractors get whatever is left over on a first come first served basis. That’s not a seating policy, that’s a disclaimer. They already know there aren’t enough seats.

And FTE seating isn’t even assigned, it’s open within neighborhoods. So the “priority” is theoretical. A contractor walks in, sees an open desk, sits down. Nobody is checking IDs at the door.

The part nobody is talking about: are contractors even on a 5 day mandate? Because if FTEs are legally obligated to be there every day and contractors are not, you’ve got people who’ve worked there for years eating a full commute while embedded contractors log in from home.
This email answered nothing and accidentally raised three new questions.

Anyone else getting actual clarity from their managers?

Been thinking about this a lot lately. Going back to four days a week in the office with the open plan unassigned seating (HMP) has definitely brought some good energy. You run into folks from different teams, have those quick real-time conversations, and get problems solved faster than the endless email chains we had before. Its helped cut down on friction and made collaboration feel smoother.

That said, I keep noticing how our field teams run on a solid 5-day rhythm and it shows in their consistency and momentum. Maybe bringing the office side to a full 5 days could line everything up even better across the company. Wrapping the week strong with everyone in on Friday, plus the occasional half-day on Saturday when it makes sense, might give us that extra edge to stay ahead of the competition and feel more like one-team.

Chevrons culture already feels special, and pushing a bit more on the in-office side could make it even stronger. Its one of the reasons Im still optimistic about sticking around long-term.

Anyone else seeing similar things? Especially curious how the current 4-day setup is landing for field and ops folks. Are you noticing quicker decisions or better handoffs, or do you think more consistent office time would help?

Anyone notice how they never showed the places where you’ll actually work? Probably because it will be the same old open plan warehousing with no assigned seats where you’ll have to battle background noise while you try to do focused work.

And remember, all the fancy stuff is about one thing: making your life revolve around AT&T and Stankeytown as much as possible. Same playbook as Google, Apple etc just 30 years later.

So you're mandated to go into the office and you don't have assigned seats? I saw someone say they have to go in before 7am in order to get a seat? Diabolical.

Mods pulled xxon post saying they have issues with unassigned space.

How about the mangers stop saving spaces and tell us where we can and can’t sit.

It’s first come first serve. Thats the whole model

How’d it go for everyone?

I heard multiple times, “no, those spaces are for x-x team or person.”

No they aren’t. We’re not saving you space b/c you’re special. If we’re doing unassigned, that means you too buddy.

Since we need to have open no fixed space working spaces it is critical that we differentiate ourselves from other animals in the kingdom forced into harvesting pens. Let's ask our leaders for Chevron scented candles to at least remove the negative impacts of those that harvest in the common space.

It's important to make a good impression. Everyone will be there! Some of you will even be sharing the same desk and chair!

Take all your sh1t back and forth, fight for space, zero personalization, spread everyone’s germs, sit on Teams calls with team members down the hall or across the world… and do it 4 days a week.

Enjoy your check and stfu cattle.

That’s pretty much it. What a joke.

I have no problem with 4 days back in the office starting 3/30/28 but can we please have our frigging desks back??? I don’t want a HS locker with a combo lock I need to contact building maintenance to open up for me every 2 weeks. If the powers that be want a return to normality, how about starting with our own desks around our own teams!!!!

Come on admit it who thought up this idea of everyone having to book their desks? Forcing everyone into 4 days a week now coming up with yet another way to sc--w us all over. Can you believe there is other places to work where you can just go into an office and sit down at will. Madness.