#office

Was your office busy?

Fidelity Investments will require many employees to return to the office five days a week. This new policy begins in September for staff at its Boston headquarters and other locations. Managers at the vice president level and above are also included across all company sites. Previously, most employees worked two weeks in the office out of every four. The company believes physical presence fosters connection, mentorship, and learning.

Boston, Massachusetts

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/30/newsletters/fidelity-return-to-office-five-days-boston/

came into the office today to find my microsoft account has been disabled… said it should be back in 30 minutes…. 4 hours ago

It's TACO Tuesday...
T - Take
A - Away
C - Careers...&
O - Outsource to India

Hooray!

https://share.google/owfhHRl6HChSaqMRu

Considering applying for a WF role. Been monitoring this thread and there seems to be a lot of complaints around the in office policy, which I understand to be 3 days in office, and they are ensuring people stay for 8 hours on those days. My current role is 4/1, but no close monitoring of actual hours in office (yet).

Want to confirm it’s 8 hours in office they are requiring, and ask if you can come in earlier, for example 7am, and leave earlier if you need to - versus 9-5.

ol boy stank will be in San Ramon, probably scouting it out to see if it can be closed down.

Work for a satellite office, don’t see much of a difference. Are they just tracking badge swipes at worst? I highly doubt this is enforceable across a 50k employee base

Can we not do better here? If you want people in the office, maybe push a vacuum or dust once in a while? Office is so filthy we itch when we come in, cups and coffee are few and far between. No working water dispensers in any floor currently. Reserve space covered in grease from prior persons lunch…Thanks USBank for return to office bacterial frappe :(

Working from home gave us flexibility that so many of us repaid by being available at all times. That's about to be gone. No more working after hours, no more responding to late mails, no more giving extra. If we’re back in the office, we’re working office hours. That’s it.

Can’t believe it’s here. Is anyone planning to skip this id--tic “mandate”?
I have been remote 13 years in this company. Now I have to go sit in a random office by myself and do the exact same thing I would do at home. Thinking of skipping and letting the cards fall as they may.

Hi, I don’t work at the firm anymore. I heard that phone positions only need to come to the office one week a month. I am unfamiliar with what phone rep people deal with, but I know they deal with a LOT of crazy stuff. So, salute to you guys.

That being said, assuming what I heard is true, why do phone rep people only need to go one week? What is it about their work specifically that they can go in just one week? Why not all the other positions, like software engineers? Will phone reps continue to only need to go in one week after 2027?

Thanks

RTO - Return-to-Office.

It should be (Mandated) for Everyone (without a Viable Exception) now.

Back-in-the day, employees are (expected) to be at work; not doing other things at home (during work paid hours).

They took away our precovid lives where we had fun going into the office we had colleagues to associate with and life was normal.
They forced us home locked us in and then wonder why we’re adverse to going in after we have proven we are extremely productive wfh. So they created this mammoth paradigm shift and get huffy when we push going back. Going into an office every week every day is so 1980’s the big corps started planning for pandemic scenarios they got what they wanted and forgot they had massive real estate holdings and empty offices.
No you don’t get to keep changing the rules. We’ve adapted and we like autonomy not slogging in with ridiculous traffic and gasoline at $5
This is the modern office HYBRID!

They’ve gone and shut the whole Wex and Cork offices, only to turn around and start hiring again with double referral bonuses. Like, what in the name of God are they at? Did they really ask the lads from those offices to move up to Dub or what?

I have been advised to no longer sign on in the evening to finish tasks as it will log the the time from when I leave the office to when I log in at home as "locked time". Absurd!

I can’t speak for everyone, but this is my take:

I don’t need to be in an office to do my job, but I don’t mind BEING in the office. However, I do mind GOING to the office. There is a distinction. At my location, I have to drive to get to the office. If I take public transit, it adds over an hour to the commute and there are too many nutcases around. But gas is expensive, and I don’t live where the bank has a nice, big free parking lot to park my car. For those of us in downtown metro areas, it’s costs hundreds a month just to park to sit in an office we don’t need to be at in the first place. When RTO happened, it essentially took thousands in take home pay out of my pocket.

Again, once I get to the office, it’s fine. I don’t mind seeing people and all that. (I will not do volunteer activities, however. I’m not cleansing any bank’s reputation with the public when I know they come up with bs excuses for why they can’t even pay their own employees full cost of living adjustments). I don’t know what management doesn’t understand about this. Gas prices are too expensive, parking is too expensive, the mediocre turkey sandwich at the lunch place down the street, that somehow costs $15 now, is too expensive, and if I bring my lunch from home I’m buying groceries that are also too expensive. Now, deep down in my heart, I know that management doesn’t care. But they will someday.

Any news yet on where?

So many of my colleagues coffee-badge or come in less than four days per week RTO. Is this a psychological experiment to see what happens when one groups does not hat they’re told is expected of them and the other does the bare minimum?

Come on splunk, get on Webex already…

Is India affected by any of the RTO mandates? How are they handling for Boston or NH staff the situation in the office? Will these folks not have assigned seats or are they at least dropping that id--tic practice.

;)

Buckle up!

Over hiring in past 5 years
AI is coming
Space is limited
100% in office is coming
RIF coming to go back to headcount 65~70K

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/04/29/fidelity-to-bring-employees-back-to-the-office-5-days-a-week/

Ok folks who complain about THREE day requirement- TIAA continues to be the outlier here. For those who threaten to leave over this requirement - not only is the job market difficult, your options to work from home also seem to be dwindling. So maybe switch career paths as the industry is almost exclusively in office or appreciate what TIAA offers its employees?

thats the post

Not a whine post, just keeping it informational. I just had an org activation touch base where it was communicated that everyone in GT will be expected to work in either PHK or ITC at the current Nike guidance of 4 days per week.

Back in 2023 at an FI all hands in SMT, one of the heads of the BU said “Vanguard makes you come in 3 times a day, we’re MUCH better than them”. Roger Stiles also said in the end of 2022 that the approach for one week in office was fair.

I wonder if those gents remember when they said that lol.

I think it’s time we revisit who owns reserved parking spaces - too many open and not enough general spots

As title says, partner has a job opportunity in a city without a pulse point. Is this even possible for me to switch remote or should just start looking for a new job? I know some people were grandfathered as remote but not counting on it. I’m a L15 (Director) if it makes a difference.

#LifeAtATT

Westlake garage is backed up like crazy today.
Did the 8+ rule already go into effect?

We’re almost at a year of return to office and I still don’t have a desk. Anyone else?

It seems most building offices are constrained for space and with the recent return to office, it has made hiring in locations almost impossible. Are they going to open up new buildings are get leases for locations constrained?

There has been some chatter around the Blue Ash offices that the goal is to move eveyone downtown?

Is there any truth to this?

I can’t imagine there is enough office space but I could be wrong.

We need another meeting

are the sending 15mins impromptu meetings or sending early morning?

If you are a bank employee, either get to the office close to 9am local time or get ready to be escorted out by being in the office early. Notice period is tomorrow.

Wow, just had to jump on here and say it. The switch to open-plan with unassigned seating (HMP) has been straight up fantastic. I used to dread coming in but now I actually look forward to it. You grab your laptop in the morning, pick a spot, and bo-m - you’re sitting near completely different people every day. The random conversations that pop up are gold. Ideas get shared, problems get solved on the spot, and you feel way more connected to what’s happening across the business.

What really makes it shine is how open and transparent management has been through the whole thing. They didn’t just roll it out and disappear. They’ve been walking the floors, asking for real feedback, and actually listening. You can tell they genuinely want this to work and they’re being upfront about why these changes matter for all of us. Its refreshing to see that level of honesty from the top.

Because of it we’re moving faster, collaborating better, and honestly beating the pants off the competition who are still stuck in their old cubicle worlds or half-empty hybrid setups. The energy in the buildings is so much better now. Feels like a real one-team culture.

Chevrons ki-ling it with this approach. Makes me proud to be here and way more excited about the future.

Has anyone else had those “wow this actually works” moments with the new seating? Especially wondering how its going for the field and ops crews when they come into the office. You guys liking it or nah?
Would love to hear your stories!