We're starting to hear some new RTO related buzzwords: Network Pod, Hyperlocal, Cross Pollinate, and Work Bubble.
A "Network Pod" is a small group of employees that sit with one another, but are not in the same group and do not actually work together. The idea is that they'll somehow collaborate and "Cross Pollinate" by virtue of their close proximity.
"Hyperlocal" pertains to the physical distance that an employee commutes to work. Somebody who lives within walking distance of the office is more "hyperlocal" than somebody who has a 15 minute commute (and the poor shmuck who has an hour long commute isn't hyperlocal at all). In the eyes of our buzzwordy leadership it's good to be local, and better to be hyperlocal.
A "Work Bubble" is the same thing as a Tower. Which was the same thing as a Silo. Which was the same thing as "your Lane". Which was the same thing as "your Boundaries". You get the idea. It's that imaginary wall within which you or your immediate group is confined while at work. Except the idea now is that you sit next to somebody who is in the same "bubble" as you. It kinda sounds contradictory to the idea of "Network Pod", but I'm only telling you what we're hearing.
Layoff implications...? My take is that this is yet another way of management expressing their opinion that they don't like remote workers.