Mr. Stankey, it’s clear you care deeply about rebuilding AT&T’s culture and driving results. But the 5-day return-to-office mandate is not delivering those outcomes. It’s quietly draining productivity, eroding morale, and accelerating the loss of high-value talent, particularly among younger and mid-career professionals.
In the year since the mandate began, the data tells a stark story:
• Voluntary attrition among under-40 employees has risen dramatically across the industry where rigid RTO policies persist. AT&T’s own attrition rates mirror that trend.
• Stock performance has lagged both Verizon and T-Mobile since the RTO push, suggesting Wall Street isn’t buying “butts in seats” as a business strategy.
• Office occupancy metrics nationwide show that mandated presence rarely exceeds 60% compliance. Employees comply on paper but disengage in spirit.
More importantly, the promised benefits of RTO (collaboration, innovation, culture) simply aren’t materializing. Employees report fewer in-person meetings, more hybrid video calls, and a deeper sense of distrust toward leadership. You can’t rebuild culture through compulsion. Culture is earned through empowerment.
Meanwhile, competitors are winning talent with flexible, hybrid models. Companies like T-Mobile, Verizon, Google, IBM and Microsoft have settled on 2-3 in-office days because the data supports it: productivity, engagement, and retention all rise when employees have agency over where they work.
AT&T has an opportunity here. Not to follow the trend, but to lead it. Imagine the signal it would send if AT&T were the first major company to publicly admit that five-day RTO was the wrong call. Reframing it as a “Return to Trust” would instantly shift perception from rigid to visionary.
You have the chance to show that leadership is about listening, not doubling down dictator style. The workforce is ready to deliver. They just need to know their leaders trust them again.
Revisit RTO. Shift back to a 2-3 day hybrid model. Watch what happens when respect replaces resentment.
That’s how AT&T becomes a company people are proud to work for again.