AT&T’s recent announcement to cut back on the company’s real estate to nine core locations comes in conjunction with a return to the office mandate for managers. The mandate will require some 60,000 managers to be in the office at least three days per week starting in July and September. The problem is that 15% (9,000) of those managers no longer live near an AT&T office due to the real estate cuts, which means that either must relocate or quit.

AT&T certainly understands and likely has predicted how many managers will opt to part ways with the company, which comes at a time that recession fears are peaking. Also, AT&T isn’t alone in this return to the office strategy. Major companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Chase, Meta, Twitter, and Uber have already required many employees to return to the office.

This begs the question, are these mandates intended to drive voluntary turnover? No companies are explicitly say that, but rather most companies with return to the office policies cite that being in the office increases collaboration and maintains corporate culture.