It sounds like Dell is just run by assholes.

RTO is coming from Michael Dell, a millionaire who is out-of-touch with the actual people this policy is going to hurt.

I don't believe for a second that Dell doesn't know where all their offices are and their plan for each of them.

They closed a ton during covid. Many offices that remain open are touchdown only without enough space to accommodate the staff in the region.

They seem to have picked the worst possible way to demand RTO that reveals how weak their management is.

The RTO push came from the very top. Most directors cannot justify or defend it, but their job is to pass it along. Upper management doesn't give a shit about their employees.

All RTO demands are short sighted and lose you the better employees that have options, but doing it the way they are causes far more employee morale damage and will hurt the company longer than if they had a clear plan for what RTO was.

This RTO is going to effect senior employees who were hired to be local to customers then became remote. Forcing them to quit or retire means you can replace them with cheaper employees, outsource their job, or simply push their work onto the remaining staff.

Not to mention, anytime I see something neboulous about AI to solve problems without specifics I roll my eyes because it is quite obviously some idea thought up by someone who is caught in hype without any understanding of the utility of it. It reeks of some exec telling their subordinates, "I hear this new AI thing can solve all our problems, make it happen and don't come back until you have it implemented."

Management has no idea what to do with AI except buzzwords and promises for the gleefully ignorant customers asking for AI.