All articles
Paramount's RTO Mandate Sees 600 Employees Head for the Exits
Approximately 600 Paramount Skydance employees accept severance packages to avoid a new five-day-a-week return-to-office mandate.
Key Points
- Approximately 600 Paramount Skydance employees accept severance packages to avoid a new five-day-a-week return-to-office mandate.
- The departures are part of a broader post-merger strategy to cut $3 billion in costs, which also includes over 2,600 additional layoffs.
- The new policy requires employees in New York and Los Angeles to be fully in-person starting January 5, 2026.
Roughly 600 Paramount Skydance employees have accepted severance packages rather than comply with a new five-day-a-week return-to-office mandate, a move that underscores the company's aggressive post-merger restructuring.
Commit or quit: CEO David Ellison announced the policy in September, requiring New York and Los Angeles employees to be fully in-person starting January 5, 2026, or leave the company.
A sweeping cleanup: The departures are part of a broader strategy to slash at least $3 billion in costs. The buyouts follow 1,000 recent layoffs, with another 1,600 job cuts expected from the divestiture of its Argentinian and Chilean television assets.
Ready for a full house: According to an internal memo first obtained by Business Insider, the company is already reconfiguring its offices, detailing a mandatory remote work period in December to get its Times Square and Hollywood locations ready for the change.
Paramount's hardline stance highlights a growing tension across corporate America, betting that the benefits of in-person collaboration will outweigh the immediate cost of losing hundreds of staffers who prefer flexibility.
