Employees of media giant Paramount have two weeks to decide whether to return to the office full time or accept a severance package as the company plans to ramp up its attendance requirements.
Within weeks of its $8 billion merger with Skydance, Paramount is kicking off a widespread cost-cutting campaign that will include demanding most of its workforce show up at either its New York or its Los Angeles hub five days a week, starting in January. Workers disinclined to adhere to the escalated mandate can instead choose an “opt-in severance program,” CEO David Ellison told Paramount employees in a memo made public on Thursday.
“To achieve what we’ve set out to do — and to truly unlock Paramount’s full potential — we must make meaningful changes that position us for long-term success,” the new CEO wrote. “These changes are about building a stronger, more connected and agile organization that can deliver on our goals and compete at the highest level.”
Starting Jan. 5, 2026, Paramount employees based out of the company’s Los Angeles and Manhattan offices will be required to return to a Monday-through-Friday schedule. The media conglomerate, which oversees popular stations such as CBS and MTV as well as its namesake movie studio, will expand the policy to its international workforce later next year.
The company is shifting its global headquarters from the 1515 Broadway office tower in Times Square to its lot at 5555 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, a move that coincides with its broader plan to cut more than $2 billion in expenses.
“We have a lot to accomplish and we’re moving fast,” Ellison said in the memo. “We need to all be rowing in the same direction. And especially when you’re dealing with a creative business like ours, that begins with being together in person.”
‘Shared momentum’
Companies across the United States are demanding more in-person time from employees, either by revoking remote work privileges, increasing the number of days they’re required to be in an office or asking a portion of the workforce to relocate closer to a corporate hub.
Escalated mandates have fueled optimism among national office landlords, which are looking to retain their portfolio occupancy as tenants have slashed real estate to both trim costs and adjust to flexible post-pandemic work policies.
Some of the country’s largest landlords have said that stricter in-office mandates are enough to bolster optimism that the demand for space will climb as corporate heavyweights push to revert to their pre-pandemic workweek schedules.
The demand for office space has been building since the start of the year as corporate heavy hitters such as Amazon, Starbucks, Target, Dell and Salesforce, among others, push for more stringent in-person requirements. The number of CEOs who believed their companies would adopt a full return to a five-day workweek climbed to about 85% from the 64% reported in 2023, according to a recent KPMG survey.
The number of Fortune 100 companies that now require a five-day workweek in the office has soared to about 55% compared with the 5% reported two years ago, according to a recent JLL survey. Hybrid mandates have plummeted from about 80% to roughly 40% over the same period, and only 1% of companies continue to allow fully remote policies.
Target earlier this summer unveiled plans that effectively end what had been nearly five years of its flexible work policy. It is now asking employees across its merchandising division to return to its headquarters in downtown Minneapolis at least three days a week. Its headquarters reportedly houses about 7,100 employees.
In Seattle, Starbucks told its corporate employees that its current three-day office requirement would be bumped up to at least four days a week, starting at the beginning of the company’s fiscal year in October. Alongside the boosted attendance mandate, the coffee giant has also told workers within its support center division — many of whom have been working remotely — that they will have to relocate either to Seattle or Toronto within the next year.
Paramount’s escalated attendance policy was released ahead of job cuts the company plans to roll out later this year.
“Some of the most formative moments of my life happened in rooms where I was a fly on the wall, listening and learning,” Ellison wrote. “I’ve never seen that happen on Zoom. Being together in-person isn’t just about showing up — it’s about actively engaging with the business, supporting one another and the team’s efforts, and contributing to our shared momentum.”