Paramount return to office policy5 days a week.

What the policy says.

• Phase 1 (from 2026-01-05) covered employees assigned to the Los Angeles and New York offices.
• A severance opt-in for VPs and below in LA and NY was open 2025-09-04 to 2025-09-15; most who took it left 2025-10-31.
• Phase 1 employees who neither took severance nor returned full-time could be terminated for cause with no severance (TheWrap).
• Phase 2 covers U.S. employees in other locations, international office staff and people hired into fully remote roles, with a similar severance opt-in; Business Insider reported it took effect the week of 2026-09-14 for certain U.S. staff outside NY and LA.
• Reported exception: staff who oversee telecasts from outside venues may not need to report daily (Variety).
• Archie's tracker reports about 600 employees took the buyout at a cost of roughly $185 million.
• The mandate is part of more than $2 billion in post-merger cost cuts, including about 2,000 job cuts from October 2025.
• On 2026-10-06 Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and the combined company took the name Skydance (NYSE: SKYD).

How Paramount's policy changed since 2020.

1. August 7, 2025

   Skydance-Paramount Global merger closed; Paramount Global had no unified office policy and staff typically came in 2-3 days a week (Deadline)

2. September 4, 2025

   CEO David Ellison memo announced a phased move to five days in office from Jan. 5, 2026, with a severance opt-in

3. September 15, 2025

   Severance opt-in window for LA and NY staff closed

4. October 2025

   About 2,000 job cuts began as part of $2B+ in cost reductions

5. January 5, 2026

   Phase 1: five-day requirement took effect for LA and NY employees

6. February 27, 2026

   Paramount signed a definitive agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery

7. September 2026

   Phase 2 took effect (week of Sept. 14) for certain U.S. employees outside NY and LA

8. October 6, 2026

   WBD acquisition closed; the combined company is named Skydance (NYSE: SKYD)

Sources and how sure we are.

1. 1.Paramount to Begin Phased Return to Office in January TheWrap, September 4, 2025
2. 2.Paramount mandates 5-day-a-week return to office ahead of major cost cuts NBC News / CNBC, September 4, 2025
3. 3.Paramount return to office five days (Ellison) The Hollywood Reporter, September 4, 2025
4. 4.Paramount Mandates Five-Day-a-Week Return to Office Ahead of Massive Cost Cuts Variety, September 5, 2025
5. 5.Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison return-to-office mandate Fortune, September 5, 2025
6. 6.Paramount layoffs after Skydance merger Axios, October 29, 2025
7. 7.Disney tightens RTO policy as more remote employees are asked to return to offices (reports Paramount Phase 2) People Matters (citing Business Insider), September 15, 2026
8. 8.Paramount Completes Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Creating a New Global Entertainment Leader: Skydance Skydance, October 6, 2026
9. 9.Companies Returning to Office: RTO Tracker [October 2026] Archie, October 1, 2026

Days a week are for most US corporate employees; some teams, roles and countries differ. Spot something out of date? Email hello@forgot.dev.

Other media employers, side by side.

• Disney4 days a week, since March 20234
• NBCUniversal (Comcast)4 days a week, since January 20264
• Warner Bros. Discovery3 days a week, since June 20223

Working to an office rule? Plan the days that matter.

The hybrid work schedule template builds a week of office days for your team: anchor days everyone shares, the rest spread so the office never overflows. Then Forgot keeps office days, remote days and vacations on one calendar, so nobody commutes in for a planning day half the team is away for.