Ultimatum to the American employees of the media giant Skydance (a Hollywood production house and media company specializing in blockbusters, from Top Gun to the series of Mission: Impossible). Management communicated Monday afternoon the mandatory obligation to return in attendance on a full weekly basis. Those who choose not to comply with the new company directive will be able to take advantage of a voluntary redundancy incentive package. So: goodbye smart, back (always) to the office. The experts and trade unionists call them backdoor layoffs, layoffs through the back door. Less costs and savings for the company (forced dismissal benefits are more expensive) without, however, the reputational damage.
“Daily physical presence is a primary concern”
Skydance’s measure was formalized through an internal memo jointly signed by CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. In the memo sent to staff, the group’s top management defined the decision as an inevitable strategic choice for the future of the company, maintaining that daily physical presence is in the primary interest of both the company and the workers themselves.
The Return to office (Rto) directive applies uniformly to all divisions of the Skydance universe. The communication does not specify whether there are operational exceptions for particular categories of workers or tasks.
The offer to leave
The document indicates that “target personnel” will receive a confidential individual communication in the coming days. The personalized note will contain specific financial details, the expected contractual conditions and the limited time window within which each employee will have to decide whether to accept or reject the one-off exit offer. Voluntary severance packages provided in Skydance (Vbo) are on average between 14 and 21 weeks of gross pay – equivalent to approximately 3.5-5 months of salary – calculated on the basis of a standard parameter which recognizes two weeks of pay for each year of seniority accrued. The incentive provides a minimum guaranteed threshold for new hires and rises up to three weeks per year worked in the case of senior or executive figures, also integrating the balance of bonuses and overdue holidays to encourage spontaneous exits before forced cuts.
Goodbye smart working
Skydance’s turning point is part of the tightening policies implemented by the main players in the US media and tech industry, determined to progressively liquidate the remote working and e-working models introduced during the pandemic period. Google, Microsoft (with 60 thousand people involved), Salesforce, Amazon, Zoom are doing it. We have already talked about it here. Often these are not industrial companies in crisis, on the contrary. Skydance Mediam, in fact, merged in 2025 with Paramount Global, creating Paramount Skydance Corporation. Under Ellison’s leadership, the new group recorded a total annual turnover estimated at around 30 billion dollars, with Ebitda between 3.8 and 3.9 billion (driven by the growth of subscriptions and revenues of Paramount+).
The Italian case
Even in Italy there are similar trajectories. The employees of the Ubisoft Studios (video games) of Assago (Milan) have returned to folding their arms against the obligation to return to presence for five days a week. The video game giant’s decision, which came after a first three-day restriction already contested in 2024, impacts around one hundred workers who in recent years had reorganized their lives based on smart working. The unions have denounced how the measure hides “an indirect incentive for voluntary resignations”.