In August, it was reported that Microsoft was planning to mandate its employees back to the office “at least” three days a week beginning in 2026. (Employees currently can work remotely “half” of the workweek.) Now, according to an internal email sent to Microsoft staff on Tuesday, the company has finalized its plans and is issuing a return-to-office (RTO) mandate in three phases, starting in February 2026, according to Business Insider.

CEO Satya Nadella explained why at an all-employee town hall on Thursday, the outlet reports. Nadella noted that one “unintended consequence” of remote work was losing the social ties that are “necessary for innovation.”

Related: Amazon Tells Thousands of Employees to Relocate or Resign

“Weak ties, you know, become weaker, stronger ties become stronger, and new ties are tough to form, right? That’s it,” Nadella said at the event, according to internal comments reviewed by Business Insider. “If you think of it as a simple network problem, that was the conclusion.”

When announcing the new RTO policy on Tuesday, Microsoft HR chief Amy Coleman sent an email to employees that said the first phase of RTO will focus on workers who live in the Puget Sound, Washington area, and will begin around February 23.

^{Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., departs following a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Eric Lee/Bloomberg | Getty Images}

“In the AI era, we are moving faster than ever, building world-class technology that changes how people live and work, and how organizations everywhere operate,” the email reads. “If you reflect on our history, the most meaningful breakthroughs happen when we build on each other’s ideas together, in real time.”

Related: Microsoft Just Became the Second Company in History to Achieve a $4 Trillion Valuation — Here’s How

As of June 30, Microsoft employed 228,000 workers, with 125,000 located in the U.S.

The RTO mandate will then expand to other offices in the U.S., and, eventually, internationally. Planning will begin in 2026, according to the email.

At the town hall, Coleman said that the decision for RTO was made after examining internal data that found employees “thrive” more when they spend at least three days a week in the office.

“We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive—they are more energized, empowered, and they deliver stronger results,” Coleman said.

Related: Microsoft’s CEO Says the Company’s Mass Layoffs, Despite Financial Success, Are ‘Weighing Heavily on Me’ in an Internal Memo

Comcast’s top brass slammed MSNBC’s coverage of the killing of conservative activist Charlier Kirk — including “insensitive” and “inappropriate” remarks by analyst Matthew Dowd, who was fired on Thursday.

The memo, which was signed by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh and Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant — the spinoff company that includes MSNBC — was circulated to Comcast and NBCUniversal staff on Friday.

“You may have seen that MSNBC recently ended its association with a contributor who made an unacceptable and insensitive comment about this horrific event,” the memo said.

“That coverage was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”

The execs added that staffers must “maintain a respectful exchange of ideas” even if they do not agree with the late Kirk’s political views.

They added that “something essential has fractured in our public discourse,” and that their company has a “responsibility to help mend it.”

Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley College, prompting a media frenzy and manhunt for the conservative activist’s killer.

During MSNBC’s live coverage of the shooting, anchor Katy Tur asked Dowd about “the environment in which a shooting like this happens.”

Dowd answered: “He’s been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.

“You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”

The analyst’s remarks sparked outrage online and prompted MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler to issue an apology on Thursday and fire Dowd, whose comments she called “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.”

Follow The Post’s live coverage of the Charlie Kirk shooting for the latest news and updates

Comcast — and other major media companies — have been under fire for biased coverage by President Trump and his administration.

On “Fox & Friends” on Friday, Trump commented on the firing of Dowd and MSNBC’s coverage.

“We are talking about radical left networks and cable channels, horrible channels, like MS — I always call it DNC — because it is somehow affiliated with the Democrat National Committee,” he said.

“MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS — they’re all terrible. Absolutely terrible and unfair. But even they have been giving it, like, ‘This can’t be allowed to happen.’”

The president made the bombshell announcement on the show that a suspect accused of killing Kirk had been captured.