While Amazon is delaying his return to office on January 2 RTO for thousands of employees due to lack of office space Two other companies are following the tech giant's lead and implementing strict back-to-office mandates.

AT&T and Sweetgreen are telling frontline staff no to come to the office more often in the new year, according to Bloomberg.

Both companies currently require employees to be in the office three days a week.

Related: Dell's surprise 5-day back-to-office order leaves parents scrambling to find childcare

AT&T wants more American staff in the office five days a week, while Sweetgreen is seeking four days a week, according to the report.

Sweetgreen Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Neman told Bloomberg that Amazon's stricter RTO policy paved the way for Sweetgreen to ask its employees to log in more often as well.

“That was the big tipping point where everybody says, 'Oh, they're doing it, now we can do it,'” Neman said.

Related: Hybrid workers were put to the test against fully office workers – here's who came out on top

What is Amazon's new RTO policy?

Amazon's new RTO policy requires all employees to return to the office for the full five-day work week starting in January. And although other companies have followed Amazon's example, the feedback from employees has not been positive.

After announcing the news in September, 73% of Amazon's corporate workforce said they were looking for a new job. Then in October, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told staff they didn't want to go back to the office for five full days when there were “other companies around.” This led to over 500 Amazon employees to sign a letter protesting his comments.

Despite the objections, Amazon has continued with its policy.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last month that the move to fully back office was not a cost play, but was rather motivated by the need to strengthen Amazon's culture.

Related: Google says it won't follow Amazon's lead with a back-to-office mandate — though

^{Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage}

Meanwhile, Amazon's RTO policy may have hit a snag — reports emerged earlier this week that there simply isn't enough office space to accommodate all of the retail giant's 350,000 corporate employees.

Amazon reportedly said thousands of corporate workers living in at least seven cities, including Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, that won't be required to return to the office until April.

However, an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg that the “vast majority” of Amazon's corporate workforce will return to their desks starting January 2.

Related: Remote Walmart workers question return-to-office policy, some opt to leave instead

Does a strict back-to-office policy lead to employee disengagement?

A new study found a marked shift in employees as companies implemented stricter RTO policies.

Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh published a study in Social Science Research Network to determine how RTO mandates affect employee turnover. Researchers examined the LinkedIn employment histories of over three million technology and finance workers and found that there was a 14% increase in employees leaving after companies implemented RTO policies.

“Notably, we find that female employees are more likely to leave after RTO tenures,” the 40-page study said.

The RTO also affected how quickly companies were able to hire a replacement. The study found that it took a firm 23% longer on average to fill a vacancy after implementing a strict RTO policy.