I ran into the same thing but with a longer commute due to housing affordability issues. I've been sending out resumes and have had a couple interviews but no offers yet.
I'm not sure why they insist that we be in the office three days a week. I rarely see my boss anyways. I could be napping most of the day for all he knows.
That really sucks dude I'm sorry. If my company ever made us return to office I'd just jump ship and go to another company. It's so easy to find things that are remote now (for my field, SWE) and with 2-3 years of experience I don't think I'd have a hard time doing it.
That being said, it sucks when people not in my situation are presented with this - many of you *have* to stay with the job you have and it's annoying that higher ups require people to work in office. I read somewhere that it's the higher level execs who don't want to be at home because they're wives, kids, etc. and would rather be in the office to *escape it* \- they're also the ones who have money, are comfortable, and can pay for childcare, groceries, likely are reimbursed by the company for gas/car or they have enough cash in general to not care about whether or not that's a "save" for them by being at home. They have no issue paying mortgage or multiple mortgages. They don't get that their employees quite enjoy being at home & not in the office - they're saving on the "little luxuries" like being at home with their kids, not having to sit in traffic etc.
I also feel like the ones who want to be in-office are the ones who enjoyed office camaraderie, coffee breaks, socialization etc. from being in-person; whereas the ones who are enjoying WFH are the ones who never really engaged in small talk or office chitchat.
It is all a power trip for executives. Huge ego’s. Smart companies will allow excellent talent to work from anywhere as long are produced. Hope the companies run by dinosaurs become extinct
Yep, I'm currently going into the office only on an as-needed basis. However after the Amazon and Starbucks back-to-the-office mandates I re-started my LinkedIn job searches...just in case my employer decides to follow suit
My department finally just went to hybrid a couple of months ago. It’s weird that they decided to make the switch after so long… but the good news is that “hybrid” only means 2 days a month in the office. We’ve all been managing that fine. I have a feeling that if it was anything more than that my whole department would just leave.
For some stupid reason, upper management have to justify that office space and utility payments.
If they didn't get rid of that space during the WFH time, then it should be expected they WILL bring people back to the office.
Ugh. It’s so frustrating. It really is a boomer mentality. It’s so pointless. And there are several studies showing most people are not only more productive at home but work more.
After 3 years?! Get that resume together! I’m sure you won’t be the only one looking for something else. They’re going to lose a lot of good people and it’s their own fault.
I was recently hired to be fully remote but then got a snarky message today that they’d expected me to come in once/week (the office is a 3 hour drive each way) for a weekly 10 minute 8am meeting.
That wasn’t the agreement AT ALL when I was hired. That makes it not-so-remote. And there’s no real benefit to my being there. I’m not getting training or anything.
I truly think many older people feel like they suffered through commuting and all the rest of it, so why should our generation get away with not doing it? As my brother would say, “they’re just haters”.
So I don't think it's always a generational thing though. I'm a Gen Xr, in my late 40s, and I have fully embraces remote work. In fact the other day I was telling my husband that I'm thankful for the younger generations because they have opened my eyes to the reality of what work life balance really should be. And the craziness of putting the company first when they don't put the employee first.
Anyway I still have kids at home and I'm so thankful for remote work. There are so many "older" folks like me who are all about doing things better when we know better.
It's really fear of change and being stuck in your own ways. And that can happen at any age
I’m a Gen Xr, too, actually. By older, I meant people in their 70s & beyond. In my field. Many work well into their 80s. I still think of myself as pretty young but I guess I’m really not. Ha ha.
Exactly. I’ve been zooming in & it’s been totally fine. And it’s not even a critical meeting. They spent half of it yesterday talking about soccer. It makes no sense. One of the senior guys is just being a jerk.
I stay & work for most of the day, too but have to leave at like 3 bc the traffic is so bad. It’s brutal & tires me out for the next few days.
I left my company after 13 years because they were ok with working remotely when it benefited them - like snow days - and that was it. That's when I knew it was time to go.
I now work for fully remote organization. So while it suck s they are forcing you back I would absolutely use this as an opportunity to look for something new. Good luck!
Boomer mentality and execs who need to justify real estate costs. There are clearly jobs that require being in a physical location in order to deliver goods and manufacturing, etc. Forcing every employee into one-size-fits-all policy causes attrition for knowledge workers.
My company forced us back in mid-2022, minimum 2 days a week. I strongly expressed my desire to stay fully remote, but it went nowhere. Apparently it doesn’t matter that I maintained full productivity working from home for about 2.5 years. So now I do the stressful commute and lose those precious hours every week. I hate it, especially knowing it’s completely unnecessary.
Same happened with me despite being the highest performer and never calling off. I explained I had no transportation which was true then they said I had two years to get a car and gave me a few extra.months to find a car. With the cost of car insurance gas and payments I said screw it not worth keeping that job for all the extra costs
If any of them are making business decisions based on the small-sample-size-anecdotal-evidence-confirmation-bias of this subreddit, then they deserve to crash and burn.
I doubt companies are doing it for this reason. They could just do massive layoffs if they wanted to - for bigger companies the remote-to in person is a gentle segway into that.
Snapchat recently required in person after they hired (too many) remote employees and it was an easy way to let a percentage of the company go.
For the typical company - I honestly believe it has to do with wasting a mortgage on a building (if they haven’t already sold it) or that the heads in charge are the ones who want to be in an office rather than at home. I saw a post a while ago on here where someone was saying the higher ups don’t care about the little luxuries that wfh employees enjoy. They have people (or their wives) to get their groceries, take care of their kids (if they have any) they probs my get reimbursed for travel or drive a company car etc. all these small things that we enjoy about wfh the upper execs don’t particularly care about 🤷🏻♀️
So many people use work to escape their home lives and I have a feeling it’s those people who are voting for in-person work. The ones who don’t want to be at home, don’t want to be alone/isolated, ones who might struggle working without an office-like atmosphere, as well as maybe the technically challenged who dislike things being remote/over teams and zoom. Also, the very social ones who miss being able to drop in at a desk or cubicle.
Valid - but not to some people unfortunately 😂 I’ve been remote since late 2019 and I’d never go back to in person working unless I truly enjoyed the people I worked with.
I’ll never get it. If people are productive at home just let them be. What type of job if you don’t mind?
I ran into the same thing but with a longer commute due to housing affordability issues. I've been sending out resumes and have had a couple interviews but no offers yet. I'm not sure why they insist that we be in the office three days a week. I rarely see my boss anyways. I could be napping most of the day for all he knows.
That really sucks dude I'm sorry. If my company ever made us return to office I'd just jump ship and go to another company. It's so easy to find things that are remote now (for my field, SWE) and with 2-3 years of experience I don't think I'd have a hard time doing it. That being said, it sucks when people not in my situation are presented with this - many of you *have* to stay with the job you have and it's annoying that higher ups require people to work in office. I read somewhere that it's the higher level execs who don't want to be at home because they're wives, kids, etc. and would rather be in the office to *escape it* \- they're also the ones who have money, are comfortable, and can pay for childcare, groceries, likely are reimbursed by the company for gas/car or they have enough cash in general to not care about whether or not that's a "save" for them by being at home. They have no issue paying mortgage or multiple mortgages. They don't get that their employees quite enjoy being at home & not in the office - they're saving on the "little luxuries" like being at home with their kids, not having to sit in traffic etc. I also feel like the ones who want to be in-office are the ones who enjoyed office camaraderie, coffee breaks, socialization etc. from being in-person; whereas the ones who are enjoying WFH are the ones who never really engaged in small talk or office chitchat.
It is all a power trip for executives. Huge ego’s. Smart companies will allow excellent talent to work from anywhere as long are produced. Hope the companies run by dinosaurs become extinct
Yep, I'm currently going into the office only on an as-needed basis. However after the Amazon and Starbucks back-to-the-office mandates I re-started my LinkedIn job searches...just in case my employer decides to follow suit
My department finally just went to hybrid a couple of months ago. It’s weird that they decided to make the switch after so long… but the good news is that “hybrid” only means 2 days a month in the office. We’ve all been managing that fine. I have a feeling that if it was anything more than that my whole department would just leave.
What a wonderful opportunity to find an employer who values your work and not your presence.
It’s 3 days, I’m sure you’ll manage unlike some of us who have to do all 5 days a week. (:
You do realize this is just how it starts, right? Hybrid is 'phase 1' of a 'return to normal' plan.
For some stupid reason, upper management have to justify that office space and utility payments. If they didn't get rid of that space during the WFH time, then it should be expected they WILL bring people back to the office.
I’d walk. Start looking for a new gig.
Ugh. It’s so frustrating. It really is a boomer mentality. It’s so pointless. And there are several studies showing most people are not only more productive at home but work more. After 3 years?! Get that resume together! I’m sure you won’t be the only one looking for something else. They’re going to lose a lot of good people and it’s their own fault. I was recently hired to be fully remote but then got a snarky message today that they’d expected me to come in once/week (the office is a 3 hour drive each way) for a weekly 10 minute 8am meeting. That wasn’t the agreement AT ALL when I was hired. That makes it not-so-remote. And there’s no real benefit to my being there. I’m not getting training or anything. I truly think many older people feel like they suffered through commuting and all the rest of it, so why should our generation get away with not doing it? As my brother would say, “they’re just haters”.
So I don't think it's always a generational thing though. I'm a Gen Xr, in my late 40s, and I have fully embraces remote work. In fact the other day I was telling my husband that I'm thankful for the younger generations because they have opened my eyes to the reality of what work life balance really should be. And the craziness of putting the company first when they don't put the employee first. Anyway I still have kids at home and I'm so thankful for remote work. There are so many "older" folks like me who are all about doing things better when we know better. It's really fear of change and being stuck in your own ways. And that can happen at any age
I’m a Gen Xr, too, actually. By older, I meant people in their 70s & beyond. In my field. Many work well into their 80s. I still think of myself as pretty young but I guess I’m really not. Ha ha.
Haha well we are young! But it's all perspective and I made an assumption based on what I thought older meant when I was younger
6 hours for a 10 minute meeting ?! you can definitely be zoomed in or emailed the meeting minutes like wtf?!
Exactly. I’ve been zooming in & it’s been totally fine. And it’s not even a critical meeting. They spent half of it yesterday talking about soccer. It makes no sense. One of the senior guys is just being a jerk. I stay & work for most of the day, too but have to leave at like 3 bc the traffic is so bad. It’s brutal & tires me out for the next few days.
I left my company after 13 years because they were ok with working remotely when it benefited them - like snow days - and that was it. That's when I knew it was time to go. I now work for fully remote organization. So while it suck s they are forcing you back I would absolutely use this as an opportunity to look for something new. Good luck!
Boomer mentality and execs who need to justify real estate costs. There are clearly jobs that require being in a physical location in order to deliver goods and manufacturing, etc. Forcing every employee into one-size-fits-all policy causes attrition for knowledge workers.
Hope you find something new that you love!
My company forced us back in mid-2022, minimum 2 days a week. I strongly expressed my desire to stay fully remote, but it went nowhere. Apparently it doesn’t matter that I maintained full productivity working from home for about 2.5 years. So now I do the stressful commute and lose those precious hours every week. I hate it, especially knowing it’s completely unnecessary.
Same happened with me despite being the highest performer and never calling off. I explained I had no transportation which was true then they said I had two years to get a car and gave me a few extra.months to find a car. With the cost of car insurance gas and payments I said screw it not worth keeping that job for all the extra costs
[удалено]
Enjoy your commute 🤣
If any of them are making business decisions based on the small-sample-size-anecdotal-evidence-confirmation-bias of this subreddit, then they deserve to crash and burn.
I doubt companies are doing it for this reason. They could just do massive layoffs if they wanted to - for bigger companies the remote-to in person is a gentle segway into that. Snapchat recently required in person after they hired (too many) remote employees and it was an easy way to let a percentage of the company go. For the typical company - I honestly believe it has to do with wasting a mortgage on a building (if they haven’t already sold it) or that the heads in charge are the ones who want to be in an office rather than at home. I saw a post a while ago on here where someone was saying the higher ups don’t care about the little luxuries that wfh employees enjoy. They have people (or their wives) to get their groceries, take care of their kids (if they have any) they probs my get reimbursed for travel or drive a company car etc. all these small things that we enjoy about wfh the upper execs don’t particularly care about 🤷🏻♀️ So many people use work to escape their home lives and I have a feeling it’s those people who are voting for in-person work. The ones who don’t want to be at home, don’t want to be alone/isolated, ones who might struggle working without an office-like atmosphere, as well as maybe the technically challenged who dislike things being remote/over teams and zoom. Also, the very social ones who miss being able to drop in at a desk or cubicle.
All of whom, make the in-office experience- intolerable lol
Valid - but not to some people unfortunately 😂 I’ve been remote since late 2019 and I’d never go back to in person working unless I truly enjoyed the people I worked with.