RTO

In the beginning, I had a job where I went to the office every day.

At some point, it became normal for me to work-from-home one day a week. I felt lucky!

And then...2020, Covid = work-from-home every day! Woohoo! Living my best life with more time before and after working hours to spend with family and fit in healthy activities.

Then in late 2021 and early 2022 all the CEO's started looking around at their empty offices and asked for voluntary compliance to return-to-office (RTO): please come back into work "more than never". Some people complied, others chose to simply ignore that plea.

And so here we are today, and our CEO is done with remote work (I suspect there is a financial factor behind this, tax breaks?). Starting September 5, everyone must be in the office 3 full days each week. In January, everyone must be in the office 4 full days every week (if you live within 60 miles of one of our offices). Whelp, there you go. The "ask" was not effective, thus it has turned into a mandate. 

The responses have been all over the place. Many people have complained. Some very loudly. A number of people have left the company. A few have optimistically and diligently filled out the "exemption request" hoping to avoid the change. Most have flooded the employee survey with all the reasons this is a bad idea (time, money, pollution). Still others continue to ask for reasons "why" and "what's the purpose", while others demand proof that this decision will get the desired results (culture and collaboration). (NOTE: My favorite, someone requested more money to cover gas and tolls to drive to the office; someone else responded and asked if they had earned less money when we all had reduced gas and tolls during 2020-2023.)

I'm somewhere in the middle, not thrilled about this change, but am fortunate to not be impacted very much. (I have empathy for the people that will lose 1-2 hours multiple days a week to commuting. Bleck.) Yes, I complain a bit about it at home, but keep a positive outlook at work. I will lose some conveniences, give up a little bit of time, have reduced flexibility and spend a tad more on gas, but overall I have little to complain about. I'm just thankful for the last three years that has allowed me to establish a good morning routine with healthy habits (jogging and yoga), that I will most likely be able to maintain. 

I'm not convinced it will produce "better" outcomes. The dedicated employees that work fine from home, will continue to work fine in the office, but lose flexibility. The employees that slack off at home, will continue to slack off at work. I do think there will be more collaboration -- that just naturally happens when you can turn and talk to your teammate (assuming you actually have co-workers in the same office). But it is also easier to get distracted talking to your neighbor! And also harder to focus when there's so many people around. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? That one is a lot harder to answer, and probably depends on your position. Time will tell.

“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.”

– Chinese Proverb

"You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you." – Viktor Frankl

I really like my job. I believe in the company's mission. The grass is not greener on the other side of my fence. It'll be a drain and an adjustment for a bit (especially in January!) but I'll adapt and life will go on!