I don’t get this at all. I understand that some people like working in the office, but remote work improves the mental health of a lot of people, and it seems like you’d want to keep workers rather than exercise dominion over them.
But what do I know? I only watched dozens of people with decades of experience leave for remote work after my own company tried to force everyone back (only to walk it back and go to hybrid work).
and it seems like you’d want to keep workers rather than exercise dominion over them.
They don’t want to keep workers. Most of the RTO operations are pseudo-stealth layoffs. Companies want to reduce headcount and this is a way to make people leave without having to pay out severance or unemployment insurance claims. So this is cheaper for the company.
I should remind everyone that this is one of the most unethical ways to handle the people who have made money for the company they served for years. Any company that uses this strategy deserves to be bankrupt, and their leadership be made poor.
If they can’t treat their employees like human beings, they deserve no future success.
It’s also worth noting that pseudo-layoffs like this often lose the best people first. Those who have the most options
The trick only works if they can convince you that you are trapped with no alternative.
For most people, the alternative is unemployment with the bonus of not eating.
I think it’s about depressing wages more than anything. Companies know WFH works just as well. But they also know people like it quite a bit. They have it away for free, by making in office default they can negotiate lower wages for people who really want to work from home.