Empire of office workers strikes back against RTO mandates

[SerendipityJane]

Women were more likely to resist RTO mandates, with 55 percent saying they'd look for a new job and 9 percent ready to quit outright by late 2024. Among men, 43 percent said they'd job hunt, and 8 percent would quit. Among mothers with young children, only 33 percent said they'd comply.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/27/office_workers_ignore_rto_mandate/

I truly don’t get this. Apart from
the obvious cost saving from being at home. It was only ever temporary. Just leave your houses and work with colleagues

I do 2 days in the office. If my company Increased to 3 I'd get on board. If they increased to 4 I'd be reluctant. But if it changed across all workplaces and back to what was the norm before of 5 days in office then what choice would we have? Moving wouldn't change anything if all workplaces adopted a 100% RTO rule

It’s been five years. Hardly temporary. It turns out that lots of jobs can be done perfectly well irrespective of location. Life is better and easier for many people when they’re not corralled into communal spaces for the majority of their waking hours 🤷🏼‍♀️

Our workplace is hybrid. We have to do a certain number of days in the office. Most do the bare minimum number of days in the office. Many people are not in the best of moods after their commute and do the minimum number of hours (6) needed to constitute a day before buggering off and finishing off at home. The idea that it’s a social or collaborative boon is misguided - in my workplace anyway.

Saying you’ll look for a job doesn’t mean you’ll get one. Lots of companies are insisting on more time in the office so even moving doesn’t guarantee more wfh time.

I always work better from home when I can focus. Nice to go in the office and have a chat and team build but my job can be done remotely and why spend an hour commuting across london, feeling frazzled when I arrive, when I could spend it working?

we all know its about making sure the big companies pay their rent money and keep billionaires cashrich

Those of us who work really hard and efficiently based at home struggle to see why we should go back in.
Those who take the piss just don’t want to.

The Daily Mail insists everyone is being forced back into the office 5 days per week, but in real life most of us have settled into 2/3 days per week in the office

I love the way you say "It was only ever temporary" with such certainty based on...um....?

My office has sold off 2 of its 3 floors so there's no way we could ever all go back even if they wanted to us to, not that they've ever suggested it. Between my old colleagues, friends and siblings I know at least 10 people in different office jobs which were all office based in 2019 - none of us have been asked to go back full time, the most I've heard of is 2 days per week.

Apart from the obvious cost saving (which is hardly minor, you could be talking tens of thousands every year for some people just in terms of commuting, plus additional childcare, need for a full work wardrobe, etc), there's the obvious time savings, the obvious health savings (I haven't had to take one day off with cold/flu over the past 5 years, whereas I'd have 2 or 3 horrible colds/stomach bugs etc a year previously), the obvious quality of life savings, the environmental savings of fewer people commuting, the increased road safety savings of the same....

Oh, and our sickness has significantly decreased as an office since pre-covid, and turnaround times are faster and customer satisfaction scores better despite caseload hugely increasing.

I love the way you say "It was only ever temporary" with such certainty based on...um....?

The problem with nonsense like that is a lot of people can remember how impossible it was before Covid.

As soon as managers realised it was that or die, it went from being impossible to indispensable. The gaslighting was monumental.

The more observant employee will have quietly remembered how they were blatantly lied to for a generation and are making their decisions accordingly.

What was the last thing you asked management for that was "impossible" ? Was it really ?

Part of my degree in the 80s around the paperless office ideal was how work could be done from home. Mind you, a large part was protocols around email. I wonder when that will take off ?

My company sold 50% of it's office space, and made a conscious decision to expand it's hiring location range to the whole of the UK during Covid, which is how I got hired. I live 3 hours away from my nearest office. My contract has me down as permanent full time work from home, as does that of all of my colleagues hired since 2022. So it may have only been temporary for some, but it's definitely being seen as a permanent change in the way business is done for some companies.

Having said that I would not mind a regular day or two a week in the office. But if I was to move to that kind of job now I would be looking for a pay bump to cover the increased costs, parking, fuel etc.

Some face to face time with colleagues is important. I don't think it needs to happen in an office, certainly not people commuting in to then sit with headsets on online calls all day.

But overall working from home works very well for a lot of jobs. Those calling people back in either own large amounts of real estate that risks being pretty worthless, and/or are scared that this actually gives women an edge they didn't have before.

Our office downsized so there isn't enough room for everyone full time anyway. Our contracts also changed to include WFH so the consultation would be huge. From my experience, it doesn't work when some people are at home and some are in the office. It causes resentment and makes communication difficult as the people in the office forget about the others.

WFH and hybrid have been amazing for many people. Of course it doesn't suit to some.
In mine we have people who turn up to office sporadically, but also people who go 4x a week. I think flexibility is very much needed and of benefit to everyone.

It allowed some people to get jobs they would otherwise have to relocate for (or even just get a job!).
It allowed some with disabilities to get jobs and/or not to be the odd one out with WFH RA and being left out while everyone is in the office.
Fucking bliss for my ADHD. Absolute flourished.

If we got RTO mandate, I would be amongst the frustrated job hunters.

I say sell some offices to be turned to housing and l leave people to WFH/hybrid is a way to go 😁

WFH and hybrid have been amazing for many people.

The problem is, it's the wrong sort of people ...

Many people who are totally against WFH, think WFH means totally remote. And whilst it does in some cases, the majority of people do hybrid working, are usually in the office a couple of days per week. So its not like we never meet our colleagues!! We do, several times per week!

I agree. We work from home on the understanding this may not be the norm forever too as we had to formally request permission to work a hybrid model.

Why, if you can work from home and (a) save yourself hours of commute each week and (b) save the planet by not pumping car fumes into the atmosphere?
Working in an office was the norm in the 1950s, but it is not necessary now.

The pandemic was temporary, thankfully, and so was the "stay at home" instruction from Boris, but the pandemic certainly changed some elements of society permanently, and work is one of them.

It did. We were never trusted allowed to work from home by my employer until then!

And it never entered my head that me or my team could WFH either! But once we'd all got our head around Teams, we were fine. We're a large employer and managed to navigate a pandemic remotely. I call it 'progress.'