'Our productivity plummeted': Employee shares how 'return to office' policy ruined their company

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jul 24, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

The human brain has a tendency to cherry-pick relevant details and information that support decisions we've already made and opinions that we've already formed. 

Confirmation bias is a real and relevant thing, especially in the world of ubiquitous information. No longer do we have to be a specialist in a topic in order to access the information that was once only readily available to us. But do we have the skills, experience, and training to interpret that information, or are we merely overstating our own cognitive abilities and actually drawing incorrect conclusions from coincidental correlations? Correlation is not always causation, but if I told you that there were more squirrels in areas with more trees, you might conclude that squirrels are born from acorns. 

Similarly, the new CEO of your company might decide that their workers should return to the office, ignoring all relevant figures of success and productivity that are staring them in the face and focusing only on the ones that support the decision they had already made: That everyone should return to the office to "improve" productivity that is already fine, share "ideas" in meetings that only waste everyone's time, and for "culture" that is everyone uncomfortably silent sitting in isolated carpeted cubes. Sure, maybe they, the CEO, work best from the office, but they need to understand the way forward isn't in the past. 

This worker shared how productivity in their company plummeted when they were all forced to return to the office, detailing a downward spiral that led to the near demise of the company and the worker's own departure from the company. 

Read on for their account of events. Next, see this worker who got their supervisors involved when their terrible coworker refused to do their work.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/MooseQuirky1702 9 hours ago 42 Mandatory office days ruined my company MOC Just like most companies, my company was forced to go completely remote as the byproduct of the pandemic. It was an easy transition as we already worked predominantly online anyways just in an office setting. We run meetings and collaborate with stakeholders country-wide. Needless to say we thrived during the past 3 years, with productivity at an all time high and turnover rate at an all time low. [
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  • 02
    Font - Colleagues were encouraged to take frequent breaks and not to worry about school runs or medical appointments as long as it doesn't block work or results in projects not being finished. We started to win industry awards for this and everyone was extremely satisfied. You were asked to go to the office for collaboration purposes if it was needed but they pretty much left it to you to decide. This was until our small-ish tech firm hired a new director who decided to enforce a mandatory 3 day
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  • 03
    Font - Now these past 3 years we closed two of our four offices in the UK, most people moved out of cities and bought houses, sent their kids to school in a new town and took on volunteering roles in their new communities. Second cars were sold and people took on more caring responsibilities as they worked from home most days anyways. As you would expect, people were extremely angry over this voicing their concerns. I will preface this with saying that we did better wfh and they admitted it too.
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  • 04
    Font - This decision resulted in competitors moving in and taking away key players. We lost our apprentices as they were located across the UK. People started to quit left and right. As things got quieter people decided to maliciously comply. Our remaining offices got overwhelmed with traffic. People could not find a desk to work so meetings got delayed. People refuse to work over their contracted hours or take on extra responsibilities. Our productivity plummeted and we had to result to hiring
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  • 05
    Font - This happened in January. I just handed in my notice after 27 years and will be joining our competitor in 2 weeks. I thought I will retire from here. Needless to say an emergency meeting was called between the senior leadership and they tried to fix things but the damage is so bad that they had to hire an external company to save them from bankruptcy.
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  • 06
    Font - Forsaken-Yak-7581 Wow, you've been a loyal employee for 27 years and your company just decides to screw with you. You've done the right thing by resigning. I wish you well in your new job. Your new employer will be luckily you have you. Vote +2.9 hr. ago MooseQuirky1702 OP 9 hr. ago Vote Reply Share Thank you, I'm devastated but had to realise it's time to move on. Reply Share DynkoFromTheNorth Vote +3.8 hr. ago I bet you are. This is by far the saddest tale I've read on this sub. Reply S
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  • 07
    Font - Fed UpFrog 9 hr. ago I worked for a business that said they would continue WFH after reluctantly acknowledging productivity improved and the staff were more engaged. The same as your team, people moved, commitments about care were made and then out of the blue came "you will work in the office for 4 days and need permission from your senior manager to work the single day from home which can be refused, if you need to work two days from home you need director level permission". I joined th
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  • 08
    Font - sheetmetaltom +1.9 hr. ago Did you inform them that after 27 years you are leaving because the new guy Od everything up? Reply Share Vote MooseQuirky1702 OP 5 hr. ago Absolutely. I was one of 6 mid-level team leaders. Four of us handed in a joint resignation citing company policies. I am also going to attend my exit interview and state the same. Vote Reply Share
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  • 09
    Font - Remote Broccoli 9 hr. ago Management: "What will happened if we remove the one thing that makes our employees so good that we are the de facto standard of how work/social life can be had by having them work from home? Nothing bad right?" Emplyee's: "FO this, fox that, and I fig quit!" Management: "WHAT, WHY, WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?!!!?" Vote Reply Share Vote Superb_Raccoon WE GAVE YOU PIZZA, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SOS! +1.7 hr. ago Reply Share
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  • 10
    Font - glass_house 8 hr. ago I've heard companies doing this on purpose to have employees quit, that way they don't have to do layoffs and pay out retirement packages/unemployment benefits. It obviously backfires though because they lose the valuable employees. You don't get to pick who quits unlike in layoffs Reply Share Vote
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  • 11
    Font - 7 hr. ago After months of wondering what rational reason my company could have for deciding to force a full time return to the office after years of WFH success (the best years of results the company ever saw), I have concluded, very cynically, that this is the only reason, as well. Even my own data-driven manager admitted the CEO and HR had absolutely no data and that this was the worst decision ever made by the company. The only reason i haven't been seeing a flood of quitting yet is ou
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  • 12
    Font - MrTastyCake 9 hr. ago Bet the new director got a big fat bonus. Reply Share Vote +39 hr. ago yParticle • Cut payroll costs 70%! ↑ Vote Reply Share
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  • 13
    Font - Skibrym 8 hr. ago This why the phrase "new manager" instantly ratchets my anxiety up several levels. I know from experience there's about a 15% chance of them being a competent, useful individual, and an 85% chance of them being a malignant, power-tripping idiot who destroys everything effective we've done in order to "shake things up" and "show them who's boss." It's like picking up the pieces after a natural disaster, except the disaster is standing to one side shaking hands with anothe
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  • 14
    Font - yParticle +3.8 hr. ago As a consultant I see this story repeated so frequently at companies I work with and with predictable results. And it's never for a sound business reason but because of a C-level's ego or someone couldn't get out of an expensive lease for their office building or because "we're a family". So glad my job allows me to be one step removed from that petty insanity. Vote Reply Share
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  • 15
    Font - riverguava 8 hr. ago Ive been with my company for 17 years. Very similar trend as OPs. We've lost our top performers. I accepted a new role a couple of weeks after they forced us back (just waiting for visa approval). My manager told me this week how happy she was that I was still around (she hates this new arrangement as much as I do). I really had to bite my tongue... Reply Share Vote
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  • 16
    Font - pauliewotsit +1.8 hr. ago From what I understand, the big bosses want everyone back in offices because they have a lease and they're damned well going to use it ↑ Vote ↓ Reply Share
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  • 17
    Font - schmotz24 8 hr. ago I love my company saying 3 days a week for "collaboration" when all meetings are remote since teams are in 3 separate states lol Vote Reply Share
    via u/MooseQuirky1702

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workplace-stories in-the-workplace jobs malicious compliance return-to-office ceo workplace-discussion
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