Company Forces Remote Worker to go Back to the Office Despite Their Success With Working From Home, Causes Employee of 27 Years to Quit

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jul 25, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

It's wild how much the introduction of remote work into most office jobs changed the world. These days, you'd be hard-pressed to find a company in NYC that doesn't implement some work-from-home element, with most jobs having a hybrid model. The 3-day in-person workweek is ubiquitous. 

I was still in college in 2020 and 2021 when remote work was at its highest, but I could see its positive impact through my online classes. Without going around campus all day, I could get so much more work done when my schedule was fully remote. It might not have been good for my mental health to have no social life, but boy howdy was I productive and good at all my classes! I'm sure it was the same for other people who no longer had a commute eating into their daily schedule. One company that was thriving doing remote work decided to switch to only working in person. Unfortunately, it didn't work out well for them. 

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  • 01
    Rectangle - r/MaliciousCompliance u/MooseQuirky1702. 1d 431 31 1 Mandatory office days ruined my company M
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  • 02
    Font - 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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  • 03
    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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  • 04
    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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  • 05
    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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  • 06
    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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  • 07
    Rectangle - sheetmetaltom +1. 1d Did you inform them that after 27 years you are leaving because the new guy fucked everything up? 2.2k ... Reply
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  • 08
    Font - MooseQuirky1702 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. OP 1d ● 2.3k
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  • 09
    Human body - Thundermedic • 1d They know, they just don't care. ... 253
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  • 10
    Font - Forsaken-Yak-7581 +2. 1d 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. ← Reply 3.6k
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  • 11
    Font - MooseQuirky 1702 OP Thank you, I'm devastated but had to realise it's time to move on. 1d ● ... 41.7k ↓
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  • 12
    Font - Expended1 - 1d You are a victim of a seagull manager. They fly in, make a huge amount of noise, crap all over everything, then are usually gone when it's time to clean up the mess they made. 567
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  • 13
    Font - Globalist Nationlist 1d. ● It's just flat out fucking embarrassing. How do companies not realize that one director's opinion doesn't need to change the entire course of the company when things are already working? Like I'll never understand why you'd bring on someone that fundamentally disagrees with the current status quo. It's a great way to shake things up to the point where people bail, like in this scenario. 680 ...
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  • 14
    Font - porscheblack • 1d My company is forcing this exact change in September. The problem is nobody at the leadership level has any idea at all how the work actually gets done. My company is doing it "to bring back the company culture." We don't even have enough office space for all the people anymore because we actually grew pretty significantly since COVID since WFH was so effective.
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  • 15
    Font - My only question is whether they're going to let this attempt to bring people back in fail like the last 2 attempts or whether they'll tank the company trying to force it. It's amazing hearing the responses from senior leadership. They somehow think people will be happy to lose free time and personal hobbies. I straight up told my boss that I'm counting my commute as part of my working hours. I'm not giving up my gym time or my family time and if it becomes a problem I'll find a new job.
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  • 16
    Font - austinmo2 1d ● My friend and two of his co-workers just got fired. They all have been there about 30 years in the company said they were making too much money. My friend got a year Severance and had a new job within 3 days. Then he got his two other co- workers hired at the new place. Learn a bunch of other employees left the old company and came on to the new one because they didn't like the way my friend and his coworkers were treated. When you screw with such loyal employees, you have
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  • 17
    Font - Oopthealley. 1d You don't understand- they had a new director! How was the new director supposed to prove their worth other than by staking a bold new position and forcing compliance?? Don't you have any sympathy for how hard it must be to be a new director, trying to prove youre worth your large salary and power? What are you supposed to do? Be humble and learn about what works? That's not why they hired you! Gotta shake things up and show them how smart and in control you are! 178 ...
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  • 18
    Font - angrydeuce +1. 1d Nothing is more destructive in my experience then bringing on some new honch who is determined to make a name for themselves. I work in IT for an MSP and I see it play out time and again with our clients. The sick thing is, after they bring in said honch and that person completely trashes morale and productivity, the honch inevitably just flutters on to greener pastures where they're not totally and completely despised by the rank and file while their former employer spe
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  • 19
    Font - Fed UpFrog 1d ● 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 the exo
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  • 20
    Organism - DigitalStefan +2. 1d My company "believe strongly" that we work better when we're in the office. This despite all the evidence to the contrary and we are a company that deals with collecting and analysing data. 849
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  • 21
    Font - Olthar6 +1. 1d My FIL works for a private company that is basically a state agency. In his 20+ years with the company, they either barely broke even or technically lost money every year (normal for his field). The first two years of WFH were the most profitable of their history. Last year they made so much money they were concerned the government would come after them because they have profit limit agreements in place and they smashed through them. For the first time in forever everyone g
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  • 22
    Font - yParticle 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. +3• 1d ... Reply 383
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  • 23
    Rectangle - MrTasty Cake • 1d Bet the new director got a big fat bonus. Reply ... 285
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  • 24
    Font - ● yParticle +3• 1d Cut payroll costs 70%! ... 250
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work from home workplace-stories-reddit antiwork in-the-workplace workplace-story malicious compliance work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit workplace company coworker quitting
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