Company forces employees to work from the office full-time, leading employees to stop replying to messages after hours despite manager's demands: ‘You get exactly what you ask for'

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Sep 16, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

How much time would you say you spend on work even after you leave the office for the day? 

While we would probably love to say we spend absolutely no time working or even thinking about work while we are off the clock, we all know that's a huge lie. Work follows us home whether we like it or not. We do, however, get the chance to contain it. Work shouldn't take up your time after you leave the office, and if you stay determined, you can keep it to a minimum and enjoy your free time as freely as you can.

Take the employee in the story below as an example. After working from home full-time, her company decided to bring the employees back to the office. That resulted in the company losing the privilege it got from having employees work from home, such as availability throughout the entire day. As soon as the employees were forced into a regular schedule from the office, they refused to spend any time they were not there on anything related to work.

When the boss confronted this employee for refusing to reply to Slack messages after hours, she made sure to tell him who was at fault for that.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10554186240
    via g-stockstudio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    RTO [Return to Office] seriously backfired

    my sister works for a company that mandated RTO about a month and half ago. Before the RTO, she was always logged into her laptop and constantly on slack.
    via rickdanger68
  • 03
    The company stated the reason for the RTO was that employees weren't as productive working from home, and also wanted the Team building/bonding that occurs in the office.
    via rickdanger68
  • 04
    Weird because her group of people met after hours for drinks and dinner usually 2 times a month, played games, etc.
    via rickdanger68
  • 05
    Since this mandate my sister has not logged into her slack or laptop after hours, her team doesn't do anything after hours, etc.
    via rickdanger68
  • 06
    When her manager asked why she doesn't respond to anything after hours anymore, she responded that since she has been back in the office(and now by their own words, "more productive") she is getting more done, and because her team sees each other 40 hours a week now, there is no reason to hang out after work hours.
    via rickdanger68
  • 07
    He told her it wasn't supposed to work that way and just because she is back in the office 40 hours a week doesn't mean she should ignore everything when she is gone.
    via rickdanger68
  • 08
    She told him, that's exactly what it means, and if he can explain why she should respond to something when she is out of the office and less productive, instead of it waiting until the next day.
    via rickdanger68
  • 09
    That before she didn't mind putting in a little extra work after hours, because she had more free time.
    via rickdanger68
  • 10
    But that with the commute 2 and from work, she is actually spending more hours a week doing "work related" tasks.
    via rickdanger68
  • 11
    Corporate Team Working in an Office
    via Mike Marchetti

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 12
    Not only is it her but her entire team and other related departments are starting to follow her lead as well.
    via rickdanger68
  • 13
    The company is starting to realize you get exactly what you ask for. That's my little sister for you, she's a Boss B h and doesn't take St from anyone.
    via rickdanger68
  • 14
    Gotta Love her.
    via rickdanger68
  • 15
    Cryptoenailer What a boss move. I love how the boss is actually confused and surprised by such a declaration of war. He got exactly what he asked for. Bravo to your sister!
    via Cryptoenailer
  • 16
    jbourne0129 My answer to this, every time, is "im not allowed to work remotely". you wanted me to return to the office, fine. im forfeiting my remote access and laptop. i absolutely will NOT be working remotely at any hours.
    via jbourne0129
  • 17
    jewel_flip Similar thing happened at my work. Was given a medical accommodation for limited WFH days as long as it didn't interrupt sales meetings. HR said WFH was not an option due to privacy law. Started leaving my laptop in the office to comply with their "absolutely under no circumstances can anyone in this role WFH" statement. We had a minor emergency and I got a text asking me to remote on to solve it. Told them I couldn't as my work computer remains at work and I was told "absolutely unde
    via jewel_flip
  • 18
    JohnnySkidmarx I was more than willing to stay logged on to my laptop for an extra hour or two every day when I was able to work from home. Now that I had to RTO? I'll get to everything the next work day when I log in.
    via JohnnySkidmarx
  • 19
    originalchaosinabox That's some mighty fine malicious compliance, Lou. "Now that we do all our work in the office, no need to do work outside the office!"
    via originalchaosinabox
  • 20
    ejrhonda79 Boss is actually showing their hand by that comment. It was never about RTO or 'bonding'. It's all about control. Good for sis for standing up for herself.
    via ejrhonda79
  • 21
    newforestroadwarrior It amuses me that there is a work-related app called Slack.
    via newforestroadwarrior
  • 22
    merpmerp21 "I'm not allowed to work from home anymore."
    via merpmerp21
  • 23
    Secret_Account07 This is where I work. WFH was amazing. Always got a response, ppl jumped on calls, were always near computer- it was great Now I don't respond to anything. I got an hour drive each way everyday so can't be reached. Ppl are taking wayyy more PTO and ppl have stopped collaborating. WFH was the best thing that ever happened in the IT field. Now, unless I'm at my desk I'm not doing an ounce of work. RTO has resulted in so many issues. But they can't have it both
    via Secret_Account07
  • 24
    housesettlingcreaks But wait, we wanted to get more work out of you this way. That's not fair!
    via housesettlingcreaks
  • 25
    MydniteSon For some, RTO mandate is just "Quiet Firing". For some companies, it was a something forced on them by banks and municipalities who were freaking out over having emptier office buildings and downtown areas. The banks would crumble if commercial real estate holdings suddenly became devalued.
    via MydniteSon
  • 26
    PunkTrackGoddess Our boss bought a foosball game table,Walmart arcade box,etc. when he enacted RTO. I told him when he called to say WFH was over that "Nobody is going to stick around after work and play foosball" I felt vindicated when not a single person touched his "game room"
    via PunkTrackGoddess
  • 27
    rekdumn Exactly what I did when they mandated RTO 5 days a week. Shut down laptop and leave it at the office, out the door promptly at 5. Dont respond to work related texts or calls.
    via rekdumn

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boss work from home workplace-stories employee fired manager job tales-from-the-workplace reddit story ceo Office overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny
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