HR announces in-person office policy to fully remote team, sparking mass exodus: '[I] sent my resignation letter right there!'

This remote employee was not going to be forced into the office just because his managers suddenly changed their minds.

When you sign a contract to be a fully remote employee, you can't just amend the rules and expect zero pushback. That's exactly what happened when these work-from-home hires were suddenly told they needed to commute to the office three days a week. 

We've all seen this story before. In the last several years, many employees who went fully remote made drastic life changes, including relocating to different towns or cities. It's going to be hard to convince these people to move back, especially if they're settled with their respective families. 

Furthermore, return-to-work mandates are difficult to enforce for people who were hired to be fully remote from the get-go. Let's be real: there are many ways to work on team building and improving morale. Changing employee benefits is not one of those methods. 

Before you start enforcing backwards policies, try listening to the folks on your team and getting a true sense of what they might need so that their level of productivity can increase while community values can improve as well.

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  • A Macbook Pro displaying a Zoom call with remote employees.
    via Chris Montgomery

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

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  • One can only hope that this author's immediate resignation letter becomes a wake-up call for his manager. Clearly, several members of this online community have dealt with similar circumstances. One of them relayed an iconic anecdote in which an employee wrote their resignation letter on a napkin and showed it to the manager mid-meeting. Kudos to him for standing his ground!

  • "My company announced mandatory office days again, so I resigned mid-meeting"

    We were having a "surprise" all- hands today, and HR proudly announced that starting next month, everyone must come in three days a week "to rebuild team spirit". I asked if they'd be
    via Onjaydenc
  • team spirit". I asked if they'd be covering commuting costs since gas and train prices doubled this year. The HR rep laughed and said, "That's part of being a team player". So I turned off my
    via Onjaydenc
  • camera, opened my email, and sent my resignation letter right there. my manager pinged me two minutes later asking if I was
    via Onjaydenc
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  • serious. I said, "De d serious. I already found a remote job that values my time". Best lunch break ever.
    via Onjaydenc
  • A man in a blue shirt and dress shirt wearing glasses types on his computer while working from home.
    via May Gauthier

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

  • C. 47m ago Edited 29m ago Absolutely the right move. It's wild how even remote jobs are starting to come with ridiculous rules lately,
    via Onjaydenc
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  • like same-state residency or mandatory office days. Total nonsense. Good for you for landing another remote gig so fast,
    via Onjaydenc
  • that's awesome! I'm currently job-hunting too and I actually used method (my remote job search method) to find my current remote job a few months. ago and got two replies,
    via Onjaydenc
  • been working with one of them for about three months now. I'm planning to try it again soon, but I'm also curious how you found your new remote job. would love
    via Onjaydenc
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  • to hear more about it. Thanks!. I'm really curious how you searched for your new remote job too, would love to hear more about it. Thanks!
    via Onjaydenc
  • buttetfyr12 • 6h ago . I witnessed the best one, mid meeting, physical one, my coworker wrote his resignation on a napkin and handed it to our boss during the meeting. That was epic.
    via Onjaydenc
  • Dodecahedrus 6h ago You just did what HR wants you to do.
    via Onjaydenc
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  • Grand-Ambition78... 4h ago I love the mass quitting. I seen a company go to because of this
    via Onjaydenc
  • A man in a blue shirt and dress shirt wearing glasses takes a phone call while working remotely on his computer.
    via May Gauthier

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

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