Company demands remote employees return to office 3 days a week, provides tiny space with malfunctioning Wi-Fi: 'It's chaos with barely any privacy'

Many companies are turning away from the working-from-home revolution.

At the start of this decade, when anyone in an office job had no other choice, it really seemed like we were onto something, with a realization in the working world that a lot of jobs could be done pretty much anywhere if the roles were filled by the right kind of employee. A growing number of people got to make their workplace wherever home was, cutting out that pesky commute and allowing them more freedom than the 40 hour work week had ever given them before. Running a quick errand without eating into a lunch break or turning the camera off in the Teams meeting and staying in pajamas all day were suddenly possible.

However, after the necessity of remote work went away, a lot of managers decided that they would rather keep workers under the watchful eye of a centralized office, and those who rented out said offices were eager to make money from them again. Hybrid and WFH roles still exist, of course, but many who worked remotely previously have found that their workplace wants them working where they can keep an eye on them. It is a (kind of) return to tradition.

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In this story, an employee expressed his frustrations when the job at which he had been remote for the past three years suddenly announced that they were expecting all those working from home to be hybrid, and work in the office three days a week.
The issue was that they had downsized their office space when they had more remote workers, and there was not enough space for everybody. They proposed a ‘hot desk' system where employees reserved desks through an app to try to alleviate the pressure.
However, when the employee went to the office to see what the setup was like, he was horrified to find that it was cramped and barely functioning. He did not feel that these were acceptable conditions to work in, and neither did his team leader. He looked for advice on how to navigate the situation.
Company is forcing return to office but the space isn’t even set up for the number of people they’re bringing back

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