Company orders engineer back to the office for “collaboration,” where outdated equipment and slow internet double his workload: 'The technical absurdity of returning to a ‘professional’ office'

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Aug 1, 2026 8:30 AM EDT

Is going back to the office worth it if it makes you less productive?

After years of building an efficient home workspace, this engineer was required to return to the office under a new collaboration initiative. Instead of improving teamwork, the move left them dealing with outdated monitors, unreliable internet, uncomfortable equipment, and constant distractions. Tasks that once took minutes now take far longer, leading them to question whether being physically present is worth sacrificing productivity and the tools that actually let them do their job well.

I've been working remotely for many years now, so I completely understand why people become attached to their home office. Once you've invested time and money into creating a space that actually works for you, it's hard to go back to an environment that feels like a downgrade. A comfortable chair, reliable internet, good monitors, and a quiet room aren't luxuries when your entire job depends on a computer. They directly affect how much you can get done during the day.

That said, I'm not completely against working in an office. I actually think there are real benefits that are easy to forget when you've been remote for a long time. Some of the best professional relationships I've ever built came from casual conversations, grabbing lunch together, or solving problems face to face. If you get along with your coworkers, an office can create memories and friendships that are much harder to develop through video calls alone.

The problem isn't the office itself. It's when the office makes it harder to do your job than working from home. If outdated equipment, slow internet, and constant technical issues are eating away at productivity, then the company isn't setting its employees up for success.

If I were the OP, I'd have a serious conversation with management before simply accepting the situation. The company should either invest in updating the workstations, network, and office equipment or reconsider the return-to-office policy altogether. 

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  • Long loading times, constant interruptions, and aging technology leave the engineer questioning whether the return-to-office policy is helping anyone.
    via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

    Long loading times, constant interruptions, and aging technology leave the engineer questioning whether the return-to-office policy is helping anyone.

    This image is for illustrative purposes only and does not show the original poster or their employer.

  • I have been an engineer for over a decade and my home office is a finely tuned machine. I spent years perfecting my setup - triple 4k monitors with calibrated color, a mechanical keyboard that doesn't feel like mush, and a custom-built workstation that can
    via Piu740
  • compile our entire codebase without sounding like a jet engine. My internet connection is a dedicated fiber line with 1ms latency. In short, I am a high- performance asset when I am sitting in my ergonomic chair in my pajamas.
    via Piu740
  • Last week, my company completed their "Return to Collaboration" initiative. I walked into the office and was greeted by a docking station that looked like it survived a house fire. The monitors are these flickering 1080p panels from 2017 that make my eyes blod after twenty minutes of looking at CAD files.
    via Piu740
  • The "ergonomic" chairs have lost all lumbar support and the desk height is fixed at a level that assumes every human is exactly five foot eight. It is a technical disaster zone.
    via Piu740
  • But the real insult is the network. At home, I can push gigabytes of data to the cloud in seconds. In the office, I am sharing a bandwidth pipe with three hundred people who are all streaming Spotify or high-def
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  • YouTube because they are bored out of their minds. It took me forty minutes just to sync my local repository this morning. I am literally being paid a professional salary to sit and watch a progress bar crawl across
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  • a subpar screen while some guy in marketing has a loud conversation about his weekend three feet behind my head.
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  • Management calls this "synergy" and "fostering a culture of innovation." I call it a massive loss of throughput. My billable hours are being wasted on basic
    via Piu740
  • infrastructure failures that I solved at home years ago with my own money. Instead of debugging complex logic, I am debugging why the office printer won't
    via Piu740
  • After another frustrating day battling slow systems and outdated equipment, the employee wonders why returning to the office was considered an upgrade.
    via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

    After another frustrating day battling slow systems and outdated equipment, the employee wonders why returning to the office was considered an upgrade.

    This is a staged stock image featuring models and is not a real photo of the individual who shared the story.

  • recognize a standard PDF format or why the Wi-Fi drops every time someone uses the microwave in the breakroom.
    via Piu740
  • I brought this up to my supervisor and he told me to "focus on the face-to-face value." I am a BIM coordinator. My value is in the precision of my digital models, not in the frequency with which
    via Piu740
  • people can see my tired face. I am currently typing this on a keyboard that has a sticky "S" key because the previous occupant apparently lived on a diet of soda and regret.
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  • I miss my fiber line. I miss my silence. Most of all, I miss the basic logic of working where the tools actually work.
    via Piu740
  • The engineer returns to an office filled with identical workstations that promise collaboration but fail to match the productivity of a well-equipped home setup.
    via Unsplash+ (via Kate Sade)

    The engineer returns to an office filled with identical workstations that promise collaboration but fail to match the productivity of a well-equipped home setup.

    This image is a representative illustration using models and does not depict the actual workplace described in the story.

  • Redditors understood the position of the writer, since most of them had dealt with a similar situation. The issue, they said, is not about the employee but the company. Sometimes, these decisions are selfish, and they care more about having all of their employees together for more control rather than considering how they're feeling.

  • ElectronicPotato 1993 If you dislike it that much leave the company or open your own company or become a freelance, where you can decide the policy. Based on your gloated post you are an extraordinary talent.
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  • commoncents1 Its not about you, but about the organization
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  • macguyver3000 Let the situation speak for itself. When they ask why your output has declined so much, tell them exactly this. They can either pay to upgrade your in-office workstation, including high speed internet, or they can let you go back to working from home where you've spent your own money.
    via Piu740
  • bettereverydamday Yeah that's super sad man. I am sorry. I felt with the same issue but have management abilities and upgraded office computer to be exact custom build from home office and got office network upgraded and then still never go. In office work is vastly unproductive for productive people. It for
    via Piu740
  • mongoose_kai It's not about making workers more efficient. Not about productivity. Not about collaboration. It's about driving out workers who won't accept a worse deal than they had yesterday.
    via Piu740

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