Company announces RTO, requires four in-office days, eliminates assigned desks, and tells workers to find whatever seat they can while executives keep empty private offices

Etai Eshet • Editor

Aug 24, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

Picture a company that treats office space like a budget airline. Everyone gets assigned a seat until they don't.

Then passengers fight over overhead bins and tray tables while first class stays empty. The executives keep their private offices. Those offices sit vacant most days because leadership apparently does not need to follow the same attendance policy they designed.

via Pro.Sto

Employees in a crowded space
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Company forcing 4 day RTO, not enough office space, still expecting everyone to comply regardless
r/antiwork
My employer has been steadily increasing the in-office requirements, from 2 flexible days in 2023 that nobody cared if we were going on not, to now 4 mandatory in-office days with badge monitoring and weekly attendance reports to managers and people being let go for not complying.
The office is at full capacity, and people often have to work at the cafeteria, meeting rooms and whatever common areas they can find. Their solution to this was to implement assigned seating last year. Not sure how this would fix the problem of more people than seats but fine. I got my seat and I made my desk nice.
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Large group gathered in an office
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Now they sent us an email that they are going back to hoteling and that we are to empty our desks by next week, and that moving forward we are to seat at whatever desk we can find while making it clear that we are still expected to come Monday-Thursday.
I’m so angry because they literally do not care. The big executives making this decision have their fancy private offices (which are empty for most of the time because I guess they don’t have to go to the office like we do) while the rest of us have to seat at the cafeteria, stairs or even on the floor or else be fired.
via Pro.Sto

Crowded office space
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And the worst part is: people are not upset enough about this. My colleagues act like it’s only a mild inconvenience that they will need to arrive early to get a seat or work at the cafeteria.
I’m just as furious at the people making this decision as I am with my colleagues blindly accepting this.
r/antiwork
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Crowded office
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Workers now play a morning game of arrive early or work from the stairs. Desks got cleared for hoteling. People set up laptops in cafeterias and call it collaboration. Colleagues treat this like minor weather instead of a policy that treats human beings like conference room bookings. Saying no feels riskier than eating lunch next to a printer.
This pattern shows up whenever someone mandates presence while removing space. Gyms sell more memberships than equipment. Schools require attendance after cutting classrooms. Airlines oversell flights and call standing room flexible seating. The logic stays consistent. Demand attendance. Remove capacity. Call the resulting chaos culture-building.
Badge scanners track compliance. Attendance reports go to managers. Terminations happen for noncompliance. The building stays full. The executives stay flexible. The staff learns to live with a system that treats people like bookings while the people who designed it skip the daily commute.