From what I heard one project was putting plants in front of the elevators lol.

We had a jackass CIO come in and do this prior to covid. Turned our 6 year policy of 3 days/week wfh into absolutely NO wfh. Told everyone on a friday that it started monday. People had moved 2+ hours away to live cheaper. They’d drive in on a Monday, stay the night, work Tuesday, and then go home until the next week.

What he quickly found out was it pissed all of us off. He couldn’t get anyone to come in at any time because we all refused to carry our laptops home anymore. If we weren’t at work, we weren’t working. He tried pulling some bullshit a few times but each time HR surprisingly backed up his absolute no wfh policy he made them drill into us and stand firm on in many cases.

I left within a year after that and over the next two years they had a 50% turn over rate, all the top brass eventually got fired including the CIO but the damage is done. Last I heard they brought in a “morale expert” to keep people from breaking down in the hallways daily.

After SIX years fully remote my agency is now death rolling us into rto. First it was “just once a month”, then “well only once a week”, and now “two days a week isn’t bad!” and it’s absolute bullshit. I’ve heard my direct manager and director both say we returned to the office to “make our new building look full” (that started construction AFTER we went full remote) and “to socialize.” Fuck them.

The worst part though? Our new building is ALL open office/open table spaces with no privacy bullshit. I cannot explain how fucking terrible that is to anyone who hasn’t experienced it. If you still have cubicles, consider them a luxury.