I was hired for a hybrid role two years ago and the company has been hybrid for all employees for four years now.

30 Comments

1. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 12:57PM UTC

   Find out if the rumors are true by asking. Some companies, like mine, are remote - except for certain things like onboarding, training, etc.

   The rumor mill often has parts of the information, but not all of the information.

   If this is true, start making a plan, are you open to a few days per week? Are you not wanting to work in office at all? Is distance a factor that would make it prohibitive?

   Build your case (I’m more productive, time is a factor, etc) and see if your company is open to some remote work as well.

   before listening to the rumor mill, check out what the truth is.

2. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 2:00PM UTC

   She's already hybrid and just wants to keep the 2 days at home that she already has.

3. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 12:59PM UTC

   If you have a legally defined disability (like adhd, migraines, etc, which your post screams out at me that its not just "introversion" -light and sound sensitivity, check, overwhelm with people, check) and you get it documented; then they have to accommodate you within reason or you can sue them. I honestly think you should look into that, and get it documented. At least you can get sound isolating headphones, migraine/ light sensitivity glasses (life changing if you have light sensitivity) and accomodations for "heads down time" that is uninterrupted. Then do yourself a favor, start low key looking but dont let them know. A lot of companies are using the threat of in office work to get people to quit so they dont have to lay people off. When that doesnt produce enough quits then layoffs are around the corner.

4. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 1:02PM UTC

   Is the RTO for 5 days a week? Can you still have 1?

   As the shift starts to happen, you could ask/find out what the new terms are? I say this because some companies adjusted practices/finances for full Hybrid so now if it's full RTO, see where the money is going.

   In any case, I'd advise that you keep the job and RTO. If you need, leverage your PTO and take 1 day off a week or 1/2 days from time to time. Use your benefits for a therapist, or find ways to decompress. If it's really not what you want, start looking for a new job (while you have a job). You have to make that determination for yourself based on your needs and finances.

   If the RTO really upsets people, the company culture will shift - which will give you more information to help with your choice.

   Good luck!

5. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 2:02PM UTC

   I know this is difficult and you said all the things I feel works for me as a hybrid worker. Though I'm an extrovert, I need the 2 days a week at home to decompress from the same things, loud offices, drama, office politics, etc. If they took it away, they know they cannot retain people and they will quit. Most companies offer some sort of hybrid and as COVID taught us, we can work from home and be successful. Sometimes it's the administration that have such old fashioned ideas of what work looks like, they can't adjust and it gets filtered down to the workers. Thus, a retention problem. There was talk among my org about coming back in 5 days a week, and tons of people left. I hope your company comes to their senses. At least ask what alternatives will you have such as maybe 1 day remote per week or more flexible time off, or maybe a compressed work schedule to allow one day off a week. Hope this works out for you and please keep us posted!

6. Maggie StoneSeptember 19,2024 at 2:36PM UTC

   Counter your anxiety with information. I would tell the powers that be that you have heard the rumor and want to know if there’s any truth to it.

7. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 3:16PM UTC

   Ok, let me understand this.....there is no mandate just rumors? And you are ready to leave a great job that you love? That's amazing!

8. JB09718September 19,2024 at 3:37PM UTC

   I would ask your manager about it before worrying too much. Always a good idea to keep your resume and references current though. Also wouldn’t hurt to review any contracts or paperwork you signed as a new hire to see if you have any legal document stating your role is hybrid.

9. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 4:38PM UTC

   You could certainly start a job search right now (and personally, I encourage people to always be looking no matter their situation). But are you really prepared to jump ship over a rumor? Also, please consider that more and more (right or wrong...that is really getting to be a tired argument), employers are moving back to a fully in office mandate. So when you consider that, let me ask you what you would then do when you are at a new employer, starting as fully remote or hybrid and they decide to do the same. Will you continuously jump in search of your perfect working condition?

   Maybe consider how you could make the workspace more amenable to you...should the day actually come you would be required to be in the office 5 days a week.

10. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 4:58PM UTC

    If you can't do that ask if it comes to that then yes look for a new job.

11. AnonymousSeptember 19,2024 at 6:42PM UTC

    If these types of rumors usual play out as fact, then yes look for a hybrid or remote job that will allow you peace of mind.

    Bottom line, the company does not have to allow hybrid or remote work just because they responded with those accommodations during and after the pandemic. Folks all over the world have made the same arguments you have and still they were ordered back in 5 days a week. It's the decision of the company to run their business as they see fit. So yes you are correct, there is nothing legally you can do to force leadership to do things your way. Things change and evolve. The company may set about changing office attendance as they see fit.

12. rgstaffing@bellsouth.netSeptember 21,2024 at 10:22PM UTC

    I totally agree and i don't know why this is so hard to understand or accept. Then go find another remote job.

13. AnonymousSeptember 22,2024 at 6:44PM UTC

    I agree as well. By making this decision the company risks losing great talent, but they gain creating the kind of work environment they prefer.

    Everything you've mentioned are personal preferences not mandatory for your performance of the work. If your performance suffers, they can elect to terminate you.

    These are personal choices you'll need to make if the company decides to bring you back into the office full-time.

14. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:15PM UTC

    I am the OP. Just to clarify, I am already hybrid and was hired as such. I just want to keep the two days working from home that I have. Also, what I didn't mention, and why it's rough even thinking about going into the office 5 days a week...I work in the open office environment. Ugh. There is no privacy and you constantly hear everyone's conversations, a dings from their computer all day long. It's maddening honestly. And we've tried asking to keep things more acclimating, like keeping the bright lights off when we have window light, asking people to silence the sounds on their computers. Some people just don't care to be considerate and we aren't allowed to keep the office lights off. It may sound petty, but when you're there all the time an open office really gets on your nerves.

15. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:22PM UTC

    The part about regular staff being forced into the office 5 days a week is a rumor so far, but our employer did recently force managerial staff back into the office full time. So, the rumor seems to not be without any basis at all considering they did that to management without any warning.

16. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:46PM UTC

    I assumed you worked in an open office and yes, they indeed suck. We moved to that at my prior employer a year or two before COVID. We were basically told to suck it up and deal with it. I'm in HR, and a lot of what I did, what I was involved in, shouldn't have been out in the open like that. I had privacy screens on my monitors and had no one seated behind me, yet people always found reasons to walk behind me to try to see what I was working on. I spent a significant amount of time in our 'huddle rooms' and 'phone booths' to have some semblance of privacy. On top of that, I have ADHD and was just so easily distracted by everyone all around. Including those who have no concept of an inside voice.

17. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:23PM UTC

    Did you sign some sort of contract that stated your role as hybrid or was it just a conversation? If it's in your work contract, I'd go back to that IF they try a RTO.

    If you have a documented disability, you can lean on that for a reason to remain hybrid.

    Last summer, our CEO put out a "let's all return to work!" thing. It's hard to even call it a mandate at this time as so many people went back for a week and then went home again and it wasn't even noticed (CEO works in another state and is in and out of the office and many of our people are in and out because they're at customer sites).

    I'm hard of hearing and the hearing loss is progressive. I had no idea when I went home in 2020 how much easier and better it would make my working situation. The constant chatter that made it hard to hear anyone on the phone was gone. I was able to put on soft music when I wasn't in a meeting or on the phone to mask the tinnitus, which helped me focus more. No more struggling with in person conversations I couldn't hear.

    And suddenly I was pulled into so many things as the meetings all went to zoom. And I could hear them and participate! I got a promotion and a new job title as people started to realize how much I knew and started to value my feedback. Going back into the office would have destroyed that.

    When this return to office thing went out I talked to my boss and he told me to stay home. That was the end of it. He knew my hearing issues. He knew how important my role is to the company (I've been here for over two decades so I know a LOT) and he didn't want to lose me. So I stayed home (fully remote).

18. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 8:24PM UTC

    What a great story! Thank you for sharing your successes and growth.

19. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:25PM UTC

    And this crap just FLOORS me. "Oh hey we could keep our workers happier and healthier and more focused, less stressed if we just let them work from home a couple days a week!"

    OR...we could make sure we have a miserable workforce, high turnover rates, a lot of stress, and poor work because they can't focus!

    Hmmm...WHICH SOUNDS BETTER.

    I am really really learning to hate corporations and their BS.

20. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 12:59PM UTC

    They pay you so they can decide where you work. It doesn't matter that you started as hybrid.

21. Melanee PackardSeptember 20,2024 at 3:09PM UTC

    The law says they have to give you notice in writing with enough time for you to choose whether to leave or stay. The same thing happened to me and I fought it: my payroll status read "Remote" so I used that to file a request for an exception. My direct manager didn't like it because he had just been hired and wanted control. I didn't understand how driving to an office a half hour from home to do the same job I do at my own office could improve anything; in fact, it would hurt production because now I'm losing driving time. He didn't like my challenging him and fired me before HR granted permission. So be careful.

22. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 3:51PM UTC

    I feel a lot of these firings going on is political in nature. He was pissed off about something else and he used this as a pretext to get rid of you. Most of these men are abusing the system themselves and want anyone who thinks otherwise out of their way.

23. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 4:10PM UTC

    For eons we all went into the office five days a week. Sadly the tide has been turning towards going back to the office full time. If you want to leave find something else first. From what you wrote it seems that the only issue is going back. I’d wait a bit and see if it’s that insufferable

    But yes, having workers go in five days really is counterproductive when you consider that we’re spending time commuting instead of working.

24. JB09718September 20,2024 at 4:28PM UTC

    True but wouldn’t she need to re-sign since the terms changed? If so, wouldn’t it create a situation where she could renegotiate?

25. AnonymousSeptember 20,2024 at 6:38PM UTC

    If you are highly valued and hard to replace, you could negotiate an exception so that you could remain with your current schedule and the company would be happy to accommodate you.

26. Sue Gordon- retired Career CoachSeptember 21,2024 at 2:07PM UTC

    First, these are rumors, not yet facts. So breathe before panicking. If rumors do become facts, then you do have the right to appeal as you were explicitly hired for a hybrid role.

    You menton significant introversion and some other health-related items (sensitivity to the lights and heating) that seem to cause you substantial stress. Perhaps you could speak to your doctor and ask for a letter stating you require reasonable accommodations to work remotely 2 days per week, under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Note a letter from your doctor need only indicate a disability, not the diagnosis. The company would have a hard time saying that hybrid work isn't a reasonable accommodation when you've been hired for it and have been successfully working in that manner.

    Good luck.

27. rgstaffing@bellsouth.netSeptember 21,2024 at 10:14PM UTC

    Companies are bringing people back into the office. The reason to begin with for keeping people at home was because of covid and that is no longer a factor. One of the reason that it is so important is to team build . One of the true facts about working from home is that it is combined with chores that do not relate to work. Another fact is that office buildings that have leases remain empty which there is no real reason for that. Companies are under no obligation to keep you working from home and I agree with your husband. It would be silly for you to leave this job but if you are adamant about working from home, see if you can find any jobs left with that in mind, but probably less money. You may however be able to find a job that is based overseas and has a job where you live but no office space there.

28. AnonymousSeptember 22,2024 at 1:06PM UTC

    Just… wow… Your reasoning for companies demanding that people return to the office full-time is based on untruths and biases. Do you really think that everyone does “chores that do not relate to work”? That might be what YOU do, but most people actually work, and if they do do chores, they often make up the time with additional work hours. It simply gives employees more flexibility and a healthier work/life balance. Also, productivity increased significant with wfh, so the chore thing really isn’t an argument. Regarding the lease thing, guess what - leases can be cancelled. There’s at least some legitimacy to this argument, as companies are already bound to those, but as long as they’re not paying employees for their work from home setups, guess what - it’s a sunk cost anyway. And one that will diminish when it comes time for lease renewals. So not an argument. Finally, it looks like you’re a recruiter. Jobs that pay decently and have wfh in the US are definitely available. They just go very fast because companies that allow wfh are generally known for trusting and respecting their employees. As a recruiter, you’re seeing the companies everyone does NOT want to work for, ie those that micromanage their staff and struggle to recruit due to poor reputations. If jobs at these in-person only companies were actually in demand by workers, those companies wouldn’t need to hire a recruiter at $15k plus per placement…

29. rgstaffing@bellsouth.netSeptember 22,2024 at 11:04PM UTC

    You have no idea what you are talking about.

30. AnonymousSeptember 23,2024 at 1:49PM UTC

    I think you want so desperately to believe that what you want will continue to be available that you are are trying to argue thesr failed reasons.