This is the kind of thing that needs to be all or none…you can’t have some people in the office while others work from home.

Before the pandemic when I worked for a large previously monopolistic telecommunications company that shall remain nameless, I was hired right after their WFH policy ended. Which meant that I had to be in the office every day, but people hired before me could still work from home. Also, the company is spread across half the country (though they are desperately trying to regain all of their previous territories), so most of the people I worked with were in a different office. Which mean everything was done over the phone. Sure, we had a screen sharing application, but the actual voice communication was done over traditional phone calls. Makes sense for a large telecommunications company that already owns the infrastructure, right?

Except I was still required to be in the office. I had to spend 2 hours and $20 in gas every day to be in the office. I had to spend time at home organizing my lunches and preparing office clothes. I had to get up at 5:30am so that I could be sure to make it into the office and be logged in properly for the 8am daily meeting. I didn’t get home until 7pm most days just because getting through city traffic at rush hour was a pain in the ass. And all so that I could be in the office to call into a meeting with people sitting at home.

All this effort being thrown at a slow transition just breeds resentment. If you’re going to do it, rip the Band-Aid off and be ready for the fallout. Otherwise, just leave people work wherever they want. They are going to be on the phone or Zoom meeting anyways because of the few that still work from home, so what’s the difference?