> I remain baffled by executives' obsession with RTO

It's because although many people do work well in RTO, the vast majority don't. And the various TikTok videos showing "Day in the life of a remote worker" didn't help the cause either. I worked at a fully remote company during the pandemic and trying to get people online was almost impossible. They would disappear for hours and I would be blocked by them and it was one of the most frustrating experiences in my career.

I love working in the office, mainly for the social aspect and free food, but I need to find remote work for personal reasons. And I'm about 2 years too late because almost no one in Big Tech is allowing remote work anymore.

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j-bos 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> trying to get people online was almost impossible. They would disappear for hours and I would be blocked by them

I don't understand why this is such a problem. I've even heard CEOs complain about this, about their direct reports. Child, if someone is AWOL on their job and they're blocking you, ring their boss. And if you're the boss, hold them to account. Why do so many orgs need a steamroller to level the flower beds.

	▲	Longlius 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		That's because this isn't actually a thing that's happened. I've seen plenty of remote employees fired for not being available during business hours. The idea that we need mass RTO to handle a few problem employees is silly.

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wiseowise 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> They would disappear for hours and I would be blocked by them and it was one of the most frustrating experiences in my career.

If you’re being blocked by someone online, you’d be blocked offline too.

	▲	simoncion 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		And if a coworker is refusing to speak with you on the system that the company provides you to speak with them, why haven't you complained to your manager (or your manager's manager) about the clear and obvious blocker to getting your work done? One of the following is true: OP is the biggest doormat in the world, the company OP works for is incredibly dysfunctional and cannot be saved, or OP's story could be found in the "Things That Never Happened" Jeopardy category.

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xdfgh1112 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah there is this big lie that most people work the same amount when they have a ton of distractions and can slack off whenever. Not my experience at all. Nobody wants to lose their WFH so everyone pretends productivity didn't change. If what was true you'd never see this RTO push. Offices cost money!