Not being a slave to management isn’t the same as getting to do whatever you want.
This should be obvious but current employment isn’t a guarantee of future employment (both employee and employer can’t guarantee the behavior/decisions of the other).
You can quit. The same as the company can’t force you to keep working there regardless of what they do.
You can try to do whatever you want. But that’s where you figure out if you’re valuable enough to get away with it.
That’s an opinion. There are other opinions. Like I said, progress is a function of how quickly the old guard dies out (1.8M folks over the age of 55 die every year in the US). Mental models are rigid, humans are emotion driven, etc.
EDIT: @gedy Appreciate the ground truth, thanks for sharing.
> progress is a function of how quickly the old guard dies out
I will say that with respect to WFH, younger folks I've dealt with seem to be ones wanting RTO more. Mostly seems because they have no home, family, and use office for social outlet.
I mean, yes that is an opinion. Like I said from the beginning there’s no objective right or wrong on whether employees should be working remotely or working in office.
Neither represents progress they just represent different opinions.
> Like I said from the beginning there’s no objective right or wrong on whether employees should be working remotely or working in office.
I don't agree with this, but I'm also not willing to argue the point and pollute the thread with someone who has already made up their mind. My apologies in advance.
In several countries, it is a right. The evidence shows it is more beneficial for worker quality of life, and there is strong evidence remote work is not detrimental to enterprise success.
Change takes time. If you don't think it's a right, is it possible for me to change your mind? Unlikely. Therefore, time passing for those beliefs to age out while new workers age into working who do believe this is a right is the only path forward, no? Certainly, my emotional component is "workers deserve agency" but I'm also data informed, and the data shows remote work to be, if not better, not worse than pre-pandemic work arrangements.
> If you don't think it's a right, is it possible for me to change your mind
No. I think it should be up to the company to decide whether to offer remote work – outside of the situations where they must offer remote work by law.
> my emotional component is "workers deserve agency"
Workers have agency! They can go work somewhere that offers remote work. If remote work is so great then many companies will offer it.
And so we are at an impasse. Enjoyed the discourse regardless, I can't argue my position effectively without putting myself in the other side's shoes, so I thank you for that.
This should be obvious but current employment isn’t a guarantee of future employment (both employee and employer can’t guarantee the behavior/decisions of the other).
You can quit. The same as the company can’t force you to keep working there regardless of what they do.
You can try to do whatever you want. But that’s where you figure out if you’re valuable enough to get away with it.