I’m an engineer in the North American auto industry and while many of the big OEMs (Ford, Stellantis, etc) allow work from home permanently, the millions of people employed in the supply chain are stuck working in 90s style offices for 80s style bosses who can’t fathom you being productive if they can’t see you.
What’s weird is, my job is about coordinating with offshore suppliers and customers in China, Mexico, etc. I have a laptop, cell phone, credit card, etc so I can literally do my job anywhere in the world at any time as I sometimes travel or interface with different time zones. I’m already set up to work remotely because that’s part of my job yet I worked in the office EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY since covid started because auto industry was “essential”. In 2020 I asked to work from home I was concerned because my wife was pregnant at the time and I was told “we think the office is the safest place for you right now”
Every person and every other company I know in my same industry suffers the same fate. Anyone else have to deal with this shit?