Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice with dealing with my company about returning to office. For some background I've worked as a software developer for about 7 years at a medium-size company (~5000 people) with a large corporate campus in the northeast. In late 2020 I moved to a city thousands of miles from corporate HQ.
In early March, my company announced that they were going to start having people return to the office. I told my manager I didn't plan to return and we agreed he would try to get a remote work exception for me.
Last week I learned that the exception had been denied due to me missing two milestones for my work. My direct manager and team manager mentioned that staying remote would be considered a resignation. I've stated several times that I do not intend to resign, but apparently HR and senior folks have equated me staying remote with resigning.
I absolutely do not want to resign, but due to some other personal circumstances I'd most likely be leaving the company in mid-July. It would be great if I could keep working until then. I had also proposed a few dates earlier than that, but had proposed I get paid beyond when I finish working.
My direct manager & team manager have claimed that resigning in mid-May or late April are the best they can do and had to push on HR to get approval for a later date.
I'm not sure what to do – In some ways I'd like to keep working until they fire me, as I think calling staying remote a resignation is BS. However I'm not sure if that will bring me any advantage.
I don't think it's fair for them to call me not showing up as a resignation, but I'm curious what you think?
TL;DR: Managers & HR are calling refusal to return to the office a resignation, I'm calling BS