I work for a company that announced remote work as a pilot. A few weeks a year and you had to coordinate with your supervisor. Now most of us know, a pilot is temporary. How long will it be a pilot though? It's been 12 damn months.
Now after a few “Yay, 2023 is going to be great, collaboration, in person discussions and cross-functional meetings” meetings, I received an email that our local office has been monitoring badge access and will continue to do so, to ensure the in-office days policy is being upheld.
The few weeks a year we got, now have to be formally requested and tracked. You have to request the FULL week now, regardless of what department policy is. Most departments have a 3-in, 2-remote. You wanna take those 3 days? Yeah, you gotta use up one whole week now. You can't request 3 here, 2 there.
The “we know when you've been here and when you haven't” thing gets me. Thing is, my boss has been SUPER helpful and she herself called it, Big Brother. From the “hey I understand you got personal stuff, if you need to WFH, just let me know and get your stuff done” to “hey guys, I'm sorry. this comes from above and I don't agree with it.”
Time to explore doing my own thing.
/rant