EDITED to ask the following question: has anyone had any success with just saying “no” to coming back in-person full-time? How has that worked out?
Since entering the workforce in 2010, I have worked a variety of office jobs in the public and private sectors, all equally underwhelming, underpaid, and with stupid management. But fortunately, through both the Great Recession and COVID, I have never experienced a period of unemployment. But I have a feeling that streak is about to end soon.
My employer is now mandating that everyone come back to the office from remote in-person full-time – there is no real business reason for this other than their desire to control our time. Their rationale, however, includes a very strong undertone of “now that the pendulum has swung back to the employer, we can mandate whatever we want of you, since layoffs are down the line anyway.” Several part-timers in my area have already gotten their pink slips, so I figure that mine can't be far behind.
My biggest fear at this point is getting laid off with nothing else lined up, and then ending up in a Great Recession-esque job market where there are too few jobs for too many unemployed people. That appears to be what we are barreling towards.
My first instinct is just to tell my employer that I will not be reporting in-person full-time. I have been working hybrid for 3 years. And if the plan all along is to lay me off before the year's end, what difference will it make?