Most of my colleagues are remote in other cities, including my bosses. My company supports working at home, and hired 100%-remote people over the pandemic. We’ve been acquired, and the parent company isn’t as supportive.
Months ago, I was among some people asked to return to the local office. I’m supposed to be doing a hybrid of 3 office-2 home.
I don’t go. I prefer working at home for many common reasons, and I successfully did it through the pandemic, with high performance ratings. Because the company is mostly remote, if I do go in, I’m sitting alone, amongst many empty cubes. They didn’t do a great job of giving us reasons to go in (“culture”), and there was no mention of consequences of not doing it.
I’ve been so curious how it would catch up with me.
This week, our division leader, who is based in another city than me and is 100% remote himself, said he cringed to have to tell me that my name is on a list of people who have not been attending 3 times per week.
However, he added, so are most of the people who are expected to go in. The Naughty List is a large proportion of us. This is a management problem; not my problem.
I love what I read on anitwork, and I know there are remote jobs in my field out there. I don’t actually want to leave this job because I enjoy this role so very much. I’ve felt in power about this, which is extra cool because I am a woman who has been bullied by men in leadership. I feel in charge of my career like never before.
TL;DR – I’m not meeting attendance expectations… but no one else is either.