I am taking a really hard stance on my defiance to return to a corporate office ever again. I have prepared a list of all the reasons why it sucks coupled with the reality that there is absolutely no benefit to the individual contributor. Feel free to use these to form a long-winded and articulate response if ever questioned by your employer on the topic. I have 14 reasons why so far, and I would follow these up by questioning what benefit it has for me, the employee. Not the “team” or the company, but me. They won't be able to sell me on one.
I hate the office because
- I have to get up an hour earlier, often while it's dark out which disturbs my circadian rhythm and thus my energy levels.
- I feel like I have to shower in the morning when I prefer to shower at night.
- I have to wear less comfortable clothes than If I was to remain at home.
- I have to sit in an hour of traffic each way (forgive the formatting on the subnotes)
- Wear and tear and unnecessary mileage
- Double my total gas consumption
- Bad for the environment
- Increased exposure to road hazards and accidents
- Most likely time for an accident is rush hour
- I have to sit in an environment that is particularly distracting due to its overbearing corporate-ness, silence, and element of judgement.
- I cannot recreate my awesome home office setup in the corporate office, severely limiting my productivity and efficiency
- I have to spend time with strangers with whom I have nothing in common instead of my lovely girlfriend and dogs
- I have to eat meals that are more expensive and less healthy than what I make at home, and it also takes more time
- Once I'm done, I am so exhausted from putting up with all of the aforementioned that I use it as an excuse to not work out
- In the same vein, If I have chores to do or errands to run, I resent them
- This gives me an attitude problem which puts stress on my personal relationships
- It restricts my ability to travel.
- It annoys me out of principle because I know for sure it has no benefit for me, so I must be doing it solely for the benefit of somebody else which augments my view of my job and employer in a negative light. It is regressive in principle.
- My company is wasting money on rent and travel expenses without merit when it really needs to be investing in better business tools.