TLDR: New management took WFH off the table after 3 years of working this way. Should I put in the effort to try to “prove myself” to Boomer Karen and hopefully get WFH reinstated, or should I move on to a job where I’m guaranteed remote work up-front?
I wanted to share an experience I had yesterday regarding WFH. I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced it/how you responded to any similar situation. (Also, I’m sorry if this seems ranty, I'm still in my feels right now, so forgive me!)
For context, I've always worked since I was 14 years old (yes, 14, I lied on my applications). I grew up poor so I often worked multiple jobs, mainly in food service and retail.. aka wage slave jobs. Spent thousands of hours making 6, 7, or 8 bucks an hour. For whatever reason, I truly believed that I could simply “work” my way out of abject poverty LOL. There was no money, hope, or time for college, so after many years of working myself to the bone, I decided to join the military. I decided to moonlight (work side jobs) while serving in the military and I also used the GI bill to get my bachelor's and master's degrees, hoping that once I got out, I would finally take a break and find some semblance of peace in my civilian career.
Once I got out of the military, I managed to get an internship with a large government organization which lead to the best job I have ever had in my entire life. The job involved teaching radiation safety a couple of times a month to first responders. The pay and benefits were good, and I only had to come into the office when there were courses to teach.
My manager at the time, (let's call him Bob) was a former Marine with a no-BS personality. Once we were finished with our tasks, he would ask us “why we were still there” and encouraged us to go home to spend time with our families. We were allowed to telework often, and that enabled me to get all of my work done while taking care of my family, pets, and household. I even started my own animal rescue! It also allowed me the time to pursue my PhD (which I'm still in the process of completing.)
Because I am a staunch introvert and because of PTSD/mental health issues, I find “office/cubicle culture” extremely emotionally and psychologically taxing. Telework/WFH changed my life, and for the first time I was able to do my work, actually eat healthy and prepare my meals at home, save gas money, and get some of my time back. I went above and beyond my work expectations as this was the first time in my entire working life that my boss didn't judge my performance based on how much I was physically present at the office and based it on my ACTUAL performance as an instructor. I told Bob many times that I would work for him until I died because the work environment was so positive. Everyone was happy to work there. I thought I had found my “forever-job”… until it all came crashing down.
One of the newer employees, (let's call her Boomer Karen) somehow got one of the higher-ups in our company to let her take Bob's spot. Now Boomer Karen is the embodiment of gag-worthy corporate rhetoric. If you could take all the corporate buzzwords like “collaboration,” “corporate culture,” “meeting,” and “synergy” and program them into a robot, it would result in Boomer Karen. As soon as Karen took over, everything began to change. We had to CONSTANTLY log every single insignificant task we did on 5-6 various spreadsheets, share drives, and Word documents (this caused a lot of confusion by the way). The micromanagement was unreal and borderline neurotic. There wasn’t any “white-space” allowed on the outlook calendar and there were unnecessary in-person meetings nearly every day. WHF was rarely allowed, no matter what the circumstance was. Talk about a culture shock.
I spoke with Boomer Karen and let her know that WFH was incredibly important to me, as I am a disabled vet and I have some issues coming into the office daily. My husband is also a disabled vet so not being able to WFH would impact my life greatly. I always got all of my work done and more with WFH while also preserving my mental health. After weeks of begging, they painstakingly allowed me to telework twice a week, but I still had to physically attend any meeting that “sprang” up on my assigned telework days. This meant an hour round trip drive for one meeting.
Fast forward a couple of months and the micromanagement becomes full-blown neurotic, toxic, and stupid. Employees start to become aggressive towards one another and look for reasons to get others in trouble. Everyone is carefully watching everyone else to report anything they see to gain favor with Boomer Karen. There were literally people watching the parking lot to see whose car was there and when. Insane, right? Eventually, I ran into an emergency situation with my cat, and I needed to take her to the vet. Because there weren’t any classes I needed to teach, I put in PTO for the hours I used. I didn’t tell Boomer Karen right away and she flipped out. Just to reiterate, there was nothing important going on that day, and I had valid PTO to use.
The next day I was sitting in her office with another manager who had a literal power-point with bullets saying that I was basically a terrible employee and that no one “sees me” at the office. (I usually work in other areas of the building for privacy.) They also had a rumor listed on this “presentation” that people were not seeing my car in the parking lot (I have multiple cars I take to work, and I park in different parking spaces.) I was speechless and appalled to see this, as I had worked so hard for years. I felt crazy like I was in the twilight zone. No matter what explanation I tried to give, Boomer Karen simply attributed my supposed “inadequacies” to my “lack of motivation and willingness to network and collaborate.” As a result, they told me I could no longer work from home. She told me that if I could “prove myself” then I might be able to “regain the privilege” of working from home 2 days a week (unless there is an in-person meeting scheduled of course).” Now I’ve always been a hard worker and having to sit through Boomer-Karen’s BS explanation of why I didn’t “deserve” to WFH made me physically nauseous. I have established my life around being able to WFH, at least a few times a week, and now my husband (who is about to start a new job) will have to take on most of the housework, the animal rescue, etc. I feel overwhelmed by this new oppressive management that refuses to use logic or listen to anything the employees have to say. I’m trapped in this corporate nightmare where “looking busy” and “water cooler small talk” are the only ways I can prove my value. They do not care about the quality of my work- only that I physically take up office space.
The dilemma I’m facing right now is that although I love the actual job I do (teaching), I don’t know how much longer I can tolerate Boomer Karen, her corporate antics, and not being able to WFH. I’ve considered temporarily leaving so I could finish my degree and she could move on and out of the company by the time I returned. I’ve even considered quitting altogether. However, I know good WFH jobs are extremely hard to find. Should I put in the effort to try to “prove myself” to Boomer Karen and hopefully get WFH reinstated, or should I move on to a job where I’m guaranteed remote work up-front?
Thank you guys for everything!