We were work from home for about a year then we were all brought back in, though with shorter hours in the office and more time working from home.
I didn't think about it much, at the time. I hated going into the office when I could get my work done at home, but like all of us, it was either that or get fired.
I figured that there was some value being in the office, which is why they pushed us so hard to go back. Some sort of psychological.. something.. productivity.. something. I thought it had a good reason if flimsy.
I decided to read an article about going back into the office, I think either by NPR, the New York Times, somewhere else and all of these articles mention that people are being brought back into the office not because of productivity, or health, or any kind of viable metric.. but because the leases on the office buildings are long, like 10-years long, and the companies want to make use of their investment.
That's it? That's the reason why our commutes are an hour long again? Why we're putting ourselves at risk for catching a deadly virus? Why we gotta be trapped in the same room every single day? Not because of anything other than leases? It makes no sense. Why bring people back into an office that will just cost more in utilities? Why is it the employees problem that the top heads signed a shitty lease?
I feel like I missed something..