This happened on Monday morning and it's been stewing in my brain since then.
I'm a VP in my profession and I just came from a staff meeting with my peers and my boss and boss's boss and a new consultant we are hiring for a specific study to be done. I just got back from a camping trip in a northern US location that is completely off grid ( a truly wonderful experience if you are looking to disconnect from our lifestyle of total connectivity). Unfortunately since I was disconnected till that moment I was not read up on the reason for the meeting. I was really more of a spectator at this point to a completely meaningless and reprehensible project.
The context of the meeting was to hire an outside consultant group to create a study that would show the true negative costs to the employer and employers that the WFH subject was having on the corporation.
My personal feelings about WFH is why the he'll not. I don't have to waste time commenting, spending money on food, fuel and clothes that I only consume for the good of the corporate image. During COVID and our WFH policy in force I was able to get more done since I had less distractions from everyone else's pet ideas and projects. If I needed information from a person or group I emailed them or contacted them through webex or team. Simple. If my peers or boss needed me they did the same. I got more done in those two years WFH then I did in 4 years in the office. My teams were as equally productive with proof that we were definitely better off in that situation. If there was a problem with an employee abusing the situation it was easy to validate and east to rectify. Simple.
Back to the meeting. I cannot explain it any better than to say I was is awe at the total corporate bullshit that was appearing before me. I was hearing my division president push an agenda they knew not to be true and for the most part my peers were going along with it. No one even asked why we were asking for a report to be created that was a completely false narrative.
Right before vacation my boss put me up for promotion because of all the work my team and I did during COVID. Our bottom line showed in spades how well we did and now my team and I were getting recognized for the efforts. I was able to push down bonuses to my teams that were 20% more than normal due to everyone's hard work. Could not be more proud of everything they do everyday yet I now sit here unsure as to our real purpose at this level of the corporate structure.
When I take that leap will I be guilty of trying to convince people that working remote is a good thing just to gain my paycheck?
What the hell is wrong with doing more in an environment that is comfortable and convenient to you?
After talking about this with my wife I have begun looking at other roles outside the company.
Thoughts?