+1 to this. I work with people who would love returning to office and others who are adamantly against it. Even though I overall prefer WFH there are still things I miss from being in the office. I used to commute an hour each way by bus and that was some of my favorite time; I could read, sleep, listen to podcasts, whatever. OTOH now that I WFH full time I can work out before work and help run kids around right after work.

The problem is that RTO companies refuse to recognize that, and are making "do it or get fired" demands of employees regardless of where they find it productive to work. Those more productive in an office have always had coworking spaces available. Those who work better from home can get stuffed under these mandates.

So whose preferences really matter here? Who holds the power in the equation? I'll give you a hint: it's not anyone who actually cares how productive work gets done.

In addition to what others have said, the biggest issue is that RTOers want to force their will upon WFHers because they don’t want to work in an empty office. I get it, social people want to be social, but forcing us WFHers into your paradigm because you don’t want to be lonely is not the answer, it creates resentment from both parties. WFHers sit there with headphones on, blocking out the world while RTOers wander the halls looking for interaction.

It is absolutely a difficult problem for modern companies to deal with. Hybrid seems like the best/worst solution so that no one is happy and both parties compromise.

The problem with WFHers is that they don’t realize that they’re like blue collar workers in the 80s voting to offshore their jobs away.

Yes, that is the exclusive deficit of people who want to work from home and no other person, policy, or structural fact about your job. Your management hasn't already had the idea and, if they have, the only reason they haven't pulled the trigger is because they really like seeing your face.

Nope, it’s because even if you don’t believe it’s true, management has decided that people colocated together physically do a better job than those who are not.

And even if you believe that’s a complete fiction, it’s a fiction which has sustained itself for decades and after a brief loss of belief during the pandemic appears to be on the rise again.

And even if you believe that’s complete fiction, it’s fiction that companies and management believed in enough to pay the same individual 2-3x the amount of salary after paying to relocate them to SF from Idaho.

Whether true or not, management and leadership has believed the benefits of employees being colocated physically for a long time and continue to believe that, and that’s what’s justified high tech salaries. Without that reality or fiction that they strongly believe in they have no reason to continue paying the high salaries you sre used to.