yes they are.
I quite like my employer, but their return-to-office policy is non-negotiable, so I am going to start looking for a new employer.
This literally ruins an otherwise wonderful working relationship and likely will result in years of tribal knowledge lost (as the senior engineer on my team).
And yes, I have reached out to my manager, and this policy is non-negotiable (as it is company-wide), so the writing is on the wall.
It takes two sides to have a disagreement like that, and it's wrong to portray it as though one side is responsible for ruining everything.
WFH was instituted as an emergency response to COVID-19, thus it can't really be stated that employers forced WFH upon employees capriciously.
Enlightened employers can and have seen the value of hybrid policies that take employee preferences into account: those who prefer at-office can choose to come in, and those who prefer remote can choose WFH.
The disagreement is when an employer is unwilling to work with the employee to reach an understanding that benefits both mutually.
Taken from the other perspective, were a company to become entirely remote, then it could be seen to ruin the relationship for employees who had wanted to come into the office.
That is the case here: what is ruined is that no attempt has been made to reach a middle ground, whereby those who wish to remain at the office can do so, and those who prefer WFH can do so.
It is this reluctance to appreciate the learnings from our collective covid experience: that WFH is a significant boon to a large percentage of employees, and indeed is a competitive advantage, that has ruined an otherwise wonderful working relationship with an employer.
And thus, the only response is to look for employers who appreciate WFH as the competitive advantage it is.
a) datacenter/telecom space
b) field technicians with vans, sets of tools and diagnostic equipment. and in metro areas a storage room/logistics space in a warehouse or industrial area somewhere to receive incoming shipments and keep spare inventory, consumables inventory.
c) fully remote engineering staff, admin staff, literally no office whatsoever.
That is very different from a situation where an engineer works in the office, works from home during the pandemic, is asked to go back to the office after the pandemic is over (which they agreed to do before the pandemic!) and decides not to do it.
Going to a physical location to work is how things were done and continue to be done for most people on the planet. This is what you signed up for when you accepted the job; if you don't like that and the company does not allow you to work from home you always have the option of quitting and finding another job. You signed a contract and now want to force a renegotiation. That's not how things work.
This is exactly how things work. Contracts are renegotiated all the time and either of the parties can initiate it.
Yours will too.