> An office job provided structure and meaningful daily contact that is not replicated in 30 minute zoom calls.
I'm a very friendly guy, and always get along with my coworkers, but I go to work to work. For meaningful daily contact, I have my friends and family.
The European idea of going to work, working systematically for eight hours, and then going home to your real life seems much healthier to me.
Another way to see it is this: the cost of keeping a worker in an office is at least 10% of their salary. Another 5% of the workers day is spent commuting.
I personally would rather have a 10% raise and another 250 hours of spare time every year. I think if you phrased it that way, most people would agree.
I think the best thing to do would be let folks work how they want to work. And if there is an imposition to be had, it should be against folks who “require” others to go out of their way to go into an office, since their need is quite unimportant in the face of the needs of the many many others who see a quality of life decline from RTO. There are ways to bring routine and socialization back into your life that don’t revolve around work. They need to explore those avenues before we consider the vastly negative imposition of _requiring_ people to RTO for their sole benefit.
Also, "Companies can do X and employees can decide if that works for them" is the basis of right-to-work, which is demonstrably Bad by just about any measure. I agree with the sentiment in principle, but it usually ends with some format of usury.
This anecdata is not realized in the actual data. So we can disregard this.
> An office job provided structure and meaningful daily contact
Of all the types of contact I had when I was in an office "meaningful" would not describe it. I have meaningful contact being able to go to my gym at a time that allows me to cook and relax afterwards. I have meaningful contact at the coffee shop I'll occasionally work from. I have meaningful contact going for a walk in the park over lunch. My health has improved because I'm not forced to go to company mandated fun-lunches or skip the gym because someone dropped by my cube and told me I'm working late. I'm healthier because I'm not driven to near suicide by the 2-3 hours I lose every day commuting. Let's not even talk about the risk adjusted lifespan I have driving every day to work and back vs. working at home.
This concept of "company culture" being an employee benefit is the pinnacle of narcissism. Everything I do and say is recorded at work. Coworkers will almost certainly rat me out to HR if I'm too honest and dont toe the line. If anything, the office is arguably the least "safe" space I have in my life and under RTO I'm forced under contract to spend 8 hours there. No thanks.
> Saying that return to office mandates are bad for all companies is just plain dumb.
Spoken like a non-developer. My job as a staff engineer does not require me to be physically present. Grow up. This is a power grab by people who want to gaslight employees under threat of their job. Same with "cameras always on" policies and all the other bullshit. A bunch of tin-pots with a modicum of manufactured power using it to make others miserable. Nothing new under the sun.