I've been mandated to return 4 days a week. During the last month of this, I've talked to 3 people (total) in the office and taken meetings from conference rooms where hardly anyone in the office showed up--instead taking the calls from their cube or a focus room or remote. The people I work with are not in the office or even my location. But my life has been disrupted completely to meet some ridiculous ego-driven mandate. I'm using more water, gas and energy--not good for the environment. My stress level has risen--not good for my mental state. And add to this the other things I had to buy to accommodate going into the office (lunch stuff, clothing, shoes, backpack that holds a laptop, etc.) that makes RTO costly to the employee. This is after 5 years of little no pay increase and minimal if any bonus and 5+ years without a promotion. Feeling trapped because the job market is so horrible. But yeah, at least I have a job and didn't get riffed. Looking forward to the tide changing back to favor employees however long that takes.
An on point post from @cf+1k9p3cq31.