I have been at 3 banks now, where I was hired fully remote and was eventually RTO5'd. All 3 happened after a large acquisition. Let me tell you, it's not fun. Here's the thing. Over the last 5+ years, these banks have hired great talent all over the country and have all done well. Look at PNC for example. YoY increase in profits, productivity, and stock price since being fully remote.
Here is what happens:
You drive ~1 hour round trip to commute (if you are lucky), with more expenses, less flexibility, and less sleep / mental well-being.
They haven't invested any money in the offices in years, so you sit in a run-down office with half of the amenities it may have once had.
You take team calls because your team and other teams you collaborate with are spread out all over the country, and do the same exact thing you did from home, but now from an office cubicle / open floor plan desk.
The objectively worse work environment + the lack of being able to take a mental break/reset eventually drives you mad.
This is not for collaboration or culture.
This is not going back to what it "used to be". As a matter of fact, most people in technology were hybrid long before Covid and NEVER worked 5 days in the office.
This is not "were going to see how this works out and maybe..."
Nope.
I don't know what the reason is. Maybe it's a soft layoff, and they want people to quit. Maybe it's from outside forces. Maybe it's because of the acquisition, and certain people want to continue to line their pockets more. It's probably all of the above.
Whatever it is, this is not what the employees wanted. Don't believe me? Check out the results from the end of year survey.
I am already hearing "this is what people wanted.", "The people who have already RTO have loved it.", "This is just an experiment, and no one knows what's going to be the outcome.", "People have been doing this for years before covid with no issues."
It's all BS.
What some of the downvoted comments on here have said are correct. If 5 days in isn't for you, then look for a new job or simply don't comply and get fired / inevitably laid off. Or suffer until one of the above happens.
I would really love to think that we the working people can do something to change this but it is painfully obvious that they do not care or have ulterior motives, so they are probably not going care about any counter efforts. They want some employees to stay and some employees to leave.
If the ones who they don't want to retain leave - great!
If the ones who they do want to retain leave - well, they can always be replaced.
We all want WFH just like we all want paid more, and how many companies have ever paid their employees more out of the kindness of their hearts?
They do not care about us and it's not just PNC it's 99% of all companies in this country.