RTO Mandate
My company office is 60 miles away. When I was hired I told my leader that I’ll be 100% remote as that was part of the salary negotiation- I’m about 30K underpaid but it’s worth it to me because I don’t have to drive in, and as a bonus I live 10 minutes from the Datacenter (I work in IT).
Our company got bought a few months ago and my leader assured me that nothing would change. Two weeks ago our VP warned us all of an upcoming RTO mandate and I told my leader I was concerned and they told me again don’t worry.
Monday I was told to come into the office today and tomorrow to meet the new owners and talk about my wfh status. I told my boss there is no way I’m driving across the metroplex to sit in a cube, remote into servers, and join team and zoom calls from my cube. My mental health, and work life balance cannot deal with an RTO mandate. Some background my hiring process was fast-tracked because the company got ransomware and so my first day started on a Saturday- and lasted 36 hours. So I pretty much know more than anyone else how the systems and apps are bolted together- it’s like they can just loose me and there not be a gap- I pretty much rebuilt most of the infrastructure to get the company back up.
I understand that some jobs have to be onsite, but me in IT a systems person- I don’t need to be onsite. So yeah this is stressing me out! When we got bought my boss wanted to know my flight risk and I said as long as my job was just as secure and I could wfh I wouldn’t go.
This little adventure is costing me $200 and that’s if I don’t eat $100 in gas and tolls, plus hotel because I’m not driving in rush hour for 120 miles two days later n a row.
Update- so I talked with my boss and their boss yesterday and just laid out my situation. They let me keep my remote status as long as I come to the office when required (which that has always been the case) and I don’t quit anytime soon. So delivered an in to next fire in life. Thanks for all the comments. I wish businesses would understand the life/balance issue and realize we all are human. I’m not an idiot this isn’t my first rodeo of working for a company that got acquired. I know it is pre-layoff and they are probably trying to get people to quit.