Tragedy of return to hostile offices

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I think at the team level most individuals do want to make change and work in the most efficient way possible it's just at big multinational corporations what you can modify about your environment can be extremely limited.

You can’t fix or change people who live to work or think the work is full of meaning at the cost of quality of life. Deeply ingrained belief system like religions (and we know what kind of mental autoimmune response occurs when those are challenged). You can only institute guardrails against them.

One of the primary reasons that remote work improves productivity is that it allows employees to tailor their environment to their needs, rather than be forced into a hostile office space that requires kafkaesque bureaucratic bullshit to make even minor changes.

I once had a former employer force me to take an espresso machine home that I had brought to work because it created a situation where a different shift was coming to our teams area to use it when we weren’t there and they were concerned by the liability. Very non-specific concerns, I might add. So rather than ensure teams had access to real coffee they banned employees having their own coffee equipment so we can all commiserate together over the bottom dollar filth in the break room.

This is the type of basic shit most companies can’t get right, much less the far more complicated challenges involved in creating positive team dynamics.

I have no faith that any sufficiently large company can make an inviting office environment, and this is a major reason why I am a staunch remote work advocate.