The Real Reason Bosses Want You Back in the Office Full Time (It's Not Productivity)

[MichMan]

24. It depends on the working environment

I worked for medium sized manufacturing plants for nearly my entire career. The employees that are running the machines that make widgets can't work from home, so they have to come in every day, as well as those in warehousing, shipping, maintenance and skilled jobs.

It was demoralizing for them when they needed to speak to someone in HR regarding vacation, Payroll about their last check, Quality Control regarding a defect that needed to be reviewed, or IT regarding their workplace computers etc, to find they were all working from home, and not available to help them. Sure they could call and leave a voice mail, but it was quite frustrating to them, especially when they had a limited amount of time during lunch or break to resolve their concerns.

It set up two classes of employees, the ones that had to show up each and every day that actually produced the product that created revenue, and those who were privileged to work from home, creating a lot of resentment. Not good for team morale.