Company demands return-to-office for 'team-bonding' but only for the employee to flip the policy against them

Working from home has given employees the chance to reclaim time for themselves and actually boost productivity, since they can make time that is otherwise wasted in commuting. But when one company declared remote work "unproductive" and enforced a return-to-office mandate, one employee decided to push back their decision by giving exactly what was required, nothing more, nothing less. On August 12, a Redditor shared the story of his sister and detailed how she turned the company’s own policy against them while setting firm boundaries and redefining productivity on her own terms.

The Redditor who goes by the username u/rickdanger68 took to the popular subreddit r/antiwork to share the smart way their sister used to flip the company's return-to-office policy against them. Their sister, who works for a company in a work-from-home setup, was very dedicated to her work when the company implemented the return-to-work policy to justify that "employees weren’t as productive working from home" and wanted them to experience a sense of "team building or bonding." The Reddit user noted that, unlike the company's claim, the team, despite working from home, often met for drinks or games a couple of times a month.

Following the mandate, the Reddit user revealed that their sister stopped logging into Slack after work hours and no longer participated in after-work activities. When her manager noticed and asked for an explanation, she replied, stating that she is now "getting more work done, and because they work in-person for 40 hours a week, there is no reason to hang out after work hours." When her manager said that it doesn't work that way, she responded by stating, "That's exactly what it means." She asked her manager to explain why she was obliged to respond to something while she was out of the office, instead of waiting until the next day. Funnily, her way of tackling the issue was followed by her other team members, which ended with the company realising the loophole in their implementation.

The Reddit user's story echoes findings from the study conducted by Mark Ma and Yuye Ding of the University of Pittsburgh in 2024, where it was established that companies that implemented return-to-office mandates did not see significant improvements in financial performance. The study suggests that managers may use RTO mandates to reassert control over employees and to blame them for poor performance. As seen in this Reddit case, RTO can witness a decrease in employees' job satisfaction.

The Reddit post that went on to receive huge traction online received praise from fellow Reddit users who scoffed at the company's bluff. u/originalchaosinabox wrote, "That's some mighty fine malicious compliance, Lou. 'Now that we do all our work in the office, no need to do work outside the office!'" u/ejrhonda79 commented, "Boss is actually showing their hand by that comment. It was never about RTO or 'bonding'. It's all about control. Good for sis for standing up for herself."

Throwing a jab at the corporate, another user named u/housesettlingcreaks commented, "But wait, we wanted to get more work out of you this way. That's not fair!"

More on Scoop Upworthy

CEO forces workers to 'return to office' against their will but they turned the tables on him

Employee maliciously complies to being fired

Boss orders employee to commute 3 extra hours to daily shift, ends up regretting it