One thing that frustrates me about RTO being framed as necessary for productivity and collaboration is that, at least at my own company, leadership hasn't tried to advance beyond basic remote collaboration techniques since 2020. By that I mean, although we introduced multiple realtime collaboration tools (excellent video chat, screenshare, and whiteboarding software), we haven't invested in asynchronous ways of working at all, namely teaching people how to effectively communicate and make decisions over written communications.

And that's a real shame considering that we've always had a substantial offshore workforce, and collaborating with them has always been frustrating and unproductive for both sides. Lots of emails where each side is talking past the other, only to be resolved by a 10-minute video call that is unfortunately taking place in the early morning for one party and late at night for the other. In fact, I don't fully understand why offshoring didn't create the pressure to improve async work a lot earlier, even though the labor was very cheap and you can pretty much always find someone who will put up with those miserable hours.

I would have left already if something worthwhile appeared. Our mandates are more... suggestions, right now. Hybrid/flexible/not enforced.

I've been working remotely for years since before the pandemic. I'm not sure why this is being renegotiated, but I'm not interested.

My proximity to an office is happen-stance, my team is across the country.

Hybrid with flexible days is a silly compromise; you do the remote thing on-site or keep being remote

Why did they quit? Just don't go to the office and wait till they fire you.