[Rookie42]

At the government department I work for in Australia, we had a new CEO come in at the end of COVID lockdowns and order all staff back into the office full time. The mandate lasted 2-3 weeks before it was retracted due to staff reaction.

I firmly believe that the CEO only issued the mandate as he was told to do so (almost everyone has a boss).

The department has now adopted flexible working arrangements beyond just working from home. As a result, the workforce is happier, all be it some parts of management are still slow to evolve.

Stories like this will keep happening until we evolve to the new ways of working. Just because we did something for 50+ years doesn't mean there aren't better ways of doing something. Mostly I just statements like this as people living in the past, refusing to adapt to a changing world.