[mcs5280]

My company gave us 3 months notice and said 100% RTO in January 2026. I warned them this was a dealbreaker for me. They said sorry, no exceptions. In January I submitted my two weeks notice, citing RTO. They accepted my resignation letter and then called me a few hours later saying they could make an exception. Now I'm back to 100% remote.

I wouldn't consider myself to be an irreplaceable superstar employee, but they folded almost immediately. Not sure what the point of this dance was.

[627467]

Most orders are issued assuming compliance, or they'd be more considered (and less of them) or costly to enforce. To say there's "no exception" it's to say "we've done NO analysis whatsoever to understand if there should be any exception so, we'll cross that bridge later".

You did well, because someone with actual some skin in the game considered you irreplaceable at that moment.

[feznyng]

My extremely paranoid take is they might intend to replace you with someone who will RTO but need to keep you around for a while until they find that replacement.

[bdangubic]

This is exactly it. I hope for the sake of OP that s/he's the exception but so far examples of this from my personal circles is that it is just "you are here for the continuity until suitable replacement is found."

[mcs5280]

You might be right. We shall see.

[stronglikedan]

> Not sure what the point of this dance was.

It's to reduce dance partners. Most people won't push back against "no exceptions", so they greatly reduce the number of exceptions they have to consider just by saying it.

[AbstractH24]

Id be curious to know how this goes for you in 6-18 months

Best case scenario you get marginalized, middle case, is next time there are layoff, worst case they are already looking for your replacement

Regardless, unless you actively desire to get laid off I’d be searching for a job that actually wants remote people.