Employers are waging a war over work from home. WFH is winning.
https://www.businessinsider.com/in-war-over-work-from-home-remote-wfh-is-winningon the one hand:
"People don't like commuting, but so what?" JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in May. Remote work, he quipped, "doesn't work for those who want to hustle." The bank had faced internal blowback over its plans — Dimon himself apparently received "a nasty note" from somebody's wife — but the CEO didn't seem too concerned. "That's life," he said. "It's got to work for the clients. It's not about whether it works for me."
On the other:
But almost overnight, employees began quitting their jobs in record numbers. Emboldened by the red-hot job market, Americans felt free to shop for flexible work arrangements that better suited their needs. Threatened by a full-blown exodus, executives suddenly realized they could no longer afford to ignore the uproar over working from home.
Amazon backtracked on its "office-centric" plan, agreeing to give employees two optional days a week to work from home. Google and Uber, which initially said they would mandate at least three days a week in the office, scrambled to offer more flexibility.
Facebook expanded remote-work eligibility to all its employees, including those early in their careers. And just last week, LinkedIn said it was scrapping its requirement for employees to come into the office 50% of the time, making room for more remote roles. It was a remarkable sight: some of the world's largest and most powerful corporations being forced to bow to their employees' work preferences.
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"Before the pandemic, there just weren't that many businesses allowing people to work from home. Now, many are. In finance, for all the JPMorgans and Goldman Sachses that are calling their staffs back to the office full time, there are banks like HSBC and Citigroup that have promised hybrid schedules. In tech, which has embraced working from home more than any other industry, hybrid has become the dominant model — usually three days a week in the office and two days at home. Amazon, which appeared to be the lone tech giant that tried to insist on full-time office work, didn't stand a chance: Oracle and Facebook reportedly pounced on Amazon's employees as soon as the company announced its "office-centric" mandate."
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Expensive leases are just seen as a part of doing business. Being able to micromanage your employees is also seen as a part of doing business. There are a LOT of workplaces stuck in "We've always done it this way" mode.
For example: I'm a librarian. 50% of my job is interacting with patrons. The other 50% is off-desk work, like book-buying, program planning, and meetings (which have all moved to Zoom going forward). I could be on site 2.5 day and home 2.5 days and get the same work done. But no. 
Who work 80 hour weeks, have 15 days a year in paid time off, make the same $$ they made 20 years ago, and kowtow to their corporate trough.
But they get to play at being stock traders over lunch, wear sneakers and jeans to the office on Fridays and get a free pizza lunch from a vendor once or twice a year. And only have to deal with their families on Sunday.
What could be better then that?
and we were sent home for about a year (aside from child visits, which have been ongoing throughout) and we had to come back full blast after the 4th and it just seems so pointless, equally more for myself because I have to commute 30-40 minutes to my office and we're having severe traffic congestion due to construction occurring on a connecting interstate that won't be completed until the end of NEXT year. I have basically just stopped worrying about going in to the office on some days where I would have to leave early to take my daughter to a doctor appointment or have something else I got to do because it's just not worth it an hour+ commute just for 3 hours of week unless I had something super pressing I had to be there for. However, our GOP governor was very adamant about us returning to the office when we did. And we're currently only "encouraged" to be vaccinated.
BUT...I have not been in the office at all since March 2020 and have no plans to ever go back there. I work more efficiently at home and get 120% more work done.
If they ever force me to go in I'll give immediate notice and move on. (My team is scattered across the country and I would be the only one in the office anyway.)
I work IT for one of the largest companies in the world - over 100,000 employees, and growing.
I know many of my co-workers feel the same way, and some have moved on already, with more poised at the door. The company seems to be listening as it has moved the date for mandatory full time back to the office to no earlier then January 2022...third time they have extended the deadline this year.
