The return-to-office mandate can actually work in your favor. Here’s why

First, a few companies asked (very nicely) for their employees to come in one day a week. Work from home folks, like me, thought to themselves: Well, okay. One day a week is cool. I can get out of my pajamas and see my work-folk. The next thing you know, there was a two-day a week policy. You know, just for a few meetings. Take a break from the Zooms. Get a coffee in the morning. Take a meeting after work. Then, things got weird. We couldn’t just be on the Zooms, we had to make sure our cameras were turned on. For me, much later than most companies, I saw the official RTO email: Return to Office. Starting next week, I’m in the office. In person. But here’s the thing, I didn’t get an official RTO. I gave myself the ultimatum. Time to go in the office every day. And we knew it was coming. As a consultant, I can come and go as I please. I can take every meeting via Zoom and I’m in Slack channels and various threads that keep me up to date. But I’ve noticed in the past two years, not being in the office is fine, technically. But our culture is now back to an office-culture. We’re back to Monday morning gossiping at the water cooler. We’re back to lunch orders and trading gossip on who’s being hired and who’s being fired. Informally, I have no idea what’s happening at this place unless I’m here. And even if I go in just for meetings, it’s not the same. We all know it. So, I got a desk. I even got a name plate with the company logo. Got a cactus and a family photo too. In my very first week, two people walked past me and said: Oh, there you are. I keep meaning to call and set up a meeting with you. What do you think about… I got two good meetings that would never have happened if I had not been in the office. But, by the next week, having a desk reminded me of one of the reasons why WFH was helpful. It’s much easier to avoid microaggressions and politics. As soon as I started coming in more often, there’s Karen asking me if I can afford to contribute to an office bi