HR hat:
Working hybrid is a privilege and not an entitlement. It can be revoked at any time, whether due to leadership discretion, poor performance or the position has evolved to require additional presence. Providing hybrid work arrangements is a benefit that may help attract and retain employees, especially to support commute times and help with affordability for those who may live further away from the office. (massive issue here in CA.)
Some positions are not conducive to remote work. I remind employees that while you may have worked fully remote during the pandemic - so did many of your colleagues and teammates. We had no option but to make it work. As return to office has normalized and stabilized, the expectation set out by your organization should reflect the needs of your organization. Some roles require in person connections for productivity, brainstorming; others require employees to be in person due to the nature of the work - we cannot feed residents remotely, support their maintenance, conduct research experiments with ridiculously expensive equipment that costs millions, teach classes, or even in non-academic examples (as I work in academia) interview employees during an investigation (I do not like doing this remotely due to security concerns and the conversations are VERY different when I hold them in person)
If your company is fully remote, it's different - the expectations are different. If it is not, I advise any employee to be open and flexible when you are asked to return to the office, or add occasional additional days per week as needed. I work two days a week in person, and often add a third day due to meetings, events etc. I also advise employees to maximize in person days - I purposely schedule in person meetings, 1:1s with my team, etc - so that I don't have to hear "but I come in and sit on zoom meetings." Some meetings are better held over zoom - the meeting I had with finance as we reviewed data is better when you have a screen to look at salaries right in front of you. Some conversations need to be in person. Some work is done much better in person; some work can ONLY be done in person.
I tell people all the time who say they don't want to come in: then do not be surprised if you no longer have a role to work hybrid from as we are not required to allow you to work hybrid. Employees have been terminated for deliberately not coming in on their assigned days.
And because I have to say it OFTEN - working hybrid or remotely is NOT a substitute for child care. We understand emergencies happen, and you may need to pick up a child due to illness, issues at school, etc. That has happened in the before times and will continue to happen. You cannot be inflexible on hybrid days because you only have child care two days a week, for example. There is no way you can be productive with a 2 year old roaming around, and the time has passed for children to pop up behind you in meetings.
Non HR Hat:
I live close to work, I don't mind coming in. Don't abuse that by having me come in for you either, because that's rude. But if you're going to complain you have to come in one extra day ONCE a month because your manager wants everyone there on the same day for team meetings or company wide events, I am not going to have sympathy. If you want to work fully remote, find a fully remote position. You cannot expect a company to bend to your preference to be fully remote if it does not meet operational needs, is not consistent with other members of the team, or meets the vision of leadership.
You need to make it work in order to continue making it work. I've heard too many examples of one person effing it up for an entire team because they were refusing to come in, or disappearing for three hours a day, not being responsive, and hybrid privileges were revoked for an entire team. Don't be that person.
