People are not homogenous, and that includes both managers and employees. I’ve been working remote for the majority of 2.5 years now and I’m okay with it but it’s not great. Some coworkers absolutely lost empathy when they stopped seeing other people in person and I’m sure managing them is a struggle and the transition there has been awkward to say the least. Some are seemingly more productive but it’s not clear to be something which is sustainable/reliable because it’s not clear if they are more productive per hour worked or just working more hours because they didn’t have anything better to do.
In short, I can’t exactly blame managers wanting to return to prior conditions to reduce the level of uncertainty, especially if the last year has been a mixed bag. I do think most people I know want to return to a hybrid model but there was already a significant part-time WFH culture before the pandemic (1-2 days a week). moving to WFH 2-4 days a week is probably where it will end up.
I hope This is where it ends up. Not in some "One size fits all" solution, but management doing it's job and looking at the individual output of the contributors and asking what they prefer. Ostensibly, this is why our work places is stacked so tightly with middle management, in order to use "micro-management" not as a big brother hammer, but as a tool to help makers produce better and more comfortably. Doubtful, but one can hope.
In short, I can’t exactly blame managers wanting to return to prior conditions to reduce the level of uncertainty, especially if the last year has been a mixed bag. I do think most people I know want to return to a hybrid model but there was already a significant part-time WFH culture before the pandemic (1-2 days a week). moving to WFH 2-4 days a week is probably where it will end up.