I am not the parent, but I believe I can answer, because my thoughts on the few days that I do venture into office border on postal. In my defense, I hate people who invented mornings with a passion reserved for people, who hurt puppies for amusement.
When I see phrases like "executive vanity", I immediately picture a manager, who saw the productivity numbers gained and decided that those do no matter ( and some of us did go above and beyond specifically to show that there is a benefit to WFH for companies ) and instead opted for butts in chairs for no other reason than "I want to feel like I still matter". Some executives refers to this as management by walking.
<< Have we come so far that working from an office is now "torture"?
It is kinda like this. We all know WFH is possible. We know it results in good results for the company and yet management opts to RTO. They want me to commute, force me to get up extra early, almost kill people on the way two work if I do drive by car ( because I am sleepy; not because I am postal ) and somehow match the productivity that was happening precisely because we implemented WFH? Yes, by comparison it is torture. I had a glimpse of heaven and it was forcibly taken away from me ( it wasn't taken from me, but please understand that this is the mindset ).
edit: And, if you buy into one specific poem I will not name, hell is everyone but heaven and therefore torture.
Whether you agree with it or not is irrelevant. Put yourself in their shoes. See the world through their eyes.
If not, a good chunk of the people, who managed to keep the companies afloat during covid will bounce ( and some did ), because those are the people that actually knew what to do when SHTF.
When I see phrases like "executive vanity", I immediately picture a manager, who saw the productivity numbers gained and decided that those do no matter ( and some of us did go above and beyond specifically to show that there is a benefit to WFH for companies ) and instead opted for butts in chairs for no other reason than "I want to feel like I still matter". Some executives refers to this as management by walking.
<< Have we come so far that working from an office is now "torture"?
It is kinda like this. We all know WFH is possible. We know it results in good results for the company and yet management opts to RTO. They want me to commute, force me to get up extra early, almost kill people on the way two work if I do drive by car ( because I am sleepy; not because I am postal ) and somehow match the productivity that was happening precisely because we implemented WFH? Yes, by comparison it is torture. I had a glimpse of heaven and it was forcibly taken away from me ( it wasn't taken from me, but please understand that this is the mindset ).
edit: And, if you buy into one specific poem I will not name, hell is everyone but heaven and therefore torture.
Whether you agree with it or not is irrelevant. Put yourself in their shoes. See the world through their eyes.
If not, a good chunk of the people, who managed to keep the companies afloat during covid will bounce ( and some did ), because those are the people that actually knew what to do when SHTF.