Company demands employees return to the office after working remotely, one employee refuses to comply and stays home, manager responds: ‘There’s really nothing I can do’

Some jobs don't require an office to do them, which makes you wonder why some companies still insist on spending so much money on an office if they don't technically need it.

Plenty of people have jobs they can do from anywhere they like. With the help of their loyal laptop and some good ol' WiFi, they can be doing their job from the comfort of their beds, from the beach, or from the middle of the jungle.

But can they actually do that? Well, most of the time the answer is a firm 'no'.

As much as it would have been perfect, even those who have a job that can be done from anywhere, and not just an office, are usually required to spend 8 hours a day in one. Employees get maybe one or two generous days of work from home, but the rest of their time have to spend in a boring, pointless office.

It can be quite disappointing to have a fully remote job, only to be forced to return to an office for no apparent reason. Someone higher up decided they want to know what their employees are doing every minute of every day, which leaves employees with no choice but to indulge their demands.

But what can they do?

The manager below is currently dealing with a 60-year-old employee who has refused the company's demand to return to the office. This employee knows that there is no reason for her to do a job in an office when she can do it perfectly fine from home.
So while the rest of her team has switched to a 2-day work-from-office policy, she is staying home.
Her manager doesn't quite know what to do with her refusal to adhere to the new policy, which inspired the story below…
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Middle-aged woman working from home.
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Company is mandating RTO, but one employee is refusing and says “I’ll come in once things are less busy.” What do I do?

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Group of young employees standing on office porch.
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