As the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on workplace policies wanes, companies across the world are calling their employees back to the office—or not.
Some employers have shifted to hybrid work or work from home altogether, saving on the cost of office space. Others retaining their office space have required employees to return to the workplace in person, with some threatening penalties if they do not.
In certain cases, only a selection of employees who serve in roles supporting the office they work in have been required to come back. One employee says he was required to return to work while all of his co-workers are allowed to work remotely in a viral TikTok video. He even wrote and produced a ditty to go with a video showing himself working alone in an office—despite the fact that he could accomplish all of his work tasks at home.
“I work in a place where everyone else works from home / But I still have to go to the office,” the poster, @gmastuff sings. “I could easily complete all my tasks working from home / But instead I’m here and I’m wasting company resources.”
The video has drawn over 619,000 views on TikTok, where the poster captioned his video with an appeal asking not to be fired over it.
“Disclaimer this a joke please dont fire me for this i have so much student loan debt,” the caption reads.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @gmastuff via Instagram direct message regarding the video.
@gmastuff disclaimer this a joke please dont fire me for this i have so much student loan debt🫶
♬ Kids, cute, pets, energetic background music(1101939) – nyansuke
Several viewers suggested he was only asked to return to the office so his employer could justify maintaining the office space. Others shared that they were similarly required to work in an office despite being alone.
“Actually it’s so the company can say they have staff at the office and justify keeping it,” one commenter wrote.
“I’m dying to know how much they spend on keeping the building maintained just for YOU,” another questioned.
“I’m also ‘essential onsite personnel,'” a further user commented. “I manage an office that no one works at.”
Some viewers shared that their employers had opted for hybrid work policies, or that many of their co-workers remain working from home on a more permanent basis.
“I work in a place where we are supposed to go in 2 days a week,” one commented. “Feel like I’m the only one scared enough to go in 2 days.”
“We were called back into the office this past month so we can teams all the still remote people,” a second wrote. “About 50%.”
“I go to a satellite office in Dallas to zoom everyone at the corporate office in San Francisco,” a third viewer shared.
