Despite clear research indicating higher levels of employee satisfaction, fulfillment, and increased productivitywork-from-home employment models have continued to dwindle post-pandemic, leaving many workers feeling unsupported and taken advantage of by their leadership.
One specific worker took to Reddit to argue a similar point, admitting that his boss is taking the return-to-office mindset one step further by removing bonuses and company cars from employees who choose to work from home — even a couple of days a week.
“Company policy is a minimum of 2 days in office per week, but if we do that, we only get 40% of the allowance and won’t be entitled to a car,” he wrote in his post. “To get an actual car or our full allowance, we have to commit to five days a week in the office.”
An employee revealed his boss is docking company bonuses by 20% for every day they work remotely.
“This is a first-world problem, and I don’t expect sympathy; I just want to grumble,” the Reddit worker wrote at the beginning of his post. “We now have to choose how many days we’re contracted to be in office and our allowance is based on that.”
Valeriia Boiko | Canva Pro
Instead of mandating all employees to come back in full, it seems leadership is punishing the people who are working from home by cutting their pay and promised benefits.
“They just emailed saying that those who are just at my level now have to wait four years to get a car,” he adds.
The company is withholding cars and bonuses from workers who choose to remain remote.
“For every remote working day we add to our contract, we lose 20% of our car allowance,” the employee finished, adding, “It sucks, but there’s no part of it I can actually point at as being unfair or unreasonable.”
Shironosov | CanvaPro
While it makes sense that the company wouldn’t want to provide a company car for employees not commuting to work, taking away merit-based bonuses for remote workers is arguably unfair.
Many commenters begrudgingly agreed that the company is entitled to institute the policy, even if it’s unfair. “It’s manipulation at best.”
Whether this extra compensation was in writing or not, they’re using it as bait to control employees, which is a hallmark of a toxic workplace.
“This is absolutely unfair,” one argued. “They are removing compensation they would otherwise give you, and saying you cannot have it back unless you change your current work behavior.”
Many employers use loopholes to undercompensate remote employees, operating under a fear that they’re ‘abusing’ time.
It’s ironic that many companies are more worried about their employees “abusing” the flexibility of work-from-home opportunities than advocating for sick time or ensuring their time-off policies are fair and equitable.
They believe, under false authoritarianism in the workplace, that they have the right to police their adult employees’ time — and apparently, also their livelihood and compensation. That’s why unsettling research like the report from Alliance Virtual Offices isn’t surprising — remote workers are nearly 40% less likely to receive bonuses than an in-office peer.
Especially when leadership uses “culture” as an excuse to force people back into the office while simultaneously threatening their compensation and financial benefits, it’s no wonder that these initiatives only result in resentment and frustration.
Great bosses prioritize their employees’ job satisfaction and financial stability. If they needed employees to come back to the office — which, let’s be honest, is rarely a necessity for productivity and company welfare — they’d collaboratively work with employees on a plan that helps everyone feel supported.
Especially after they’ve experienced the joys of work-from-home flexibility, it’s not going to be easy to bring them back. Even if you do, they’ll be prepping their resumes to leave.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories
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