Earlier this year, Kelly decided to leave New York City to care for a sick relative. She figured she could move away while continuing to work remotely as a software engineer for Bloomberg, just as she’d done for the previous two years. But Kelly’s decision introduced her to the sharp end of office life in 2023, as companies try to persuade their employees to come back to the office. Her plans to move clashed with Bloomberg’s return-to-the-office directive. In the end, Kelly, who asked to go by a pseudonym because of her company’s confidentiality policy, lost her job.
Bloomberg had been trying to get staff to come into work since last November. At first, Kelly says, the return to the office (RTO) was communicated informally by managers and human resources staff, and through group emails extolling the virtues of face-to-face collaboration. The policy was not strictly enforced. At that time Kelly was still living in New York, and like everybody on her team she continued to work from home. Some colleagues had even moved to other parts of the U.S. “This had never been called out at all,” Kelly says. Her most recent performance review was “glowing,” and last year she received a healthy bonus. Even though she wasn’t showing up to the office, Bloomberg seemed perfectly happy.
