I worked for a top United States corporation. We had a huge outdoor campus in California with large grassy areas in between the buildings.
The company built a basketball court, two beach volleyball courts, an exercise track that ran the entire perimeter of the grounds, and we even had a lunchtime croquet club that played twice a week!
And this was in the 1980s!
The company was also very dynastic; we had parents and children work there, brothers and sisters, people paired up and got married, and worked their whole careers there.
I'm not talking about a family business, either. This was a Fortune 15 corporation. Stock plans, 401(k), pensions, all of it. Health club, too.
All in all, a great place to work.
-PJ
That's it!
These companies need to tell their prospective employees that the work place is a great place to socialize and meet girlfriends, wives and others to have affairs with! And on their job ads, they can post pics of women in bikinis!
You better believe it!
You bet, it makes commuting 2 hours per day dead time, and $20,000 per year for the whole commuting thing, worth it!
Throw in a ping pong table in the breakroom and no one will ever want to go back home.
Your company sounds (sounded) like a communal environment. I work in such a place; my fellow employees are Jewish and share the same religious and cultural values. I could only work at that kind of place, especially given today's wokeness (and antisemitism).
During COVID we were forced to work at home for 5 months, and some of the older employees decided to retire rather than come back. I miss them.
The atmosphere and dynamics changed when I got back. However, the hiatus from the office instilled in me an insecurity. I needed to return to the office, not only because much of my work involved public contact and physical work (handling materials, etc.), but I needed to prove my usefulness -- and flexibility, the willingness to come to work when needed.
It was this flexibility (and the grace of G-d) that kept me from getting laid off this summer. My supervisor fought to keep me, and even moved me to a higher position.
Working from home might indicate to some an indifference to the company or a very easy, cushy job. While no one is irreplaceable, some might seem more unnecessary. Today is a bad time to be a prima donna.