I quit my job and gave up my six-figure salary because my boss sent me back to the office full time – even though I was more productive at home
A woman who has been working remotely since the start of the pandemic has revealed that she quit her job rather than return to the office full time.
Felicia, a manager from Arizona, was earning a six-figure salary but decided she’d rather give it up altogether than go back to working five days in the office.
Tell the 53-year-old inside She didn’t think she needed to be in the office to do her job well and was reluctant to go back to a pre-pandemic way of working.
Her story comes as Insider reports that employers across the US are calling for employees to return to full-time desk work, with some threatening to fire employees who don’t comply.
According to Felicia, this threat was enough to make her take matters into her own hands and quit.
Felicia, 53, from Arizona, US, worked as a manager and earned more than $100,000 a year, but after her employer stopped the hybrid business, she decided she’d rather have a good work-life balance than a high salary (stock photo)
She explained that for a year and a half she had been working in a hybrid model that required her to stay in the office only two days a week, with the other three days spent at home.
Describing it as “the perfect work-life balance”, Felicia argued that she did more work during her days at home than she did in the office.
In contrast, her office days were so full of “distractions and interruptions” that she found she would come home from work and continue working in her home office for several hours to get things done.
Just a month after Felicia’s boss demanded she return to the office full time, she handed in her resignation.
Explaining her reasons for quitting, she explained that she wanted more time to herself, but added that the “water-cooled chatterbox” culture had returned.
Felicia revealed that her light bulb moment came one day when she was stuck in a traffic jam on her way to a business meeting.
“It’s like, ‘Why would I do this to myself when it’s not necessary?'” She said.
The manager added that she believes her bosses suffer from a “productivity paranoia” that has caused them to worry that their remote employees are not doing enough work.
She defied the belief held by many of her co-workers that she only worked when she was in the office, and that the other three days of the week were her “days off”.
Felicia: That’s not true. Most of our work was done when we were all three working at home.
It just got to the point where it no longer works for me. I walked away from a salary of over $100,000 a year looking for jobs with hybrid options so I could have that work-life balance.
Now, Felicia is looking for new roles that offer her more flexibility, even if she has to accept a pay cut.
She believes that the inflexibility of some employers will hurt productivity in the long run and could lead to an exodus of workers.
