‘I Wish I Could Say I Was Joking’: Man Reveals Which Demographic Is ‘The Real Reason’ Workers Are Being Asked To Go Back To The Office. The Answer Might Not Surprise You—But It Will Make You Angry

The pandemic changed how we live in ways that continue being studied five years after lockdowns. Many changes were uncomfortable or at least inconvenient. Others may have actually made our lives better. Contactless delivery, anyone? Of these, one rises to the top: remote work. The pandemic sent office workers home, where many learned to love the flexibility, leisurewear, and lack of a commute.

Since the lockdowns lifted, there’s been a gradual return to the office. Not everyone is pleased to go back to the cubicle or, worse, the open office floor plan, however. They miss rolling out of bed and having that morning meeting in their pajamas. In fact, a study showed that three-quarters of workers say remote work makes them happier. The same study found that businesses save money and enjoy greater employee loyalty when they allow remote work.

So what—or, more accurately, who—is pushing to return to the office?

A business consultant says he knows who’s behind it: middle-aged male managers.

“One of the main reasons you’re being asked to go back to the office is because middle-aged men don’t get on with their wives,” Nick Shackleton-Jones (@shackletonjones) says in a TikTok posted over the weekend.

Adding, “I wish I was joking,” Shackleton-Jones explains that he worked for a large corporation during the pandemic. Near the end, he says they did a lot of research into who wanted to return to a life of boardrooms, breakrooms, and business casual.

“It was disproportionately senior, predominantly male partners,” he says.

At first they couldn’t figure out why. Then it dawned on them, Shackleton-Jones says. “The most likely explanation seems to be that they’re just not receiving the same deference as they’re used to. They just don’t feel as important.”

But Why Though?

According to Shackleton-Jones, men in leadership roles enjoy wielding their power over their subordinates. At home, the power dynamic often doesn’t favor them as much.

“They go home, and they’re asked to do things like help out around the house, have conversations with their wives, take the cat to the vets,” he says.

“Whereas in the office, they’re used to people doffing their caps and scraping and bowing and marching around and giving orders and dressing up in suits, and they just desperately need to resume that kind of an existence,” Shackleton-Jones continues. “So they have to go back into the office so they could be worshipped. And you need to be there because you’re a worshipper.”

Research has shown that men in management are particularly likely to return to the office. Many agree it’s because they get a rush out of being in charge.

But some theorize that there are reasons other than they like lording over their employees and getting away from their families.

A blogger posits that the male loneliness epidemic is part of it. “They have few friends. They have no women friends. That ‘culture’ they’re bemoaning? It’s an office where they can shoot the [expletive] with the boyz and go to lunch with the gurls,” she writes.

Another theory is that women prefer working from home because it gives them more flexibility to do child and elder care and housework, which they perform at disproportionately higher rates than men.

No matter the cause, there’s no denying the effect: More men than women are going back to the office.

‘Been Saying This’

People who commented on Shackleton-Jones’ post had very few positive things to say about middle-aged male managers mandating return-to-office policies. Most seem to agree that it’s at least partly because men don’t like doing housework or that they feel more important in the office.

The most popular comment, with nearly 47,000 likes, says, “I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS. They don’t want to be home with the kids and wife.”

“When we were married my ex said this out loud at dinner, ‘I get more respect at work than I do here. I tell people what to do and they do it,'” wrote one woman. “Both kids and I said in unison, ‘We are not your employees!’”

One particularly nefarious theory as to why men prefer in-office work appeared in multiple comments: it’s easier to be unfaithful.

“They can’t hide their affairs,” wrote one. This prompted another to joke, “They have to lie about going to Coldplay concerts,” referring to the couple who was exposed for allegedly having an affair at one of the band’s shows earlier this summer.

Several suggested that working from home reveals who’s actually good at their jobs, and it’s not them.

“During the pandemic their mediocrity got exposed,” a woman opined.

Another had a particularly scathing assessment along the same line. They wrote, “The office is just daycare for middle aged men.”

Shackleton-Jones didn’t respond to BroBible’s emailed inquiry.