Regarding the "no corporate-wide policy, leave it to the managers" bit - this is also a sleazy way for companies to shitcan remote work without taking overt responsibility for it. At my previous company (ie the one I just left in order to be fully remote LOL), this was actually the announced policy. But then the company pulled all the first-line managers aside and told them- verbally, of course - that we were NOT empowered to allow staff to work remotely except for exceptional conditions. So as first-line managers we could be as "flexible" as we wanted, as long as our teams were in the office 5 days a week....
Another angle on remote work you may want to consider is how the absence of collective bargaining makes this nonsense possible. My prior employer was a large multinational company, and the "flexible-but-not-really" guidance to return to the office ONLY applied to US-based employees. Employees in Europe were empowered to remain at home if they wished. Why is that? Well, it may be because the workforce in other countries (especially Europe) is generally unionized, and they expected that the push back they'd receive there wouldn't be worth it. But here in the US, the "at will" employee concept gives employers a lot more freedom to do what they want.
"Instead of having an organizational responsibility, they’re shifting it to individual managers who can then entirely run the lives of those under them."
That's how my old large State university employer played the shell game. A bit commitment to work life balance and flexible arrangements, subject to departmental approval. Meaning your immediate department can just say "naw" and boom you're done talking about THAT now. My response to that was to say okay and leave so I could go work for a 100% remote operation, which they had the nerve to seem surprised by. One coworker had little enough filter that she said outright "I don't see any way that's actually going to work," which at least was honest about it being a lack of personal understanding. Turned out it would work just fine for seven years. All it took was an organization that focused on actually hitting our targets and doing the work rather than being able to see a face at a desk certain hours a day.
Regarding the "no corporate-wide policy, leave it to the managers" bit - this is also a sleazy way for companies to shitcan remote work without taking overt responsibility for it. At my previous company (ie the one I just left in order to be fully remote LOL), this was actually the announced policy. But then the company pulled all the first-line managers aside and told them- verbally, of course - that we were NOT empowered to allow staff to work remotely except for exceptional conditions. So as first-line managers we could be as "flexible" as we wanted, as long as our teams were in the office 5 days a week....
Another angle on remote work you may want to consider is how the absence of collective bargaining makes this nonsense possible. My prior employer was a large multinational company, and the "flexible-but-not-really" guidance to return to the office ONLY applied to US-based employees. Employees in Europe were empowered to remain at home if they wished. Why is that? Well, it may be because the workforce in other countries (especially Europe) is generally unionized, and they expected that the push back they'd receive there wouldn't be worth it. But here in the US, the "at will" employee concept gives employers a lot more freedom to do what they want.
"Instead of having an organizational responsibility, they’re shifting it to individual managers who can then entirely run the lives of those under them."
That's how my old large State university employer played the shell game. A bit commitment to work life balance and flexible arrangements, subject to departmental approval. Meaning your immediate department can just say "naw" and boom you're done talking about THAT now. My response to that was to say okay and leave so I could go work for a 100% remote operation, which they had the nerve to seem surprised by. One coworker had little enough filter that she said outright "I don't see any way that's actually going to work," which at least was honest about it being a lack of personal understanding. Turned out it would work just fine for seven years. All it took was an organization that focused on actually hitting our targets and doing the work rather than being able to see a face at a desk certain hours a day.