Its week 3 of RTO and I have mostly been ambivalent towards it. On surface I don’t mind the idea of being at work a couple of times at work, but each time I’ve been here its been impossible fore me to stay more than a couple of hours before heading home because it just seems…. so… banal. One of the pre-pandemic things we used to have was assigned desks cubes; I so wish we had them again. Having your own space at work gives you a sense of belonging. I could store my work related chargers and cables right here, along with energy bars and snacks that I got from home - the convenience it provided was great, along with the sense of homeliness that every time I came to the building I did not have to go hunting for an ideal spot to sit in the “agile” workplace. The 6 times I’ve been here I have sat in 6 different locations because a) why not and b) the desks that I sat last time have been taken already. If companies are serious about RTO, they need to start creating environments where employees want to feel like coming back without feeling like they are visiting a neighborhood park every day and go hunting for a brand new bench. People like familiarity, and people like seeing the same folks in their general area day in and out - thats how you spark conversations between random people and ideas flow. Companies (mine def should) consider going back to assigned seating to bring back that sense of togetherness. Otherwise I am just going to hotspot few hours a day each week & head back, and treat this exactly like what every one of us doing right now - a checklist item that needs checked off each at work, nothing more.