I am a high-performing, respected, sought-after senior contributor on a 25-person team at a global technology company. Since Covid, we have all been successfully working remotely. Recently, the company implemented a “hybrid work” policy, which for me means I have to go to the office three times a week. Because our team and those we work closely with are spread out around the world, it means we often travel to the office to sit in on virtual calls. Our team also has 12 contract employees who are not required to be in the office due to the terms of their contracts and desk availability. Additionally, our team director, Scott, is considered a teleworker and is a grandfather, so the office policy does not apply to him. Another is a non-contract employee who does not live near any office and is also a grandfather.
I’m giving you all this context to ask for advice on how to advocate for Molly, a high-performing co-worker, who has been given an ultimatum: to move closer to an office (with no moving assistance) or she will be “fired out of the company” within the next few months. Molly started at the company as an intern and performed so well that she was hired full-time. She has been with us for almost five years now and has been completely remote the entire time. She is one of the top performers in our team and my star pupil and hopefully she will follow in my footsteps. This is important to note because my skills and knowledge make me somewhat of a “unicorn”, and my boss is always trying to find people who have similar skills.
Molly and I share a manager, Claudia, whom we both trust and respect. When this hybrid work policy was implemented in late 2025, Claudia followed all the right paths in HR to request a waiver to re-designate Molly as a teleworker based on her performance and value to the team and the company, but it was denied. Claudia is very upset by this, and I believe the decision was out of her hands and HR has drawn a hard line around this new policy. Claudia’s boss and our team director, Scott, also supported this waiver for Molly, and said he did everything he could to advocate for her. I believe both of them when they say they did everything they could.
Aside from Molly’s stellar performance, I’m angry that this hybrid work policy is already being implemented incredibly incorrectly (see reference above), that this decision will affect the morale of the entire team, and that her loss will mean I’ll potentially have to pick up the slack. (I already do a lot of work beyond my core responsibilities, and I’ve made it clear with both bosses that I better have work limits in 2026 for my mental health.) It hasn’t been made clear whether we’ll be able to fulfill Molly’s role.
As her senior coworker, what, if anything, can I do to advocate for her to stay? It’s really a simple HR question: Redesignate a top-performer as a teleworker. As of now, most of the team is largely unaware of Molly’s condition. But I was wondering, is there power in numbers? Assuming I’ve found Molly, can I run a campaign to the rest of the team and ask them to “sign” or show their support for Molly in some way, and then share this proof with the chain of command and HR? I have a good amount of influence on the team and am willing to burn some professional capital in this campaign to be fair in retaining my star mentee. I know it’s a Hail Mary at this point, so I would appreciate any guidance!
