UCSF HR - Same Job, Different Expectations: UCSF HR’s RTO Approach Is Eroding Trust
Working at UCSF HR has gone from something that once felt meaningful and energizing to something many people now dread, and a lot of it comes down to inconsistent leadership and inequitable expectations. The return-to-office rollout especially exposed how disconnected leadership is from the day-to-day reality of the work. People with the same jobs and responsibilities are being held to completely different standards — some employees are expected onsite most of the week and are being told they will be performance managed if they do not comply, while others have exceptions or remain largely remote. It has created a culture that feels unfair, inconsistent, and increasingly toxic.
What makes it more frustrating is that many employees who are onsite spend most of the day alone on Zoom calls anyway, so it’s hard to understand what problem is actually being solved. At the same time, HR functions at UCSF feel fragmented and poorly coordinated, with strained relationships between teams and very little accountability when issues are escalated. Employees continue raising concerns about workload, operations, and morale, but there’s a growing feeling that leadership either does not understand the impact or chooses not to address it. The result is declining morale, disengagement, lower productivity, and people who once cared deeply about the organization now questioning whether they want to stay.