To think you shouldn't have to work in the office on Christmas Eve?

Tricky to answer if we don't know what you do for a job

But it is usually needs of the business

If you wanted to see family book the day off in advance

And I very much doubt all managers own country houses that they swan off to every weekend ... Perhaps a caravan in Wales but you are stretching

It might be because the WFH policy changed in the meantime. I would book leave because I'd struggle to work from my mum's house (though she does have a summer house I could potentially use :) ) but it would be much easier for me to simply take the day off.

But if peoples' relatives have larger houses where they can get the requisite peace and quiet, and a decent internet connection, I can't see the issue. There might even be co-working spaces open on Christmas Eve, too, at least for the morning.

I agree, if he wants you to do this, he needs to lead by example.

Where I work, which is public sector, people don’t piss take wfh (contrary to Daily Mail headlines) but managers don’t ask lower grade staff to do anything they won’t do themselves. No way would higher grade people be doing “long weekends away” (we can’t afford second homes in the country anyway!) and expecting other staff to be in the office every day.

It often seems to be to be pure delight in making people’s lives harder!

I can see why managers might want to make sure people are working on those days if they aren’t on A/L but that doesn’t need to be in the office.

That sucks for you but why would your very specific set up have any bearing on where I or OP work?

I see it all the time on these WFH threads, people with tunnel visioned and can't grasp that there are different roles with different requirements.

Maybe the OP could work from her parents house just like I could, and is a little peeved that her boss is on a power trip.

Yes. Most jobs cannot be worked from a random train, hotel or spare room, even if they are WFH jobs. I WFH and can’t work from any of those places. I have to work from a designated place on a designated PC with multiple screens and complete silence all around me.

It's not a right to WFH. As you've left it too late to book leave, you'll just have to suck it up.

How are you going to get to Cornwall and do a full day WFH on Christmas Eve?

And this is a good example of people who don't WFH completely misunderstanding.
Does it really matter to you whether I work on a train, from a spare room at my parents' house or a hotel?

People don't seem to read the thread!
OP if the managers are allowing themselves the flexibility then it is unreasonable to insist that you work in the office if your job can be done remotely. If there is a reason, like the office needs to be at least minimally staffed by someone, then it's the luck of the draw and maybe next year you won't have to.
The fact your family lives so far away is annoying, but not their problem.
My son is the only one in his work place whose family lives a ferry and train away. They are still not giving him more than Xmas Day and Boxing Day off (retail). It means he will only be home for 36 hours and a three hour trip each way. He accepts it. Next year he hopes to go abroad (where the rest of my family lives) so he thinks he works this year and gets next one off.

I don’t see it as a right that people should not have to work in an office on Christmas Eve. In all my previous jobs it has always been expected of you unless you have booked leave or are ill. You could have booked holiday a long time ago if having the day off was so important to you. Other people managed it!

Why did you not book it off as annual leave if it was important to you?

travel down night before and work from parents

I doubt call center workers can skivE

They are not the only job where people WFH.

I don’t really understand this country’s obsession with working to the absolute bone.

That used to be the case. I would argue that now the opposite is true. Many people want to work the bare minimum, wfh and whinge about having to earn a living, citing every possible reason why they should not have to.

(Am not including me or my NHS inpatient colleagues in that!)

Have you ever considered not being awful, or am I naive to ask?

Indeed.

It's not a holiday. If you haven't taken the day off then if course you need to be there.

You have no way of knowing what the people who have a different viewpoint to you do in terms of their employment.

And it's also sensible management, if you know you're in the sort of field where people are going to end up not doing much on Christmas Eve, not to pay for that. It makes more sense for you to let them take it as leave, instead of otherwise taking a day where they'd get much more done.

A lot of us office monkeys probably have stories of having to work days over the Christmas and interim period where we clearly did so little that our presence was a net loss. I had to work the 28th once, because of a boss who was a tit, and there was absolutely fuck all needed doing. So I didn't.

It's a normal working day, I'm working too. The fact you didn't put an annual leave request in early enough isn't your employer's problem

Lol! Agreed.

When I was running a business, I found that goodwill made the world go around.

I didn't want the angst of going in on snow days, I didn't want staff shivering and whining about the heat and I didn't want to work Christmas eve any more than they did. I ran the company like I'd like to work there.

Once I started running the company that way, people stopped leaving! Productivity was brilliant. Profits went up.

I bet most of them don’t even work!

It never ceases to amaze me how half of the posters on mumsnet turn into Victorian workhouse owners on every employment thread.

😆

Who are these people who are so insistent on following the rules to the bloody letter. I know that when I'm older looking back I will remember the christmases spent with my family more than the dutiful logging in and working my exact hours on Xmas Eve.

I work from home and over Christmas there is less work to do so I absolutely make the most of it and enjoy a more leisurely pace.
Equally at our busiest times I make myself available outside of normal working hours and travel to customers in my own time.

It has to go both ways.

Jesus, the micromanaging! Nightmare! How infantilising. Giving me flashbacks to my callcenter days 😭

So you’re saying you’d work on the train rather than from home? Seems reasonable tbh. Sounds like your company could allow it, just won’t, and that’s the kicker.

If you’re saying you’d work from home and then travel, then you can work from the office and then travel, surely? Or you’d travel down at the weekend and work from Cornwall? Fair enough.

Thinking of my friends and family, everyone is off Xmas Eve to new year. It’s not unusual. Nor is working over Christmas, but it obviously depends on what job you’ve chosen.