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

Plenty of people take the piss while supposedly working in the office!

Also Amazon sell thousands of mouse jigglers a month that are marketed as undetectable to IT departments. Why do you think that is buffy

I have one because sometimes I need to use a system that can take 20 mins to log onto and logs me out if I'm inactive for more than 60 seconds.

I could just not bother and charge my client for all the wasted time for getting in and out of their terrible system but it's soul destroying so I use a mouse jiggler.

I am a vet. I have been fully home based for over a decade. I elected to leave clinical practice for flexibility around my life and family, with the added bonus of being paid a lot better. If you don't like what you do, change it.

I also work for an organization that treats me like an adult. Christmas Eve is a half day for everyone. They don't care if I work from home or from a family member's home on any day of the year. I am similarly accommodating with all my team. I don't care where they are day to day as it is clear when people are not delivering on objectives.

I had a job years ago where five of us were made come in on Xmas eve, and the director came in too. He left at 11 - waving and smiling at us all to have a happy Christmas! We all had to sit there until 5 - with no work to do! - but obviously couldn’t clock out.

All five staff members had left/moved on by June, they had to hire and train a whole new team. Flexibility pays, if I had even been let off at 3pm on Xmas eve (or just been allowed work from home so I didn’t have to commute) I would have accepted it and been happy with that.

Fair point.

The standard of people working everywhere is variable.

Yes so much skiving. That must be why I get a bonus and pay rise and glowing appraisal every year, despite WFH most of the time and just going in for the odd meeting.

Also Amazon sell thousands of mouse jigglers a month that are marketed as undetectable to IT departments. Why do you think that is buffy

I don't know about Buffy but people have them because Teams has changed to mark you as absent from your desk after about 2 minutes and you can't change it. Enough to go for a quick wee perhaps but nothing more. I've been talking to a colleague in the office (about work) with both of us sat at our desks next to each other, and it's gone amber. It's f-ing ridiculous. So you get a mouse jiggler so you can actually make a cup of coffee or go to the loo or talk to someone on the phone without it making it look like you are not there.

@Hateam mouse jugglers don't work in my job

I'm just pointing it out because I'm fed up of people saying that call centre staff are skiving. You can't. Not without getting sacked

I start work by logging on. If I'm not logged on by my start timeI have to explain why
When I log on, calls come through automatically, you can't stop them and you don't choose to answer them
When I finish a call, it gives me another one (depending on how many calls are waiting or not)
My manager can listen live or to the recordings after

If I need the toilet I press a button which makes me unavailable, that time is monitored as a total over the week
I have to go for my lunch as scheduled or it affects my adherence which is also monitored
If I go over my lunch time I have to explain why
If the doorbell goes I ignore it as I can't step away to answer it because a call would come through and I would miss it (which is tracked)

Every day there are statistics sent out
This shows how many calls I answered, how long I was unavailable (toilet/drink time), my adherence, everything compared to everyone else

There is also a screen which my manager monitors which shows if I'm available or on a call or in the toilet or doing emails or coaching someone

Thank you for the information.

However I do still believe that in general the standard of service offered by people working from home is variable.

@ilovesooty that's because everyone else is ringing
Call centres are one of the most monitored jobs out there, you can't go to the toilet without people knowing let alone skive off

If it's one with long opening hours, ring during coronation street/big event on TV
Friday afternoons are often mega busy too and Mondays are the busiest

I've given up phoning call centres during school run times now. There's no way you get any service.

Of course there are people who work diligently from home but there are also people who take the piss.

We don't know enough about the OP's work to know whether logging in at her parents ' house would be something her employer could approve. I do think though that if her management has seen fit to mandate office attendance on Christmas Eve they should be there themselves.

Ah but you nurses have it easy, try being an oil rig worker who doesn't get to go home at night.

See how ridiculous you're being here? It's neither a like for like comparison, nor a race to the bottom.

Presumably the OP will drive over the weekend & wfh Monday & Tuesday in Cornwall.

Couple of things

The service I have received from many places has been worse since Covid.

Also Amazon sell thousands of mouse jigglers a month that are marketed as undetectable to IT departments. Why do you think that is buffy?

I suppose we don’t know how many people are off

We do allow some flex with our normal numbers allowed holiday on Christmas Eve and everywhere I’ve worked has been the same but there may still be too many people off if they need a skeleton staff

Exactly. There's a difference between being at work because people are needed at work and being at work because a manager just enjoys being powerful and setting rules.

Yeah, but they’re not a nurse they work in an office. If you’re salty about being a nurse, get a job in an office.

Try being a nurse.

If that's the rule for your office then that's the rule although disgusting for your boss to WFH. I would never make my team come in and wfh myself.

I always enjoy going into the office on xmas eve, as its always a fun atmosphere. We have xmas music on, we all bring in snacks, we decorate and generally have a good time whilst working.

We do tend to be busy as customers want to make reports before we close for the holidays (we only keep an emergency service on) but even so we finish around 1pm-2pm.

That said, since wfh started with covid we no longer expect staff to be in the office and are happy to wfh.

There are many reason why the OP manager is not happy for her to WFH on Xmas eve

the H&S side of things. We have to have H&s assessments to work from home which assesses our home office environment - if she has made it known she will be working from elsewhere her work will not want to be held liable if she gets a bad back from hunching over her mums dining room table

confidentiality - it is less likely at some one elses house that OP will be able to ensure no-one in a busy christmas household will be able to see confidential info on her screen. Will she guarantee she locks her screen every time she steps away

It may be that a certain number of people need to be in the office and if everyone else is off then they need OP to be in

There may be a high volume of work that day that does need completing eg banking transactions or whatever. WFH may not facilitate that

You've assumed I was referring to me when I was making a general observation on work 'ethic'

I was simply giving a reason why an employer may prefer employees in the office so close to Xmas, not sure why you're so defensive. 😬

I wasn't specifically referring to OP, just a general comment regarding WFM so close to Xmas day.

Nothing in the OP suggest she isn't attempting to work. It simply means she could travel outside of work hours and then log on and do the job which can be done fully remotely Christmas eve. Where did you get that OP isn't even going to 'attempt' to do work?