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

My 'non-essential' office was open every day of the year, from about 0600 to midnight. There used to be overnight staff on too until we 'handed over' the operation to the Hong Kong office who took the night shift.
Everyone worked shifts except quite senior managers (newsroom.)
In fact there was a lot of competition to sign up for Christmas Day working, you got three days extra pay for it plus a day off in lieu. So older people, singletons, and Christmas-phobes all jostled for it.
For Boxing and New Year's day you got an extra day's pay (in effect double time) plus a day in lieu.

Why would she not be working?

And yes that kind of assumption without evidence does make him a twat

I think the work ethic of a lot of posters is clouding their responses. They would use WFH as an excuse to skive off and just assume everyone is like them. I have WFH since Covid and me and my team who also do are all extremely productive (and yes I do see everyone’s stats in order to be able to ascertain this)

It's really bad luck about your Christmas break but if your contract says you work Christmas Eve then you have to, unless annual leave has been approved. If it's the sort of job where cover is needed on that day, it's not unreasonable. You could ask someone to swap with you. Or if you got a later train for most of the distance, could a relative pick you up in the car for the last bit?

Total Grinch behaviour. Ask if you can travel after work on 23rd and work remotely from your relatives on Christmas Eve so that there will still be an online and phone presence.

Maybe he thinks that someone traveling to the family home for Christmas Eve will be spending Christmas Eve with the family, instead of doing the work they're being paid for?

That doesn't make him an arsehole or a twat.

It'd be different if the company had a policy of letting people go at 12 or letting everyone WFH, but based on what the OP has said, some staff have used a day's annual leave to have Christmas Eve off.

It's hardly fair on those people that everyone else is allowed to "WFH" (wink wink), just because they want to.

Surely it's impossible to know if the boss is being grinchy without knowing the industry?
I've worked in a lot of public sector and third sector offices, and they were genuinely busy on Christmas eve- though only because they were skeleton staffed due to allowing more than the usual number of people to book leave. And the work with the public doesn't really stop!
The managers would often start letting people go in the afternoon although they weren't really supposed to. It is important for managers to lead by example though.
I'm sorry though, if you've got a six hour public transport journey to do for Christmas its a bit daft not to actually book it off in advance and just assume you can work elsewhere. It's not unusual even for workplaces that allow WFH to be stricter with 'either you're on leave, or you're in work ' over Christmas, because of the issues of childcare/guests impacting on work done, confidentiality and availability for meetings (not sure if it's everywhere but round us there are very few options for childcare during Xmas hols)

(If you haven’t already told anyone your plans…) I have a terrible premonition that you’re going to have flu Christmas 🎄 week 😷

It depends. Why do they say you have to be in the office? Is there the possibility of in-person callers who need an in-person service? Or does the office have to be open for mail, stock or supplies to be delivered?

If there’s no reason for you to be in the office, because all your job description requirements can be met working remotely, IMHO, it’s unreasonable for them to say you must work in the office, especially if they know your family lives hours away.

I’d talk to them again to discuss the reasoning.

I read all the posts thanks. Her boss wants her in the office and as she’s provided no context other than she used to work at home, how are we to know if this is reasonable?

No sympathy for the manager here. He's an arsehole who is being a twat about allowing the OP to WFH to allow her to travel outside working hours to be with her parents for Christmas. His insistence that the OP be in the office on Christmas Eve seems pointless and grinchy. He's not a decent manager if he won't even allow his staff to have some flexibility and he will lose any goodwill if this is how he treats people. Regardless of how hard the manager has worked to have a second home, he obviously doesn't have any decency or any good people management skills.

Drive over the evening after work on the 23rd and wf cornwall in the day at her parents house surely - or wf her parents 23rd and 24th so she can go over on the weekend.

Nah, fuck that

That's a perfect day to work from your parents home and it's really fucking shitty and unnecessarily power hungry for him to insist on this when you're not client facing

I would say 'I'm working from home the full day on Christmas Eve'. The worst thing that could happen is you get sacked if within the two years?

Or a verbal warning?

Just say you can't because you're driving down to Cornwall at the weekend. Christmas day being in the week. Are you working the day after boxing day?

What do you do in the office? Are their any meetings booked etc? Why does he want you there?

Use the holidays to polish your cv and look for another job. Check your contract though.

Manager lost your sympathy because they've worked hard enough to become a second home owner?

Company owners hire directors to do things they don't do. Directors hire managers to do things they don't do. Managers hire staff to do things they don't do. That's how businesses are run.

I'm forever amazed by people who see the fruits of success as some kind of negative.

Presumably he once did cover these less favourable work
Shifts in the run up to Christmas. If the OP doesnt like the Xmas arrangements then find another Job. If you are a more junior member of staff and view your senior leaders enjoying the fruits of their labour then, in time, you shall have the same but only once you have earned that privilege.

Read OPs posts!

Edit: its actually in the opening post itself

Book it as annual leave? Unless of course you have minimum staffing requirements.

Managers like this are so short sighted. They will get much more back by being flexible and mindful towards their staff. What does it matter to him if you work from home that day? Call in sick and look for a new job. He doesn't deserve any better, he's a twat.

If Xmas Eve was a working day, I have always worked it. Most of my bosses used to let us go early (since they were as keen to get down the pub as we were).

It’s a normal working day, and you employer can stipulate where you work on that day (unless you are a contractual home worker). At least you know the score for next year now and can get next years Christmas Eve booked off early

30 years ago I can remember the whole office where I worked being told in no uncertain terms that we were expected to work hard all day on Christmas Eve and no one was to leave early. I was due to travel to my parents (at least three hours journey) and had no intention of bumping off early, but the horrible tone of this communication really got my goat. If the manager who barked all this at us as if were criminals had spoken pleasantly I’m sure I would not have minded so much, but as it was I sat at my desk all afternoon, doing absolutely nothing.

The thing is, people tend not to work that much in the office, either. I once worked somewhere that was officially open only on the morning of Christmas Eve, but if you want to take that time off it counted as a full day for holiday purposes, so most people came in rather begrudgingly. We were quite dependent on being able to contact other offices by phone, and they were practically all closed. There was little point in emailing or sending letters because no-one was going to see them till after New Year. So there really was very little point in us being there, and most people at most did a bit of desultory filing and tidying up in between surreptitious Christmas present wrapping, chatting, eating mince pies and general messing around before a mass exit on the dot of 1 pm. It must have cost the firm more to be open than any money it made for work on that day.

This....will the miserable git even bother to check where you are working if he will be wfh that day. If he finds out and throws a strop at you after Christmas, is there a HR department or another senior manager you can go over his head to complain to. Start looking for another job as well...

OP would still be working though, I'm not sure if some are on the wind up on this thread or just can't read properly.

Most places yes, it’s always been in every office Iv worked in but the OP manager sounds like a twat so he will probably make them work in the office til 5pm while he’s at home.