Work announced a move from 2 days to 4 days

Flexible working is now a day 1 right I think so I would hop on it immediately. Go with the fact that you recently accepted the role thinking it was 2 days in office and worked your caring responsibilities around that with your husband.

I would leave the dog and the cost out of it.

They can say no. In which case I would probably look for another job.

My work are doing this actually. It's changing from "come in when you want" to "be in 2 days" I've refused given the distance I live from the office and the fact I have a toddler and pre school closes at 4 so my office days would be very short (2hrs to get in, 2 hours to get home!)

I didn't do a request though just told my boss it's not possible for me and he just said that's fine... but I'm like a solo department so don't do massive amounts of collaboration.

Good luck OP. It's really frustrating when you expect a job to be X and it suddenly changes to Y. Especially when you have young ones and both work etc....

Hi if the 2 days hybrid is laid out in the offer email and you accepted on that basis, they need to give you reasonable grounds as to why there is a change. You are within your contractual rights to point out you can't accept the job going forward if the days in change due to childcare and you wouldn't have accepted the role in the first place. I feel it would be hard for them not to reconsider your case as it could leave them open to a tribunal. Ask for a meeting with your manager in the first instance and explain the above(not the tribunal bit) see how they respond. If you need free advice/ help try the ACAS website, they also have a phone line, very helpful.

The point is OP accepted the job on the basis of the company's assurance that she was only required to be in the office two days a week, and now that position has changed. It's completely irrelevant to OP that other people have jobs that don't allow for WFH. If you're one of those people and you're jealous, start applying for WFH jobs.

Exactly-having children/where you live is also a choice! And most people get some free childcare-not the case with a dog. If you only accepted the job because you were told it would fit in with your lifestyle (whether that's dogs/children/elderly parents etc.) and then they've changed the conditions, I can understand why you're annoyed. Maybe ask your union/a lawyer/employment experts. Lots of younger employees, who have always worked from home, will leave any company that's trying to act like it's the 20th century. For my job, I can't wfh at all, but my first job was an office job-and as far as I know, they all wfh at the time now.

Then escalate it. Poor performance will occur in any setting at times and if it’s affecting your performance (ie you can’t complete tasks on time) then it will affect you. Don’t let it slide.

People either care about their job or they don’t, doesn’t matter where you sit them. Whether the people you describe ‘should’ have been working from home or not isn’t immediately obvious from the fact of them doing something else. Not every wfh job requires you to be sat at your desk 9-5 and plenty of people wfh work well beyond their hours precisely because they are set up to home.

‘Everyone is taking the piss’ smacks of sour grapes and isn’t borne out by the evidence which shows hybrid working is generally better for productivity and staff retention.

The company (and a lot of companies like them), make this 2-day-a-week offer just to bait new hires, knowing full well they intend on pressuring staff or insisting that they come in. I wouldn't be concerned about 'abusing' the system, when companies like them think nothing of lying to their staff, subjecting them to stress and worry like, once they know they now have them in their pocket.

Good luck. I see why you are peeved.

@Wendarl AMEN 🙏

Look at what’s in your contract. Also I’d probably request a meeting with HR or your manager or both and say pretty much what you’ve written here - that you accepted this role on two days a week presence and that it’s no longer attractive to you if they insist on four. I’d make sure I was ace at my job and I’d say you keep it at 2 days for me, or I’m off.
And I’d start looking for a new job! When they realise the reality they might change their minds. I despise presenteeism. It’s a complete lack of trust in your work force and infantilises people. Especially in this scenario. Vote with your feet-this demand on their staff will cost them more than they gain from these stupid strategies to exert maximum control over people.

It's currently fairly easy for employers to change terms based on 'business need' although set to become a lot harder. So many employers will be putting changes through now, if they can.

Sham/ speedy consultation period
Terminate and re engage
Job done

This. In my current role, I'm 100% in the office (but it's walking distance,) and there are definitely those who take the piss and just disappear for ages. It's really annoying when I actually need to talk to them about something.

I’m pretty sure that your offer email protects you as under contract law, they made you an offer and you accepted it. However practically this is of little use, you’re presumably not thinking of hiring a solicitor.

I would go with the request for temp flexibility as someone else has suggested, and I would be informally letting my manager know I’m looking elsewhere. I would say this is because you had been offered two days when you joined and that the commute plus parking costs no longer made the salary competitive.

if they want to keep you, they can then offer to extend your ‘temporary arrangement’. They save face and you won’t set a precedent.

I agree 100%. During Lockdown when everyone was "wfh" people bought dogs thinking their lives would be forever like this. Now employers are wising up to people taking the Mick and want them back at work, rather than doing the school run/ walking the dog/ pegging out the washing etc etc
It was never going to be this good forever. Many people I know are now being asked to come back to work in the office.

All of this! 👏

Urgh OP. I feel your pain. This would irk me too and they should have made it clear the hybrid arrangement could be withdrawn. Was the job itself advertised as two days a week hybrid or just hybrid?

Sorry not sure why this quoted pp.

I went to work today noone in my team or part of business in so spoke to noone, I took a desk and parking space someone else could have used, was in less time than I would have been wfh as had to leave earlier to do school run (reduced hours today) and due to sensitive nature of role spent loads of time running round trying to find somewhere to have calls discreetly as no meeting rooms were available.
This return to work for the sake of it is madness

Though fully expect any flex working request to be denied op they've told you their expectation so they'll find a way from the statutory reasons to refuse it.

Or how busy the roads/buses/trains are

Exactly. I’ve moved to hybrid recently, 2 days in the office and if they tried to change it I’d just leave and go back to my old wfh who are forever short staffed and recruiting

What is their justification for this change OP? And for those who say that isn’t relevant, it is. There’s also a risk of indirect sex discrimination in policies that require more office attendance, unless there is a good justification, as it’s something more likely to disadvantage women as principal carers of children

Do you get on with your manager, and is there a feeling within the office that people dont want to do this? The reason I ask is because in my last job, the big bosses at HQ in another country tried the whole "mandated return to the office". What actually happened is that everybody nodded, and then quietly did their own thing. The people who liked being in the office went in and the rest of us continued to WFH unless there was a genuine need to come in, or the big bosses needed us. Might be worth a quiet chat to get the lie of the land and whether an informal arrangement is possible before making official movements and getting HR involved. Who also continued to WFH at my company

i don’t know when people become so hellbent on sticking up for corporate in these scenarios.

“If they think it’s best for the business”… who is “they”.. usually a CEO and board made up of a very limited demographic and life experience. Sure I agree they will do “what’s best for the business” but why do we always assume business leaders do what is best.. they do what is best for them. Uk productivity has been diabolical for years, because we pay poorly, treat employees like shit and have no social infrastructure to support working families (childcare, travel costs most expensive in Europe). All those on the back to the office bandwagon, who are you fighting for and why?

OP if you have any power to leave and find a job that suits your lifestyle then please do it. Wield what limited power you have to live the life that helps you and your family to find a bit of peace and ease in this world that prioritises “what’s best for business” above pretty much everything else

Meet them in the middle with 3 days?

Is it worth just approaching them to see if anything can be done in your circumstances. As for what was advertised i don't think that matters as my workplace have a job advertised for up to full time and competition rate of pay. They be lucky to get 16hrs and it's minimum pay. All about your contract and if they willing to help

It's fucking shit. These employers have their heads up their arses.

Just here for solidarity. I am a mum too and was told the other day I need to be in the office 5 days a week and can potentially work from home on " exceptional basis only "
Don't have any advice yet as I'm still processing the news