Forced return to office - anyone else?

[Flexipecs]

My work has announced we’re all being forced back into the office two days a week. I’m a sole parent of primary school aged children (no help from ex). If I’m forced to go into the office I’ll have to reduce my working hours and I’ll be financially worse off.

I’m going to contact my union but has anyone else had this problem and did you successfully challenge it?

There’s zero benefit to me being in the office. My stats and performance are high. I actually think I’m more productive at home because I’m not being distracted so often. I’ve worked for the company for a very long time and I’m really disappointed at this decision (to put it mildly).

Did they officially change your contracts to WFH or was it always a temp arrangement?

What does it say in your contract regarding location of work?

Zero benefit to you but not to the buisness.

So you're going back to what you did for years pre-pandemic yes?

This seems to be coming more common
Can you put in a flexible working request
To be fair we brought staff back in 2 years ago
Everyone thought they were more efficient WFH but the stats didn’t bear that out

So only 2 days out of 5?

Maybe try to negotiate for 1 day or shorter hours on the office days to meet childcare requirements.

My work has mandated 3 days in office and everyone mostly complies. A few had to organise before/after school care so had to wait for a while beyond the “deadline” which was ok by their managers.

If you've worked for them for a very long time... presumably there was a point when you were in the office at least 2 days a week?

Formal flexible working request, to work entirely remotely; they need a reason to decline it (not just "because it's what we want", but "there is a clear business reason to say no"). Include what you've said about improved productivity, and address why it won't damage collaboration/teamworking.

But I think a lot of people have lost sight of the fact that it's not long ago where 4 days a week in the office was the norm; it's not an outrageous request to say, you're on an office-based contract so we want you in the office...

How long have you been working from home and was your contract changed?

Sometimes, individual do work better alone but the whole team doesn’t.

This!

OP what did you do before WFH/covid etc for childcare? I don't understand why people get so angry about being asked to work from an office when that was always the original job 🤦🏼‍♀️

That’s awful make sure you got the union rep on hand and then be assertive to your ex so he can look after the kid if he’s not busy while you spend Tomorrow on the phone to your Manager and fully explain with the messy details how hard it is to look after kids today and they take more care because if x and y conditions and it keeps you up at night.

What would you have done if COVID hadn't happened, your child was presumably born pre 2020, do you not have a plan then?

Could you do shorter hours on your days in the office and make the time up else where?

We've been back in 2 days (minimum, some people do more) since early 2022. Our contracts weren't changed, and although we're now hybrid working, we're all very aware that could change if business need dictates.

Unfortunately, unless you can put in a formal request for flexible working, if your contract states your primary work location is your office, you'll have to go in, and make the relevant childcare arrangements.

Most companies have returned to hybrid working. Unless you mad a formal agreement or request to wfh fulltime they can ask you to do so. You may need to look for wrap around childcare, such as a chislminder. How are you coping at the moment, interrupting your working day to do schools runs perhaps? Is it really most efficient for your employer to have everyone working remotely?

Are you allowed to be doing child care in working hours? Or is it because it's less travel time? I think it will come down to what your contract says.

Doesn’t matter about what she did before COVID. The world has changed lots since then - ie, cost of living crisis wasn’t as much of a thing

It's amazing how many people think there's no benefit to being in the office yet productivity increased dramatically in many workplaces when people went back, partly because they were actually working their contracted hours. If you have primary aged kids they you should have child care in place any way, that's a standard requirement for most wfh contracts.

What did you do before covid.

Dp has had no end of issues with wfh employees, he brought them all back in bar the remote permanent overseas staff 2 years ago

@dodeca

You obviously do t remember previous Cody of living crisis eg when interest rates hit 25%

I’m not sure about how my contract is worded. I’ll have to check that. I used to work less hours before lockdown. I increased them because I wasn’t having to travel for work and the school is very close to where we live.

My ex will not become more involved because I demand he does. You can’t force someone to be a good parent.

There’s no benefit to the business for me to be back in the office. None. I have a good relationship with my team, we’re regularly in contact and there hasn’t been one issue in the last three years that required any of us to be in the office.

There’s no benefit to the business for me to be back in the office

That's not really true. On an individual level, you personally maybe fine working from home, but not on a buisness level. New starters are much harder to integrate if everyone is at home- especially those new to the workforce. Easier if everyone has to come in for part of the week.

Well a) her contract prob hasn't changed, and b) pre-covid we worked 5 days in the office - OP is being asked to do just 2. Which reflects the fact that the world has moved on and hybrid working works.

Unfortunately so many employers have discovered that a minority of employees were taking the piss while WFH. This is an inevitable change. But responsibility sits with those who took advantage of the trust really.

There were threads on here even of people bragging about all the things they did while ostensibly working from home

Whenever this comes up people always bang on about "what did you go before covid?" I've had both my DC since 2020, so can't answer this for myself but can only assume that what people did before covid was run themselves into the ground with the stress of juggling it all - why go back to that when we've proven things can be different? As a society can we please just start to embrace flexibility as default (where possible). Its absolutely key for working mothers as far I can see, why put blockers in place to continue to make things harder for mums when they are literally unnecessary. Grinds my gears no end. Move with the f*ckin times.

Everything’s more expensive and my ex reduced his working hours so he’s paying me less maintenance than he was before. I really don’t want to have to reduce my hours but I think it’s going to boil down to that.

And I don’t have anyone else who can help with the children. You can bet the people who make these decisions don’t have any carer responsibilities that they can’t afford to pay someone else to cover.

I have seen substantial benefits from having people back 2 days a week. Better team working , easier to train and supervise. Easier to keep an eye on everyone's wellbeing. Interestingly the ones who were reluctant to come back were the ones we had productivity concerns about. ..