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).

It is for every working parent! I've been a single parent since my 3 DC were very small and always worked f/t. I've no family support & it's very hard - I get it.

Nonetheless, it's perfectly reasonable for an employer to request their employees attend in the office and they are not required to take into account childcare issues. Additionally if childcare is needed, it should be needed if working from home

I'm not sure what 'cheeky comment' you're referring to? 🤔

I'm sure the answer is no, because most would agree that where possible, people should be able to arrange their working hours in a way that best suits their needs and mental/physical health.

With respect, I don't believe this.

In some roles, eg self-employment, this may be possible. (But even then, client needs may dictate otherwise).

I work for an organisation with a strong degree of flexibility in terms of options to work a shorter year, career breaks, various forms of leave & part-time / job share opportunities.

However, this is also balanced against the organisational needs - for example a p/t staff member cannot always choose the days or work pattern, as it is subject to operational needs.

Similarly with WFH, it's provided on a business need - in my team, colleagues could express their preference for wfh days & I agreed to this where possible, taking into account numbers of staff needed on-site etc. if we have a need for staff to be on-site on a WFH day, they understand they are required to attend.

Where possible I & my organisation will provide every support to someone with a problem or family issue - but they can't unilaterally decide what suits them best because it has to meet the organisational need.

Aah, you are in the opinion that other's opinions are not serious if they don't match yours.

Not at all!

I responded to a trite college of yours that a return to the office is only to support 'far cat' local business owners. As this is demonstrably untrue - given very few shops & lunch venues are owned by 'far cats' as well as naturally not being a basis for an organisation to choose a work approach (for your 'hubby' or otherwise) I response in disbelief.

To be fair to OP, a number of my colleagues do the school run & have DC at home on their WFH days.

I do the school run sometimes too, if I'm free / no meetings but my DC know it's not a given & need to come / go to school themselves.

There's no problem if my team do the above as long as they can work effectively. If they need to care for DC, they need childcare.

Mine are old enough to look after themselves but I still find from 4 - 5 pm distracting with general noise etc happening downstairs & on my WFH days start early to take account of this.

Bear in mind that if jobs can be done 100% effectively from home, then they can also be done just as effectively by anyone else, anywhere, including overseas. Overseas, where labour is cheaper. If you see what I mean. If I was working from home (not that I've ever been able to given my occupation) and was asked to return to the office, I'd consider doing so.

@User538765 that depends on the person really. I do the school run so I'm home by 8.45am, then I'm solidly at my desk till 2.45pm, then school run, then I work till 7pm. My children run around but I have a big home so have a quieter place to work. This week I've been up at 5am to do 2hrs extra, then worked till 10pm to do more. Many have logged off by then. So how do you generalise and say I can't be productive?

I also think it depends on the children and age plus your work ethic. Mine are 6/7 and know not to disturb mum. I would love to go into the office more but this suits the children more. If I was forced, like the op, I'd find a way to go in, because full time WFH jobs are like gold dust.

Not so. A job can only be done effectively from overseas when there are people readily available with the necessary skills and experience. As a PP already suggested, there are plenty of people in the UK in a position to name their terms because they have valuable/specialist skills in an industry/role where there is a skill shortage. For the skilled worker, its an employees market (not an employers).

Unskilled roles that can 'effectively' be shipped out (on the cheap) to overseas workers already have been (years ago).

I think the workplace is going to have its hand forced soon enough because the infrastructure isn’t there anymore to accommodate people being in work.

Young ones are now waiting over 6 months just to take a driving test now so are limited by travel more than ever.

There is no longer enough childcare places too which is having a huge impact.

Due to the COL crisis, many now can’t afford the childcare if they have a place, so are dropping from the workforce, flexibility will solve this.

People have been treated like shit at work for so long all the 50-60+ people are leaving in their droves. If it was better they probably would have stayed.

Employment needs to up its game or adapt.

AI will be able to tho….

LaffTaff

Such as?

Actually @Whattodowithit88 the stats are showing that those who left during Covid are returning to the workforce now based on COL, FOMO and other factors. We all got used to not spending during that time and under-estimated our income needs.

The market has turned. It’s not the buoyant employee market it was 2 years ago.

I think realistically how you feel doesn’t matter . They want you in and you work for them. I work 5 days in the office and I’m a single parent. 2 days in office = the dream

It was always going to happen wasn’t it, the WFH was a covid measure. Your productivity may be high OP, but it can’t be the same across the board otherwise the company wouldn’t be seeking return to the office? Having had young children I don’t know how anyone can work whilst caring for them at home tbh. So your options as I see them are to arrange suitable childcare for the two office days, and be prepared that the company could ask for office days to increase in future. Ask for flexible working, but be prepared that this may be declined re contract assuming place of work is office. Or look for another job that is home based. Good luck.

It's all very well saying that people have seen benefits of having their team back in the office from a business sense but what about from an employee's perspective.

Wfh during the pandemic suddenly (magically) meant that people who had been told they couldn't wfh, could. Women with children, people with disabilities, they've all benefited from the ability to work from their home.

A woman having to cut her hours in order to go into to office for ostensibly no clear reason is not progress.

Your response seems a sensible one and I hope you can come to an understanding.

We have had a requirement for about a year. My view is that for some things such as team meetings being in person is beneficial, but I doubt more than one day a week is needed in many jobs where wfh worked in 2020 and 2021. It should be why you come to an office not how often.

If that’s your contractual place of work, they have every right to ask you to work there. I suggest doing a flexible work request to be fully remote - they have to consider it but they don’t have to approve it

Exclusive home working is terrible for junior staff trying to learn and progress. They need more senior people in the office in order to absorb experience and learn.

As a manager you want staff that are team players and have an understanding of the needs of the business as a whole. Make a fuss and no one will thank you for it. If you're great at your job and a real asset to the company, you'd be better off negotiating a pay rise to compensate for your change in circumstances.

StarchySturgess1

If they weren’t working pre Covid, they weren’t working from home during Covid.

Op you could always look for a new job with WFH in the contract. There aren’t many out there though.

People who want to WFH insist they work better, their productivity is high, output great. But I'm still noticing a huge difference post-pandemic dealing with various companies and departments, with ongoing delays and much worse customer service. Maybe the two aren't connected at all but no one's going to admit that actually WFH means they're not pulling their weight.

I feel for you.

My DH has recently been told to go back to the office 5 days, up from 3. This will impact me and our children more than the bosses in their big offices with SAHP and nannies on tap.

Good. I don't get this whole WFH thing. Not something my line of work is able to do thankfully. People WFH has made a massive negative impact on the whole economy. Other people are losing jobs so that lazy people can WFH.

In the past few weeks I've had a number of phone appointments. I've heard so much distracting back ground noise. Dogs barking, doorbell, child in background. One call she actually had the dog barking in the room and she laughed and said he doesn't like me talking to other people. I thought ffs it shouldn't be in the room then.

I agree. Before senior managers start forcing people to be in the office X days per week they should really look at why people should be there.

WFH exposed some very poor managers. The ones who didn't really know what their team members did. The ones who's only way to motivate people was to stand over them.

IME it is the poor managers who want people to be in the office for only vague 'productivity' reasons so that they (the poor managers) can look like they are doing something.

WFH started 3.5 years ago, how easy is it for employers to now claim it was a temporary measure?

Too many people looking after their children while working means companies are not happy.

Companies have to manage to the lowest common denominator.
So if there is a lazy co-worker not pulling their weight, everybody suffers by being called back into the office.

Personally, speaking with companies who have home workers is painful. Availability is limited and when they do eventually answer, it is not uncommon to hear dogs/children in the background.

There have been cost of living crises before, we still worked in the office then, so I think that is a lame excuse.