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).

No I didn't manage it pre COVID as I didn't have any kids then & since having them have developed a routine that fits the new normal and working hours to match.

Friends who did manage it pre covid talk about how stressed they always were then, and now they're not. Surely that's valid enough reason and a valuable lesson thats come out of covid?

Why should I spend money in a depressing city centre instead of my local area?

And if we're trying to cut carbon, why not start with banning forced commutes?

I think being in the office is more important for colleagues who want to network so they can progress throughout the company, and it’s easier for newer colleagues to learn in an office environment

I will never understand why just because people don’t have social lives outside of work they feel the need to force others into the office. The new colleagues I semi understand but I was on a grad scheme the year covid started and ended up joining two different workplaces remotely and it was fine because my workplaces made an effort.

I’ve been fully WFH which was helpful for my finances but now I’m in a better position I’ll be doing hybrid 2/3 days in the office as I do enjoy being in the office, but also love the flexibility of hybrid. I would never assume that people want to or force other people to come into the office though.

I had this OP with my work, single parent to 3 kids all at school. I talked to them and we both compromised, so I do one week once in the office and the next week twice in the office ( work 4 days) they were understanding I have a 2 hr round commute and flexible about my times in the office. I make up from it when wfh though because I can log on early and I think they knew this and agreed

Also this “things are picked up more easily in the office” is pure shit, it’s so much easier to fire a quick teams message to someone! They can reply immediately no matter what they’re doing - and because my team like each other and want to help out we do.

In the office half the time people disappear, are in their own calls or are chatting socially (which is fine).

@ForestGoblin because a responsible society think of all within it and hybrid working reduces the carbon footprint significantly and also travelling expenses.

It is less about forced commutes than about overall productivity, fairness for all employees and employee's fulfilling their contractual terms in return for the money they are paid.

@PuddlesPityParty you must have a very badly managed service if that's your experience.

100% agree.

It's just making up excuses to justify forcing everyone to do what they want to do.

They wouldn’t, which is why anyone who can genuinely do their job just as well remotely should be worried.

My workplace is so fucking depressing.

its massive - 2 entire floors of an office building and always 3/4 empty.

you don’t have a desk. Everyone could have a desk but no. You have to book a desk every day you’re in.

this means you’re never sat with the same people.

no one from my team is there. No one I work with is there. So there is zero point me being there.

no one speaks to you. If you speak to someone and think they’re nice then you never see them again because they will be wfh or upstairs or in a different area the following day.

it’s bleak. I’m thinking of leaving because of it.

Given the context we are living in, surely different ways of working should be embraced? If fewer people had to commute in order to sit in an office and do…exactly what they could have done at home with fewer interruptions, we would reduce traffic on the roads, the need to keep large office buildings running full time and we would arguably have a more inclusive workplace by default. Not everyone is able to thrive and be productive in a people-heavy environment. Not everyone has access to good public transport, a car or - in the OP’s case - reliable childcare. Unless your job actually requires you to be present and hands-on in some way, most modern office-based jobs can be done remotely. Aren’t we a bit past measuring people’s commitment by bums on seats? Surely you measure productivity by output?

2 days in office and 3 in home seems fair and like a good balance. I work for a small company and everyone lives fairly locally, the ones who have issue coming in are those who themselves have benefited from in person mentoring and working to work their way up (it's actually part of their roles to do the same for others) who don't want to come in and do this for others- the nature of the job means you can do about half online but not the rest. The irony is one is moaning they her son isn't getting any support in their new job as no one can be bothered to go into the office, have gently pointed out that's hypocritical but hey ho.

Whilst wfh might be better for an individual for a company it might not be, surely a compromise is the best solution. Often those who should loudest about working from home are those who should be back in the office for various reasons.

Well, I do my job remotely (they told me to do a day a week but I politely declined). Very few people are qualified to do it. It probably can be done by AI at some point like literally all jobs. But me scurrying to the office won't trick anyone into not noticing.

This sounds like my office. Does your office also smell of bins and have toilets that are covered in poo by 910am?

I think the issue is that some people do take the piss when WFH and it’s hard from a HR perspective to say that one person has to come into the office to prevent it while another doesn’t so it’s easier to have a blanket policy.
Be annoyed at the piss takers not management OP

Do you have any disabilities? My work have just announced this from September (currently do one day a week) and I’m hoping to stick with this because of my mental health illnesses. So hoping to get a work place adjustment.

The main problem is women doing childcare and it is usually women.

No. Work is measurable. It's not "time served". If something isn't being done, that's a problem. If it's being done plus a mum gets time to pick up her kids at 3pm when normally she'd be chained to a desk, who loses?

It is always asking an employer for individual adjustments, OP. Sometimes they agree, sometimes it's not possible because they have to offer these adjustments to everyone. Those who don't ask, don't get though.

But for all those "yeah it's different now" and "well I didn't have kids then" were you helping any of us who were struggling and juggling all those years? Or did you look on and think "well, you chose to have DCs"?

My organisation saved quite a lot of money through ceasing to rent a permanent office and hiring meeting rooms for when we need face to face team meetings et al.

Someone may want a meeting at 3pm or a member of the public is probably waiting on the line as no one is answering the phone.

Children should be in an after school club not in the background while people work

Those are specific tasks. If those tasks are not delivered, you address that. The same if someone works from home or in the office. The era of just sitting like a blob in a chair is done. Employers pay you to do something, not just to exist.

A lot of the poor service nowadays is probably due to people looking after children and pets at the same time as trying to work. OP's looking after her children seems to be far more important than actually doing her job, I can see that by just reading the OP

No. I've always worked in teams with people who had kids, alternative working patterns and always respected when they needed to leave early, block out their calendars for childcare or work from home when needed. Pandemic has shown that there's more we could have been doing to help those colleagues (ie. Let them choose where to work to fit their life and manage their resilience and wellbeing), so going back to pre-pandemic norms seems very unnecessary and very much like we have learnt absolutely nothing from the experience.