To be peed off at getting ‘told off’ for working at home

[Hatemyjob2]

Started new job in January. Okayish, better than last one, but micro- managed to the hilt.

Anyway you may have noticed a spot of bother with the weather, so I asked to work from home. Told OK, as long as I can’t get in. Anyway oh’s office is closed for safety reasons, so I’d have to trek 1/2 mile to the bus for 6.30. Pavements are like ice and I have osteoporosis.

So I log on at 8am and get stuck in. Then I get a sarky message: where are you? Is public transport not working. I explain that I couldn’t get in and have been roundly told off like a child and apparently they will have words with me on Monday.

OH has said to start looking for a new job and I’m inclined to agree now.

I don't think it's as simple as saying it's either acceptable to wfh or not.

As OP hasn't been there long she didn't say if she'd let her manager know that the reason she didn't come in is because of the added complication of her osteoporosis, otherwise - as buses were running - it was perfectly natural for manager to expect her to be in.

Generally people are somewhat less productive from home and for that reason some managers don't like to encourage it - particularly from a new employee who already appears to be annoyed by manager checking their work. Manager has no guarantee that employee will work as hard from home - employee has not made it a priority to let her know her whereabouts and not explained extenuating circumstances.

Line Manager may be a complete nit-picking jobsworth, but from the OPs posts so far I'm about 50/50 on where the fault lies.

"Generally people are somewhat less productive from home"

Are they?

What evidence is there for that?

IME most people are actually more productive - you're not being constantly interrupted by colleagues, phone calls etc. and you get loads done.

But that's just my experience and I know anecdata isn't reliable, so if there's any evidence on this I'd be interested.

I worked from home on Thursday and answered more emails than I’d done the day before in the office because I didn’t have constant interruptions.

Run for the hills..

By Generally I mean me .

I wfh one day a week - if I have loads of teleconferences or quiet work that I need doing then it's great - if I don't then I tend to sometimes struggle to fill my time productively, but then if I was at work I'd probably go for a chat or cup of tea at that point.

Thing is I never treat wfh as a right, but as a privilege.
Probably ridiculously I make a point of sending emails to people as soon as I log in and also sometimes save some for the end of the day so everyone knows I've done my full day - usually more as its so damn addictive when you're at home just to send that one more email before you boot off and then getting sucked into some new thing.

It helps that our management genuinely encourage it of course.

As soon as I saw the word micromanaged I thought you should leave. If they’re so inflexible as to not allow the occasional WFH, then they obviously think you need to be treated like a naughty child rather than a professional. It also sounds like they are sending mixed messages and aren’t very good managers in general.

Dodgy relying on public transport. Round here buses were running early on Tuesday, but later in the day, the sight of a bus was virtually as rare as seeing a UFO... What I'm saying is if OP managed to get in, there is no guarantee she could get back without a hell of a struggle. No, just not worth it. YANBU.

If DH wasn't in at work, could he not have run you to the bus stop to avoid the trek in the snow?

rookiemere seems to have strong opinions but not well thought through. 'generally people are somewhat less productive from home'. There are plenty of studies that would evidence otherwise. American Express set up home offices for employees as they find this a very productive way of working. 'Manager has no guarantee employee will work as hard from home.' It sounds as they are working online and if they have targets to meet, they can be monitored just as easily remotely, surely?

I work partly from home. This week I worked entirely from. Employer fine. They know I work hard. Rationale is I’d be more productive from home rather than waste time on a journey that might take double the time in the chaos and the risk of not getting back.

You haven’t been there long - shrug this one off - you were working ffs. Give it more time and if in a few months you still don’t like, get something else.

I actually saw a job come up today that I’d love, and a lot closer to home. So I applied.
I can’t be doing with the small company mentality. I’ve never worked for a business this small before and it’s a total culture shock! So I don’t think that helps either. I’m just used to getting on with my work, not to have justify everything that I’m doing. I get that they have to train me and build trust, but this is taking micro managing to a whole new level

Such a shame as I really wanted this to work, but I’m more mentally drained preparing myself for the office, than doing the work!

And to those saying I just fancied a day at home, nothing could be further than the truth! I have a really good work ethic and I did do more than usual. I don’t like working at home, as my husband has the office and I’m stuck with the dining table.
.

I’d be inclined to speak to my doctor and get a sick note stating unsafe to travel in snow/icy conditions due to your medical condition.

I do wish some people would rtf...

Employers in the uk seem to specialise I’m this micromanagement and assumptions that working from home is somehow being lazy....

I would respond in writing with all the reasons you mentioned being rationale to do (let’s face it) what you said that you were going to do. I might ask if they can clarify the procedure for when you do work from home and or in the event of adverse weather etc. Your boss sounds like an idiot so keep yourself right and document all of this in case you need to come back to it...

I’m the meantime dust yourself off, your boss could Ben very insecure in her role/she could have had people take the Mickey in the past or she could just be an inn effectual manager, only time will tell!

Do let us know how Monday goes!

People in other countries live it for three months every winter and they somehow still manage to go to work.

I'm in a country that gets snow 5 months every winter. When we have bad snowstorms it's extremely common to be told to stay home from work.

One year I decided I knew better, went off down the freeway through the snow. Everything came to a halt. Half an hour later an ambulance and fire truck finally passed us - it was difficult for them to get through the backed up traffic and snow.

Another almost half hour later I finally drove past the 19-car pile-up that had been holding us up.

The firefighters were cutting a guy out of his car. The poor fucker had been in the car for over an hour, in the cold, injured, trapped. He must have been freezing.

And fuckwits like me had been blocking the way for the emergency services to get to him.

So please, fuck off with the 'other countries' bullshit please.

Love it when people say other countries get it worse every year!

Yeah they might get it worse but they get it every year and are prepared for it! I haven't seen snow like this in my part if the country for a good 5 years

YANBU OP. Some of the attitudes on this thread make me glad I work for myself.

All this 'you must desperately try to get to the office'. The OP had the means to work from home. She said there was 3 foot of snow with more coming down. We had 3 inches and cars were getting stuck and crashing. She's said the buses were running 45 minutes late. But yes, far better for her to brave it through the ice with a potential fall, stand waiting for a bus for 45 minutes, with no idea how she will get home, than log on at 8am and get a full day's work done. Jesus.

Definitely look for another job. You need to be treated like an adult who can make a judgment call about wfh and be trusted.

How many times do people have to be told that people in other countries have snow tyres and a whole infrastructure that is geared towards coping with this weather, which we do not have in the UK because it is not cost-efficient ?

It's like complaining to someone in shorts and a t-shirt with no equipment, who is refusing to climb a mountain, that other people do it all the time.

Yes of course they do. But er, they're equipped to do it.

We are in the red zone.

The snow expected for the afternoon started at 7.30. DD's school confirmed they were open just after 7 and then as we thought they would, had to reassess and said they were closed at 8.20.
I phoned before leaving at 8.30 to be told to wait for half an hour as they thought they were closing the office. 20 mins later a colleague sent me a text to say they were going home.

DH had a work laptop ( we have workmen in and it was an awkward time for him to have leave so the laptop is a temporary measure). He worked from home. I don't have a laptop so didn't work. We both work in the same office, but those were the circumstances. As the office was closed, I will not lose leave.

Buses here stopped running mid afternoon Thursday, didn't run Friday and assessed about three times today, only running from 10.30. At that point they were doing main roads and turning back at roundabouts, so for us a 15 min walk. Fine for us to do, but when i was 20 weeks pregnant and we had snow, my manager told me not to risk going out in the snow. OP would meet the same criteria in that there is more of a risk for her to walk than normal.

I think choosing to work from home was sensible and showed there was still a level of commitment. Others would have just said they could not get in to the office and that was it.

Blimey! I'm a senior manager. I work from home as do my staff if we can't get into the office. I trust them and I am trusted by my manager to crack on and do what I need to do.

Public transport has been badly disrupted here for most of the week. Was I supposed to wait for an hour or more for a bus that never came? And then risk not being able to get home again?

And no "Generally people are somewhat less productive from home" isn't true rookiemere . We're more productive. We don't have to do the commute in and out. We can log on earlier and stay logged on later. We have peace and quiet to crack on with our work. I know this from the work that my team and I do. Where the chuff did you pick up that piece of rubbish up?

I don't like working from home much either op, but I did quite a lot of that in my last job due to ms symptoms. Luckily, I, too, worked for a tiny company but they weren't like yours. They were completely wonderful, more like family. They made me lunch every day, drove me home when dh couldn't pick me up, and at work itself, tended to leave me to my own devices so that I'd just get a "can you research this?" and that would be it. No deadlines either so any pressure was me pressuring myself.

The advantages of working from home, whenever I did, were that I could work slightly different hours, start earlier, have a slightly longer break in the middle and continue later. Often I'd start working again in the evening. Because I enjoyed being productive and knew I was helping my colleagues.

I do hope you find a new job quickly. No one should be treated like you are. I think your manager is a twat and it's likely you need to document all verbal agreements so that your arse is covered. A quick email will sort everything out - "Dear TwatBoss, you agreed that I could work at home so I was most surprised to get a ticking off from you for doing just that. Could you please clarify."

I agree with Sleepy. I’d normally start WFH at the time I’d normally leave for work. With a 90+ minute drive across country (no public transport) I aged 3 extra working hours to my day plus there was no interruptions or distractions. Suspicious managers who don’t trust their staff to work are probably the very people who would take advantage of the situation.
Good luck with the new job interview OP

I'm more productive when I wfh. My boss isn't there to interrupt me and the woman next to me isn't banging on about bullshit all day. Plus I save time making tea for one.

The only bus I've seen for days was out of service, and the roads round here haven't even been that bad, so I'd imagine in most other places public transport won't be running.

Yanbu I wfm all the time (office 2 hours away, boss in US) if you have a job where you can & have proven you do then ridiculous to drag you in in these conditions.

From your OP it sounds like you asked whether in theory you’d be able to work from home during this problematic weather, and your boss fairly reluctant said yes that’s ok, if on a given day you are unable to get into work. You then decided that applies today and just didn’t turn up for work and started working from home instead, then were all surprised when your boss didn’t know.

It sounds like your boss agrees that if you can’t get in you can work from home, but would expect you to ring in/contact him/her and actually tell them that’s what you’re doing rather than just not showing up.

Might that be it?

That’s how I read the OP