To wonder why some companies/managers have such a problem with flexi working?

[MotherOfDragons90]

My team, and the department it sits within are super flexible. Working from home is encouraged, we use Skype a lot for meetings, core hours are 10-2 but people’s hours vary immensely depending on workload/personal life etc. I think this is great, as it means I can finish a project late into the evening without having to worry about getting OT approved, or leave early on a Friday if I’ve got a weekend away booked or something.

DHs company used to be similar but they’ve recently revoked pretty much all forms of flexi working. He now has set hours of 8-4, and even that he only got because he’s been there a long time, new starters must do 9-5. No working from home except in unusual circumstances.

I get that in certain industries it isn’t possible, but I’m talking office type environments. It’s made things very awkward for my DH and I because he commute together and in the past have tried to align our flexi working and wfh days to save travel costs (AND the planet!). Traffic is hell at 4pm too!

AIBU to think this is absolutely bonkers and not conducive to a positive working environment at all? Please could I ask what your jobs policies are towards flexi working and any good reasons for banning all together?

YANBU my last two companies were very flexible. One had flexi time at all levels and the last one I was totally home based (with some travel). I’ve now moved into the education sector which I expected to be really progressive and there is zero flexibility, no trust, home working and compressed hours don’t exist and it’s just crazy. I don’t get it I really don’t.

It's possible to answer a phone from anywhere Blithering
Do you mean it's a reception where people walk in?

I work in a global business where many of the senior team travel extensively. We need to have the capability to work from anywhere - so it follows that home can be part of that anywhere. The global nature of my role means I can need to be on calls late into the evening (to catch the US, LATAM and APAC) but try not to do any other work (written, drafting, email response) at that time unless it's truly urgent. I look at my emails on non-working days, at the weekend and whilst on holiday - I earn lots for lots of responsibility in a very small team - i can't just switch off or formally 'bank' time and take it later.
For me this has meant I've developed my own discipline for working when necessary and finding time to do my own things (hair appointment, shopping, washing) during quieter times. I'm absolutely trusted to advise and deliver by the most senior execs in our company (think top 20 of the Fortune 500). I work 3 days a week and 1-2 of them are from home. My FT equivalent salary is well into 6 figures.

In short working from home can absolutely work for employer and employee but only if employees can be trusted and disciplined enough to not take the piss. Sadly a combination of poorly defined roles and lazy slackers taking advantage means employers have had their fingers burnt.

Where I work now is super flexible but I'm really worried it may change in time due to suspicions one colleague (we are only a small team) is already taking the piss with it.

This is a really interesting read to see how it's done elsewhere. I work for a forward thinking organisation who is very much of the approach if it works do it. Flexible isn't just changing work hours or working from home and places would benefit from fully understanding that.

In my place. Operational staff are office based and their flexi is limited to hours starting and finished, they must equalise hours by the end of each month. They need to be there to man the phones.

Field staff are home based and do what ever hours they want so long as it is the job is done. Flexi works both ways, we work in the evenings to meet customer needs or early starts for travel but then can have a day off whenever our schedule allows with no approval needed. I change my day off to meet the needs of my home life but also work needs and demands. After a busy last month of over hours the next few are quiet so I've stood a couple of my team down to catch hours back this week, if they want to do admin they can - their choice of managing their own schedules but a quiet period do great time to take a breather. I step back in school holidays but do more in term time - fits both home life and work life demands.
It just works if I'm honest, we trust each other, we communicate.
I've been looking at other roles but get to interview and ask about flexi - get told oh yes we are super flexible, you can start anytime between 8-9 and finish 4-5, no you can't work from home, oh yes you could take time for an appointment but only if your work was up to date and manager approval.
I walk away thinking yeah, they aren't ready for flexi working.

Wow so many spelling errors in my post! Apologies, Clumsy typing on my phone tonight!

I work at two different places, as a protected titled professional. One is quite flexible in that I could pick my own hours and change if necessary- both ways to accordance them also. Other job totally flexible in that I rarely see a colleague all week as I'm rarely in the office. I make my own appointments then write reports from home. It is great to some extent as it fits around family life. I did spend two hours this evening finishing off a work report but means I can pick dc up from school tomorrow.

I'm officially a home worker but also do significant amounts of travel. I am judged on the work that I do, not on the hours that I work, and it seems that more companies should consider 'output' rather than 'hours'. I could be away all week and effectively working 14/16 hours a day or I could be at home and working whilst also putting some washing on and doing the school run. The bottom is that I am trusted to deliver what I need to deliver. If I need to go to a school event in the afternoon that's fine but I accept that I may have to catch up on emails after DC have gone to bed.

I work for the NHS and the admin staff absolutely take the piss with flexi time - coming in early or staying late, to be physically present in the office even when there’s no actual work to do and they’re not needed - just to build up their hours so they can take a day off next week. 

It's attitudes like this that give flexible working a bad name.

Herethereandeverywhere

No not possible to answer reception from elsewhere as sometimes involves looking into physical files plus it's deliveries and postage as well. Some roles just have to be office based. I choose to work, as the owner, in office too so Secretary doesn't feel like only one that can't work from home. I cover phones when Secretary is off

Our field based staff are different

However we are a very flexible company in other ways such as time off for appointments without holiday being used, carrying out personal affairs during work hours is allowed and also we don't count holiday days off strictly.

As I said, some roles such as reception just aren't possible for work at home roles. Same in most companies where a physical reception is required.

I love WFH it’s very productive
Unfortunately too many people have taken the piss and it has ruined it for everyone
People claiming they need flex for childcare but it’s to go work at another job
People dashing off for childcare issues. It is depressing it’s so abused

I had to ask an employee where their laptop was - they never ever bring it to work. I asked if had done any work from home - admitted not recently. So you just have a work laptop at home... why?

I believe in flexible working but not Flexi time.
Flexible working to me means working occasionally from home or different hours etc. Not a problem at all - it's give and take.

Flexi time seems to be very abused where I've seen it. All this working "extra" hours to take extra time off - always at the same times that everyone wants off - is worthless if the work just isn't there at that time. I've never seen it outside the civil service though.

Re dashing off I mean just getting up and going and saying ‘oh I will log on later on...’ not how it works!

When people talk about WFH they talk about how flexible it is for them. It is rarely a two way process. If they are needed to cover a busy period or when things are very quiet and the company needs them to be flexible, they don't play ball.

But if an employee is like that, that's an issue with that employee that won't be resolved by just revoking WFH privileges. It bugs me when people like that ruin it for the rest of us that appreciate the flexibility and are much more loyal because of it.

I also don't understand how people can do nothing while "WFH" without getting noticed and disciplined for it. If I didn't produce my work and wasn't available on Skype, my manager and the rest of my team would notice pretty damn quickly.

Luckily my workplace tends to practice what they preach in terms of flexibility and it's one of the reasons that I intend to stay at that company for the rest of my working life if possible (and I'm only in my 20s!)

Obviously it totally depends on the work that you do!
Our receptionist couldn't WFH for eg, nor could our fleet manager because of sorting out vehicles.
Generally, the more senior you are, the less 'technical' or hands on work you have to do - it's more strategic which can definitely benefit from working away from the office & distractions. However, often if you are more junior, you have more office based stuff that you need to deal with.
I'm talking from a back office, HR, accounts, reception kind of perspective though.
Also, if you've experienced someone who will do the bear minimum in the office, it is concerning how much work they'd do from home, and sadly it does cloud your trust.

DM is still working full time and is partially flexible with 'core hours' where she has to be in the office and her remaining contracted hours can be worked any time between 7am and 6pm and on any day, Mon-Fri. Seems like a decent compromise.

I manage a team in an office. Flexible working is very hard to manage. Who does your work when you’re not there? What about when something important or urgent comes in? What about when the team needs to work together to achieve something and people are missing? Who picks up the slack?

Flexible working doesn't mean you can do what you like whenever though. If a task / area needs to be covered, then staff have to plan working hours around that.

I just don’t understand why more companies don’t offer this.
I work in a call centre type role from home. It’s perfect. We have to have set hours to able to manage calls etc but they’re very flexible if I need to start later, finish earlier etc as I just work the hours back.
Working from home means I can work around school hours and I can also work again in the evenings when the children are asleep in bed.
I can’t take the mick as my productivity is monitored.
I work for a very progressive company who are trying to do everything they can to
Make the workplace better. Not all roles can be done at home but they’re trying to make as many roles as flexible as possible. If you’re doing a boring meaningless job like I do then this goes a long long way to make you feel valued and to make the job better.

We have flexible working. I am perfectly happy for my team to work from home when they want, most do one day a week. I expect them to have it logged on their calendar so I don’t go looking for then but it’s a total non issue. I trust that they are working, if there are meetings they dial or Skype in and they are on the other end of email.

I heard of one company that shut their offices one day a week and everyone works from home. Apparently it helps keeps their costs down.

My teams and I use a combination of time management, team management and messaging apps to make sure we stay on track. I work in an industry that requires our flexibility to attend functions and events; I'd be completely unable to fulfill my job if I stuck to the 9 to 5. As pp, my employer trusts me, also, I speak them most days on the phone whether or not I am in the office. I think people take the piss in more mundane jobs... it would be impossible for me, my projects would collapse if i didn't stay on top of them!
Staying at home can be more efficient cause I instantly save around 2 hours incommunte time and can get straight on the laptop with my morning coffee. And when I have teams overseas I am talking to them at 11pm at night and 6am, so would be poor form of my boss to stifle wfh. Ultimately, open communication and regular check ins keeps the flow going nicely.
Somedays, pajamas are the most effective workwear!

No WFH here. Flexibility if you're PT but FT you have to be in 8-4.30 or 9.30 - 6 (weeks alternate)

@ImNotHappyaboutitPauline

I always think it's a very "middle aged man" way of thinking...

It's interesting that you say that, since I sort of had that opinion too but was recently proved wrong.

I've recently gone back after a 5 break to have kids, and work in a male dominated industry which is traditionally an old boys' club.

When I applied for jobs/interviewed, I was upfront that I wanted flexible hours and part time. It was the mid 40s 'young' directors that baulked at the idea (despite all having kids, and spouses, which should mean flexitime would benefit them too). But the 'old boys' all positively welcomed the idea and had some qualms about it

🤷🏼‍♀️

A few years ago my department changed from working in an office to everyone working full time at home. Personally I love it as I save a lot of time and money by not commuting and my colleagues love it for similar reasons and it's very handy for school runs etc. The company has benefitted too, productivity has gone up and sick days have reduced. I haven't had a single sick day since working from home.

It's weird that your husband's company has revoked flexible working, perhaps they haven't had a positive outcome from it, did they say why?

Mid 40s is middleaged.

It makes me very sad that businesses as a whole are so old fashioned about this.

Is one managers view so scarred because one person took the piss. Why didn't he address that, at the time?