just been told I have to go back to the office

[Sarah510]

and I don't want to!!!!! Have been wfh since lockdown and I love it. The freedom of it, and just not having to spend 2+hours commuting. I really thought I would be allowed to keep wfh as my job is not customer facing - I can do everything on teams, and a lot of it is with people in the far east so most is virtual anyway. But my team leader is the leader of another team as well, and she said to me today that she has put me on the rota for coming back to the office. I tried to say that I was happy to help out at busy times but that my priority had to be my own job, and that that wasn't people facing, and that it was going to be difficult to have these team meetings in a large office setting. She was unmovable though. I feel it's unfair. I mean, I'm not on that team, I'm a separate team, just me, the TL and a part-time person who is shielding so will not be coming back. I know people will slate me on here, but I really thought that things would change after lockdown. Team Leader is very anti wfh - she had denied requests even before Covid. She seems to be oldfashioned - like she always made a point of checking if I was in at 9am and telling me off if I was 5 mins late kind of thing. Never mind that I've been working weekends, late nights, early mornings since wfh, she just seems to want everyone back in the office under her watchful eye even though everyone is saying productivity is way up since we have been wfh.

Feeling miserable :( I guess I can 'see how it goes' and maybe put in a formal request to wfh. I tried to say to her that it was matter of being flexible but she's just not - she said no.

Some of the posts here are jealously because they can’t WFH so nobody else should be able to.

@heartsonacake

Don't know whether to 'see how it goes' though I said that to her, and she said 'no'. So maybe I should make a case now before I get sucked in to other things that aren't part of my job. Or maybe my job has changed now.

If she tells you you need to do something—like coming back to the office, performing a task etc.—you don’t tell her you’ll “see how it goes”. That’s rude and insubordinate and you don’t get to make that choice.

If you don’t like the duties in your job, or that your job isn’t work from home, you quit. You don’t tell management they need to be flexible or you’ll give it a go.

Learn some respect, OP.

😂😂😂😂

@Sostenueto

Unfortunately my DD can't wfh. She has been working on the Frontline for minimum wage, zero contract hours, no sick pay and until very recently insufficient ppe. In fact she didn't get a Covid test till last week. She has a DD who has an auto immune blood disorder who is shielding since first week in March. She has been putting herself and DD in danger doing her job. She doesn't have a canteen having to have her breaks with the clients as they cannot be left alone ( severely autistic young adults with severe learning difficulties) and staff are short ( I wonder why?) She is a single parent and over half her wages goes on private rent because she cannot get either a council house or housing association house, her universal credit for Dgd stopped in June although Dgd does not go to uni till September, has never had help with rent earning £2 too much a week for help. If it were not for me they would be using foodbanks. So my answer is get back to work! You have had it easy for far too long!

🙄

Some of the posts here are jealously because they can’t WFH so nobody else should be able to.

I agree with this. COVID has shown that so much office work is obsolete. It’s clear things are moving towards increased flexibility/WFH, but as with any kind of change, so many people are resistant because it’s different from what they’ve known (or from what they’re currently allowed to do). I can’t understand why so many people on here are always so keen to leap to the defence of companies who pointlessly micro-manage their employees. Any half decent boss can manage a team remotely - it does sound like yours is out of her depth.

[quote strawberrypip]@Sparticuscaticus of course people are allowed to request flexible work. it is in law - management can refuse but they need to put it in writing as to why and demonstrate why it would be damaging to the company for flexi hours/working from home etc. to be permitted.[/quote]
You have no idea how easy it is for managers to do just that
Most useless bit of employment law ever.

@Byllis

How do you know this is because staff are wfh *@Polnm*? More likely to be because there are fewer staff working, I'd have thought.

I know that admiral are working from home as the person told me, the lady from BA was working from home perched on a bed in her spare bedroom and the guy from virgin had the football on in the background working from home. Axa say staff are working from home which is why you can’t call them.

Sorry about last sentence and jealousy has nothing to do with it! If you used to work from an office then you should go back to it unless it clearly states in your contract or it's been changed that you can work from home permanently. Maybe they should adjust wages accordingly if you do work from home as no travel expenses will be needed. But I suppose you could claim expenses for phone bill broadband usage and printing ink. Whichever wfh means your quids in. And you can relax in Jim jams all day! Meanwhile the common low paid workers continue out there in the big wide world!

Apologies but the world can be very unfair at times 💐

He narrowed it down that the only way he could have caught it is from a 5 min conversation, in the office, with a colleague who also had it

It is frankly impossible to know where he caught it. Unless he lives alone, drives to work in his own car, walks on empty streets, visits zero coffee shops or other outlets and only spoke to that one person during the entire fortnight prior to becoming ill, it is ridiculous of him to state categorically that he caught it from a 5 min conversation with a colleague.

I’ve been back 2 to 3 days a week for the past fortnight. It’s been heaven. The thought of wfh for the rest of eternity does nothing for me.

Video calls are not the same as in person meetings. 8 hours of team meetings are exhausting. The in office quick chats / information shares are gone. Do I see a world of going back 5 days a week? Nope. Do I think whole workforce’s should now pivot to WFH fulltime? Nope.

Hybrid is the way forward for me

@Polnm - ah. Well, it doesn't sound like it's working out for those businesses and employees. I doubt anyone forced to work sitting on a bed is happy with that situation.

bit of the green eyed monster there sostenueto.

Presumably you did it before lockdown and just got on with it. The thing is wfh was meant to be a response to control the pandemic, not a lifestyle choice for employees. It’s a shame they aren’t being more flexible but it is what it is.

Ok so go find a job that will let you work from home. Good luck. I jusf get the mindset of people, job cuts are coming in many areas, just knuckle down weather the storm to keep your jobs.

Otherwise go look for another one and good luck with that.

Plenty of people who would want a job right now

@Sostenueto

Sorry about last sentence and jealousy has nothing to do with it! If you used to work from an office then you should go back to it unless it clearly states in your contract or it's been changed that you can work from home permanently. Maybe they should adjust wages accordingly if you do work from home as no travel expenses will be needed. But I suppose you could claim expenses for phone bill broadband usage and printing ink. Whichever wfh means your quids in. And you can relax in Jim jams all day! Meanwhile the common low paid workers continue out there in the big wide world!

So should my colleague that walks to work earn less as she doesn’t need to spend on commuting ?

And ... will the company be happy to pay us all sickness leave if one of us gets Corona and the rest catch it? It will affect their work at the end of the day whilst if we carry on wfh it’s only one person needing to isolate

Also ,,, I pay around £85 a month for my commuting. If I wanted to claim back internet and electricity it should be £26 a month. (Which I don’t) so it is not the same

Not sure my client will be happy when we have the every day conversation at 9am if I’m in my pj.

Again I’m sorry for your daughter situation but just because it’s crap for her it shouldn’t be crap for the rest. Many of us have carried on working during lockdown and doing better than ever. Think you’ve got the wrong vision of most of us

Before lockdown I think most of us went along with the myriad arguments about why wfh doesn't work or we didn't like the idea of it or we'd never given an alternative to commuting and office life much thought. After all, office life was the default for many jobs. The reason people don't want to return to the office now when they accepted it before is that it's been shown to be obviously needless in many cases, we've experienced the positives and everyone is talking about remote work.

@Patch23042

Anyone who can’t manage remote workers adequately is a pathetically poor manager. I used to report to someone in a different time zone and it worked fine! She sounds out of her depth.

I disagree. One of our team members had to be micro-managed to the nth degree. The manager is an excellent team leader. The lazy team member was the bad apple, not the manager. He left of his own accord, and the manager was glad to see him go.

YANBU at all, we're having to do the same at my work and it's shit.

It's quiet workload wise so I feel like I'm commuting for nothing, we're still having to have Zoom calls (in an open plan office no less) as external meetings haven't resumed and managers aren't even following the rules they put in place to keep everyone safe.

Nope I believe people should actually really work for their wages with others overseeing that they actually do do a full days work for a full wage. Perhaps a stint in a factory would show you what I mean? If I was an employer I would expect everyone from the toilet cleaner to the manager to work full days if that is what I am paying them for be on time or at a time they are allocated to work with set breaks ( no hanging around the coffee machine of which you would have to pay for just like a factory worker) and yes if you want a toilet break then you would do it in your time not mine just like factory workers. There is no one overseeing wfh. Yes as long as you get your work done your thinking well imo I don't think you would be doing it so well at home as you would if you were in a place of work. And surely as you say it's really so hard to work from home with all those distractions would it not be better to go into the office? Less stressful I would have thought! Plus you get to see and interact with fellow office workers and you might miss out on promotions gossip and forewarning of redundancies as the modern tech world replaces you with an algorithm! Surely going back to office is a win win situation?

Also re: lowering our salaries because were wfh and we don’t commute ... companies are going to be saving thousands by wfh.
My company we’re 150. We had to be split between two offices. One of them was £350 per head per month the hire of that place. Since lockdown they’ve got rid of that one .... also because of wfh they’ll be able to downsize the other office hence save more money ... so it’s not only those of us that are wfh saving money but companies are as well in office space

@Sostenueto

Nope I believe people should actually really work for their wages with others overseeing that they actually do do a full days work for a full wage. Perhaps a stint in a factory would show you what I mean? If I was an employer I would expect everyone from the toilet cleaner to the manager to work full days if that is what I am paying them for be on time or at a time they are allocated to work with set breaks ( no hanging around the coffee machine of which you would have to pay for just like a factory worker) and yes if you want a toilet break then you would do it in your time not mine just like factory workers. There is no one overseeing wfh. Yes as long as you get your work done your thinking well imo I don't think you would be doing it so well at home as you would if you were in a place of work. And surely as you say it's really so hard to work from home with all those distractions would it not be better to go into the office? Less stressful I would have thought! Plus you get to see and interact with fellow office workers and you might miss out on promotions gossip and forewarning of redundancies as the modern tech world replaces you with an algorithm! Surely going back to office is a win win situation?

You’ve got a mentality that if nobody is looking at me then I’m not working. And it’s wrong the fact that my work is being done proofs that then I’m not having any distractions. I’ve been doing many days 9-10h. Not because I was being distracted but because I was enjoying work and few things had to be done and whilst in the office I’d have gone out at my time ... whilst wfh I was using the commuting time to do actual work. Win win for the company. My company did a questionnaire. Most of people replied that they found wfh less distractive than being in an office and the numbers proof it (most of the teams have gone well and beyond in the last few months) Aw chit chat with others and gossiping it’s actually what distracts me the most whilst in the office

Lockdown has proof that things can be done differently if we all want to be as helpful as possible. That we don’t have to be 8h sat down in front of the boss to proof how valuable we’re

Exactly and as companies save money they will also realise they don't need so many staff. They will cut more corners make more profit so you are all proverbially shooting yourselves in the foot. And then one day you will wake up and realise that although your wfh and in comfort ( after all if you have got to go to the toilet you won't have your pay docked if you can't hold it like a factory worker or carer does) you seem to be working more hours, getting more stressed, getting unsocial and boring because you aren't interacting face to face but on zoom or whatever app which really isn't the same as real face to face blah blah blah and then you wake up one day and realise that the I am not a robot box can't be ticked anymore. What a great future!

"imo I don't think you would be doing it so well at home as you would if you were in a place of work"

An opinion unsupported by fact or experience if these posts are anything to go by.

easterisland but you see the 'others' do have to prove how valuable they are day in day out 8,10,12 hours a day.

@Sostenueto

Exactly and as companies save money they will also realise they don't need so many staff. They will cut more corners make more profit so you are all proverbially shooting yourselves in the foot. And then one day you will wake up and realise that although your wfh and in comfort ( after all if you have got to go to the toilet you won't have your pay docked if you can't hold it like a factory worker or carer does) you seem to be working more hours, getting more stressed, getting unsocial and boring because you aren't interacting face to face but on zoom or whatever app which really isn't the same as real face to face blah blah blah and then you wake up one day and realise that the I am not a robot box can't be ticked anymore. What a great future!

You assume because they’re downsizing the office it means they don’t need me ... maybe they’re downsizing cuz I’m at home doing the same work ... and it costs them less ... not sure other markets but I work for it and trust me when I say the it market is going up at the moment and there are loads of work around because companies are doing better than what they were expecting. It might go wrong in a few months or years. Nobody knows but it’s the same for everyone.

The rest of your story ... doesn’t make any sense to me ... must be because it’s time to go to sleep ... I’ve a work to go to so that I can continue paying my hobbies instead of the bus that takes me to work and is always late. Good night !