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.

[LondonJax]

As for the comment about there eventually being software that tracks people's PC use. There already is. My boss got told off by the IT manager I mentioned because she was accessing her email at 3am. He gently told her she should be switching off not accessing work.

And another company I worked for would make it a disciplinary offence if you were found on Facebook etc outside the lunch time hours unless you had express permission from a manager - like checking what the BBC had said about something or finding out what a particular client's Twitter account was saying for example.

You'd be surprised how many companies have software already running in the background - office or WFH.

[ilovesooty]

@heartsonacake

YABVU. It doesn’t matter if you can do your job perfectly well at home; that’s totally irrelevant. She wants you back in the office so you need to go back, whether you agree or not and whether or not you like it.

I tried to say to her that it was matter of being flexible but she's just not - she said no.

I can’t believe you said this to her. That’s so rude and really insubordinate. It’s not a matter of being flexible, she doesn’t need to be.

I'm obviously not the only one who thought that was rude.

Your comment about her "getting off on the power" indicates disrespect and working on reception being "a waste of expertise" suggests that her opinion of you doesn't match your opinion of yourself.

I'm surprised to hear about your age given the tone of your posts with all the exclamation marks and stropping.

You don't sound like a particularly flexible or cooperative employee to me.

[TheStuffedPenguin]

It won't be "your boss" who is making this decision . It will be your company . Companies are putting huge efforts in to look at all this . What was possible throughout lockdown is not viable on a long term . Health and safety issues now come into play and companies will have to legally provide proper seats , adequate Wi Fi etc etc . They are currently costing all of this - keep people at home or not . They have rented buildings and desks for a year or more . It's a money game as well .

[Penners99]

OP, would a “Sorry, that doesn’t work for me” be a workable reply?

[LondonJax]

@catgirl1976, the point about sickness is a very good one. And one which will become more important if Covid 19 isolation is needed. If, for example, one of us gets Covid, none of us can go to work. But WFH means we can still get on with the job. Companies will start losing staff for 10 days plus soon as they begin isolating. Not to mention those who are positive but asymptomatic or with mild symptoms - they can't leave the house.

I know when I WFH and got laryngitis, I was still be able to do a few things. I emailed my manager, explained I had laryngitis so couldn't take calls, I couldn't do the heavy concentration stuff and I signed off early but I could answer emails to some degree. I wouldn't have gone into the office though - the thought of the commute whilst running a temperature etc urgh! So the company probably got a few hours a day out of me whereas they'd have not seen hide nor hair of me in that time.

[vanillandhoney]

@dontdisturbmenow

The problem is noone WFH admits they are using the time to do their house work, spending a bit if time in the garden, getting up late and log in at 10am. Everyone says they work even harder and longer hours.

Sadly, managers know that it's far from being the case. Some will be very diligent whilst others aren't. The problem is trying to manage a staff who you believe not to put their weight is much harder when they are at home than in the office.

I wouldn't be surprised if companies started to introduce software that checks how long you remain logged in, and every activity done. I bet when that happens, there'll be much fewer people as keen to work from home.

Does it really matter if people take ten minutes to put the washing away or run the vacuum cleaner around, as long as the work gets one?

When I worked for a company, I spent plenty of time making hot drinks, chatting over a biscuit and listening to the radio. I certainly wasn't working constantly all day, everyday - so why should it be expected from people who are working at home?

[ilovesooty]

@Penners99

OP, would a “Sorry, that doesn’t work for me” be a workable reply?

Do you think that's an appropriate response to a managerial request to be present in your workplace?

[Foundmy]

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. When it comes to anyone making decisions it should be based on the facts of the situation - if you’re working perfectly well from home & fulfilling your role then that should speak for itself.

These are unprecedented times & if the work is getting done, then making decisions that minimise the risks people are being asked to take should be the priority. As another poster said, work is an activity & if this is getting done then brilliant.

I’d be frustrated too if someone’s personal preference determined that I needed to return to working in the office when all tasks could be completed from home.

[Aragog]

I appreciate why it happened, but getting hold of people has been really difficult. If you need to speak to someone else they can't just transfer yo

It shouldn't be.

DH's direct number directs to his mobile. If anything he is now more available than before - which is sometimes a pain when he gets client calls in the evening late on, or at weekends.

The main numbers are also being redirected, and those answering are able to transfer in the exact same way - it just goes via the re-directed numbers. Shouldn't make a difference to any clients - they still phone the same numbers as before and the same system works, even if staff are working from home.


Sounds like some coompanies just haven't set things up properly.

[OverTheRainbow88]

Also by wfh you are making it less risky for those who have to go in as public transport will be less busy as will the office... I would sell it like that!

[SooticaTheWitchesCat]

To me YABU
I have had to go into work since lockdown began.
I'm sure it's very nice being at home but things have to start getting back to normal at some point.

[eeyore228]

Tbh if it’s what work wants then it’s tough. Harsh I know but how else does life slowly start to go back to some normality? I’ve worked throughout and had to make sacrifices because of no buses etc and have lost over £100 a month. I’m sure there are many who don’t want to go back, if you don’t like the commute maybe look for something closer to home?

[TheStuffedPenguin]

@LondonJax

As for the comment about there eventually being software that tracks people's PC use. There already is. My boss got told off by the IT manager I mentioned because she was accessing her email at 3am. He gently told her she should be switching off not accessing work.

And another company I worked for would make it a disciplinary offence if you were found on Facebook etc outside the lunch time hours unless you had express permission from a manager - like checking what the BBC had said about something or finding out what a particular client's Twitter account was saying for example.

You'd be surprised how many companies have software already running in the background - office or WFH.

Yes this should not be a surprise to people .

[MigGril]

I don't understand why many office jobs are still done in office's. My dad worked from home over 30 years ago. His employer closed the regional offices and but had all those not working in London at the time then work from home in order to save costs. This was before broad band, we had 2 phone line (one was for a fax) and a ISDN line installed. He was only a rep no top business man. Then they closed the big London office and a lot of them went work from home to.

Why are so many companies still paying for expensive office space in the days of high speed easy access Internet for jobs that people can do anywhere. I was really hoping this pandemic would see a big change in working practices. Surely only client facing roles need to be in office.

Even my sisters job, which they said would never be able to be done from home due to security issues. She can now do from home, thanks to modern technology, she's not expecting to go back to the office due to lack of space. As all office's are supposed to be made covid secure with social distancing in place.

[Youngatheart00]

I also think that perm wfh is ok for a job, not necessarily for a career. How do you build that network and those soft ties effectively? ‘Coffee chats’ just don’t exist anymore, and please don’t tell me they can be done 100% over Zoom.

[Frazzled13]

If you're late to work in a supermarket, most will dock your wages. Where I used to work, it you were even 1 minute late you would have 30 mins pay taken away, why should it be different for office workers?

Because it's a totally different way of working? When I worked in a supermarket I wasn't regularly expected to stay couple of hours past the end of my shift without extra pay - I really don't think most offices want to go down the route of paying for actual hours worked.

Also by wfh you are making it less risky for those who have to go in as public transport will be less busy as will the office... I would sell it like that!

I agree with this, I'd be a bit peeved if I had to use public transport because I couldn't wfh and instead of having space to distance, I had to be crammed in with workers who could perfectly well wfh.

[MayDayFightsBack]

What is the matter with the people who keep harping on on the variation of 'you chose a job where you work in an office so now you just have to shut up and get back to work', Presumably the OP did this as there were so few jobs where you could work from home prior to COVID. Now it has been shown that WFH is entirely possible for many, many people so they are legitimately asking why they can't do it full-time.

There are either a lot of power-mad managers on here who can't stand not being able to keep a physical eye on their staff or a lot of envious people who simply can't work from home and resent people who can. It makes sense for people who can work from home and who want to work from home to work from home. This is better from a housing, environmental and work/life balance point of view, we all know this.

I work from home full-time as I'm self-employed - as is my husband. The benefits of it are enormous and I'd never return to the daily grind of commuting so can quite understand why others don't want to.

[Aragog]

Not everyone wfh is that conscientious

DH's office has gone back PT wfh, PT work in the office. Some are now back in FT. But to stay Covid secure they can only have around 50% of staff i the building at a time, to ensure social distances and other expectations regarding covid secure are met.

The people who were not being conscientious and not meeting their targets are in more than those who were working efficiently and meeting/exceeding their work targets. There may have been various reasons for this - child care, other caring duties, etc which they have tried to take into account where possible but the bottom line is that the company needs to keep making money to be able to stay afloat and keep paying their staff.

So one of the obvious things to do was to ensure anyone who wasn't working to at least the same extent as pre-lockdown had to be back in the office.

[heartsonacake]

@Penners99

OP, would a “Sorry, that doesn’t work for me” be a workable reply?

No, it wouldn’t be a workable reply for OP, because she doesn’t have a choice.

[OverTheRainbow88]

I’m currently washing my husband working from home will trying to do ‘a work call’ on his peloton bike!

[OverTheRainbow88]

*while

[OverTheRainbow88]

I’m also watching him not washing him!

[Frankola]

I don't think anyone wants to go back to the office full time now they've been working at home for the last 6 months almost.

That being said, if your manager and company are requesting you go back to work in the office then you need to do so.

It may be that once it all settles back down you will be allowed to work from home a couple of days a week. You could always plan on constructing that argument.

You won't get your way by sounding so put out and entitled though. As people have said already, many of your colleagues will already be commuting to work again and having to be in the office. This fosters a lot of ill feeling between colleagues when some are getting the benefits of not having to go in.

I'm a manager of a team myself and whilst I'm happy for 1 or 2 days home working on rota I need my team members in the office for many reasons so I wouldn't have my team wfh all the time.

[yelyah22]

I think there's a real split in the attitudes in various types of jobs - some people are '8 hours at your desk, leaving 5pm on the dot shows no dedication' (and that obviously works for them/certain career paths).

And others, myself included, like to:

• work where I'm comfortable,
• pop a wash in while I make a cup of tea as I'm on the phone to a colleague
• finish my work over the day (including being contactable during core hours) but if half an hour of that is on my laptop with my breakfast at 8am and then 2 hours of it is 7-9pm because that's when I'm feeling motivated and have good ideas

I work in a creative-ish role, plus some management, so that's not only possible for me but also a better way to work - being creative strictly between 9 and 5 with a solid 1 hour lunch break is nigh on impossible. One day this week I worked 7.30am - 8pm almost solidly, only stopping to fill up my water bottle or have a wee, because I was on a roll and there was a big deadline and it needed doing. Today I held a 4-hour conference this morning and this afternoon I've answered a few emails, put 3 loads of washing on, and done a bit of vague planning for next week, plus a phone call with one of my team members. Not working to full capacity at all. However, it balances out - if something big happens at the weekend/evening/mornings outside of office hours, which due to what we do it does regularly, I'm the first one to be dealing with it. And the people I work with know that and it would be very clear if work wasn't being done well, or on time.

I'm very very glad I work where I do. I can't imagine being timed to the minute with what I do.

[vanillandhoney]

@SooticaTheWitchesCat

To me YABU
I have had to go into work since lockdown began.
I'm sure it's very nice being at home but things have to start getting back to normal at some point.

Why does normal have to mean commuting to an office for no reason?