Leaving because not allowed to wfh

[bctf123]

background- i worked really well from home during lockdown and replying to emails immediately, always sat at my desk etc
as soon as i had made a few errors in my work, i was called back in on the pretext of needing an office environment to work well(around September)
i am the only one called in along with a young apprentice who needs to be on site. i am a bit of a pushover and lowest in the office chain and feel ive been singled out despite my contribution and role.
the manager has been really resistant to me wfh, including in the current lockdown and even on a part time basis, which i dont understand and which i dont want to argue as its a bit of a dog eat dog type of environment.

i am now thinking of leaving as i dont feel treated like an adult at all. the way im being treated feels petty and humiliating.
my motivation has fizzled out since being back in the office and i spend a lot of time watching tv instead of being productive.

aibu to want to leave? they have said they want me to stay but it feels like im being pushed by being singled out as if i need supervision

There is almost a blanket refusal to anything i have suggested
my supervisor has point blank refused to come in and wangled a new contract to stay at home

i havent said its not fair to them as im wary of being shouted down but im sure they know. im not sure a discussion will help. the whole thing was out of the blue initially. i was asked if id like to come in. i said yes to a few days and suddenly it was decided to make it 5 days

'productive as i could be

I think I get it Op. But you could cut off your nose to spite your face. You were working in the office before lockdown, is it really the end of the world to be back there? If you need the income you need to adjust your attitude and get on with it. Maybe be professional and query the decision in a rational way, but meanwhile do your job. Finding another job isn't likely to be easy at the moment. Also, think about who will go first if redundancies are needed where you are now. For what it's worth I have worked from home for many years and always have something in the background, TV or radio. It doesn't mean I work less, it's a substitute for the background activity I would get if I had company.

@LonelyFromCorona

If you can afford to, go for it, let them struggle getting someone in, training them up and working effectively with just an apprentice to ask for help, whilst the rest are all working at home!

I’m 100% confident that they won’t struggle to replace the OP.

Have you seen the state of the job market?

Plenty of people would bend over backwards to secure an office-based job, potentially being able to work from home if they’re able to avoid slacking or watching tv during office hours.

I worked for a large FTSE company for many years who trail blazed working at home. Not necessarily because they 100% believed in it but because it meant they didnt need to provide office space.

You sound like exactly the sort of person sadly who shouldnt be working from home, you are junior and seemingly cannot be trusted to work on your own hence the TV watching and the errors.

With WFH you have to prove yourself and I found over my many years that the junior people were the least to be trusted. If you were middle management and above with clients you HAD to work properly. The junior people were often nowhere to be seen. Of course that should have been addressed but wasnt due to the many changes of line management and being heavily unionised. But honestly we ALL knew who these people were.

Leave if you wish. There will be someone who will pick up your role. When I got my current role in another company I was questioned very carefully regarding wfh. I expected to be. I have a dedicated room, PC, no childcare issues etc. I had no where to hide.

If you think a new job is for you then maybe that is the best thing all round.

Their reasoning is flawed if they bought you in for supervision and have not bothered to turn up to actually do it.

YABU for watching TV and it only confirms any doubts they may have of you

YANBU to request to WFH temporarily for lockdown. Acknowledging mistakes have been made and that will not be the case for this period. Prove them wrong.

You'd be better of job searching whilst still employed in the current market.

Without knowing the ins and outs it is hard to know for sure. But I do worry about your attitude about WFH. You seem to think it is ok to sit around and watch TV, and that this is what others do when WFH. No, they don’t. I think that some of this attitude might be seeping across to your manager. That, along with making some mistakes (maybe ones that could have been avoided if you were taking a more professional approach and not watching telly) might have led to the decision to ask you to come back into the office.

I think you should suck it up for now, work really hard and prove that you are an asset to to your company, someone who can be trusted and who learns from their mistakes. Then perhaps you can sit down with your manager and ask if it might be possible to agree a split - perhaps you could work two days from home, three in the office and seen how you get on.

A simple question to your manager- which part of 'work from home if you can' from the government guidance (or law as it will be later this week) is not understood?

Bad work should be dealt with by HR procedures not a blanket change of work location.

This job obviously isn't working for you. I don't know why, maybe it is you, maybe it is the role, maybe it is the management. No matter which, the fact remains that you and it are not a match made heaven.

I suggest you have a good think about what you want in a job/career then start applying for new jobs. In the meantime, keep going at the old job. Put effort into ensuring you will get a good reference when you eventually leave. Learn what you can from the current experience to inform your future decisions about work.

God there are some self-righteous twats on this thread. Mistake to post on AIBU, OP.

If you're thinking of leaving then you have nothing to lose by standing your ground but, instead of rushing in, address the following:

1. Your acceptance of coming into the office; you anticipated one or two days per week and this was pushed into five. Under current arrangements that is not the government guidance as you are able to work from home.

1. Your errors... acknowledge them and demonstrate what you have put in place so that these aren't repeated. People aren't machines, they are people and everybody makes errors. It's the response to those that counts.

You don't need a 'home office' to work but you need a space which meets the requirements for the job and doing it WFH. You need to think about this a bit more and reassure your employer that you take your job seriously (if you do).

I'm assuming that you do want to keep your job hence your posting here... on a site where MANY posters really ought to be working and not posting on social media. I fully expect them to rush to excuses. I myself am on leave today...

Think about what you want to do and don't be pushed around. A good response to a question/decision is, "Let me think about that and I'll come back to you". It gives you breathing space to think.

TBH, the having the tv on whilst working, or the radio, is encouraged by my company as people struggle with sitting in complete silence at home. The tv thing is listening/background noise only though, not actually watching it. Some people are finding it hard to adapt wfh, so as long as you’re disciplined enough to not allow it to distract you, then I don’t see a problem. But it does sound in your case op that maybe they think you are being distracted which is why they think mistakes are being made.

Meh. You made the errors, if you were offloaded work from your supervisor you should have sent it back with "not my job"?

You sound like a sulky kid "wah everyone else is working from their sofas and watching GMB and i have to be in the office because i'm the junior wah"

You can junk your job - hopefully you can get a new one that will let you wfh - or you can suck it up and make a better case to your bosses about working from home.

If you're alone in the office is there a health and safety issue? Who is opening and locking up?

Why are you watching TV at work instead of working?

i worked really well from home

Really??

tbh i used to make the same mistakes in the office before lockdown. wfh didnt make things worse

i am obvs working simultaneously. not just sat with my arms folded not working

Resigning before you are sacked seems a good idea.

I wouldn't quit your job in the current climate.

How long have you been working there? If its less than 2 years they can just get rid of you - and reading between the lines, it seems like that's a distinct danger.

The impression you're giving here is not good - not least because of the lack of punctuation in your messages, which I presume is important in an admin role - but your overall attitude is very teenager-y.

OK, deep breath, OP. How long have you been there? is there anything about working there that you like and do well, or is it all a bind that you won't miss? (and won't miss the money?)

supervisor has point blank refused to come in and wangled a new contract to stay at home

Sounds like your supervisor has made a good case to wfh that has been accepted. What's your relationship like? do you think they would help you make a similar case? or even to go to the office, say, once a week? "wangling a new contract" is a skill that you need to improve your working conditions - it's not so much "wangling" as successfully negotiating.

So how about trying to negotiate with your bosses to wfh while at the same time looking around for a new job? The negotiating with your current bosses should help your negotiating skills if you get interviews at new places? It seems a bit silly to jack in a job without something to go for, and it won't harm you to look around.

bottom line: if you get offered a new job wfh, you can tell your bosses that you'Re going to that unless they match the conditions. Win-win, they can say yes or no but either way you get what you want.

So you've had mistakes pointed out to you and your solution to already being on the radar is to watch TV while working? Do you think this is a positive way to demonstrate your willingness to work and learn?

I've had to performance manage people like you and it was miserable, for both of us. You'd be better off showing willing to improve and look for a new job otherwise you could end up sack or resigning without a new job and a not terribly enthusiastic reference.

yes my attitude is not good.
my fingers are arthritic hence bad punctuation. i am good at this irl :)

I’m glad you don’t work for me. If you did, I would be thrilled if you resigned.

i like everything else tbh
my supervisor and i have aa bad relatioinship. she likes to micro manage me
i feel they could be withholding why im in the office and im not sure who is making decisions. its a bit behind curtains like wizard of oz.
i an terrible at negotiating. i work in a team of very stroing characters and i have been slapped down publicly for even questioning in which way a particular mistake was mine for talking back

I think it sounds as if you would prefer to work elsewhere. Perhaps its time to check out your options.

So leave then. You're clearly not happy and are doing half a job.

lol i wish i could send it back. my supervisor has a habit of this and senior colleagues have noticed this too. she would throw a strop if i did this

@bctf123

i like everything else tbh my supervisor and i have aa bad relatioinship. she likes to micro manage me i feel they could be withholding why im in the office and im not sure who is making decisions. its a bit behind curtains like wizard of oz. i an terrible at negotiating. i work in a team of very stroing characters and i have been slapped down publicly for even questioning in which way a particular mistake was mine for talking back

Doesn’t sound like this is the right place for you. You should leave.

i an terrible at negotiating

You have to learn. It is a valuable life skill for all sorts of things. If they are overloading you with work and your supervisor likes to micromanage, then let them. So for eg. they give you (offload) work to you and you say "ok, i have x, y, and z to finish. in that order, where does this come in terms of priority? which one should i drop to complete this" etc etc. Presumably you have a contract outlining your duties or a job description? make sure you do your work and check back with them about everything else.

And make sure you're clean and not making the same mistakes over and over - frankly, if you did that in my team you'd already be gone.

tbh reading your updates you don't sound like a good fit to the team. Maybe they are trying to manage you out? Better for them to push rather than you to jump (unless you have somewhere to go) - it won't look bad on your CV at this time anyway.