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

I’ve just skimmed through this in my lunch break. You are extremely arrogant, OP, and you seem to have an answer for everything. Many people have commented who have years and years of experience - even at management level - giving you advice on how you can approach this to make things better and some areas of improvement for you. You have not accepted one single piece of advice (or had the manners to thank anyone either, but that’s another matter).

You seem to think the company owes you a favour. They owe you nothing. Goodness, you’re lucky you don’t work in the US where the “at will” concept exists in terms of employment. This means anyone can be fired without notice or reason.

If you were working for me you wouldn’t be asking for a show of hands as to whether you should resign, I would be already making that decision for you.

If it's only you and another/a couple of people in then the covid risk is low since there will be plenty of room to keep your distance. You used to work in the office. You just don't want to go back. If you keep being immature and watching tv etc you'll get sacked. It isn't a good time to be unemployed.

You should never stand for being made to feel worthless. Leave. Life is too short

Who are you checking your words with in the office if there is only an apprentice there?
Is it part of your role to train the apprentice?

It could very well be that they need a presence in the office and you have drawn the short straw.

This is exactly the type of thing that would have happened in a department of a large organisation I worked in before.

Work not words!

You say you wanted to be treated like an adult etc but as soon as you are given a chance to prove yourself and prove you can work unsupervised you are watching tv instead of working ? Wouldn’t make me want to employ you at all so if you aren’t careful you won’t have a choice about leaving

I find some of the responses from alleged managers inexperienced and immature. Productivity ebbs and wanes for everyone. Procrastination and activities such as tv watching are often a sign of stress and depression. Without knowing more about the work situation it could be a case of constructive dismissal. What kind of place is it where they shout about mistakes and wrongly apportion blame? You need to either decide you want to work there and take the salary or stand up for yourself and see what happens. You’d bring the doormat attitude to a new job so best to sort that out with counselling. Then get yourself wfh. Why are you so accepting of yourself making mistakes? That’s something for you to look at with your counsellor.

i dont how its that different from others slacking at home
Ha ha ha, speak for yourself. I work full-time from home and have probably never been so busy! I can't afford to slack! I do however enjoy listening to the radio in the background unless I'm on the phone or in a Teams meeting. I work in a busy IT department of a bank. I certainly cannot afford to lose my job. Dream on OP.

There seems two issues here.

1. You were asked to carry out work that you should not been expected to do? Some errors were made. Now you believe you are being punished for making those errors. Possibly being set up to fail?

1. You have worked from home. You believe you can work from home productively without supervision. I work predominantly from home and one of the perks is being able to have music / radio / tv on in the background while I do so. It's just me in my house on my own. You are now no longer being allowed to work from home.

So do you want to address both issues or only one of them? Avoid confrontation. Try and start a conversation with your manager - clarify their position - ask them to explain why they came to that decision. Keep it professional. This opportunity to show how you deal with conflict resolution and your integrity as an employee. All the best.

I'd rather be employed at the moment and taking the usual junior cr*p that all juniors get than have no job. Your one of the lucky ones that still has a job as so many others have lost theirs due to the pandemic. Think wisely before giving up your job, a new job may be harder to find this time round.

Dear @bctf123**@bctf123
I once worked with someone who spent all day long sorting her photos and 'chatting' to friends 'online'. I dont know if you arw aware but EVERYTHING you do on your computer at work can be accessed and observed from your superiors computer! I never as much as signed in to my emails while at work. I was still there working when she was asked to leave as she was not fulfilling her obligations. Whenever I had any 'spare' time I would tidy around and ask bosses if there was anything else I could do to help. You are there to work, that is what they pay you for, try thinking of it from their perspective. Good luck and dont leave unless you get a great reference. ☺Perhaps stay and become a better employee? Then when you DO leave at a later date you will get that great reference? Just a thought.....

I also don’t understand why it’s better for you to work from office if you’re not supervised there. You’re being used. You need to understand that and ask yourself if you’ll accept it for the salary. You have three options:

• resign
• accept the status quo
• fight. Point out unfairness and stick up for yourself.

Where are you though. Everyone should be working from home, including the intern.

That environment sounds toxic. You should make the decision to leave or say but adjust yourself accordingly.

I think you're looking for practical advice:
There are a number of things you need to do:

1. Record all the errors you have made, and the reaction of the supervisor. This is for yourself, so that you can examine this and improve.
2. Carry on working very hard from your workplace. Send everything to your supervisor to check with an accompanying email. This will be your proof that you have sent things to your supervisor. Any comments she makes on the phone, confirm in writing by email. This means that when she says she has no time to look at the work, confirm in writing that you have sent the work but she hasn't checked it as she has assumed you have done it correctly.

This is for your protection.

1. When she hasn't checked it and you are unsure, ask clearly for it to be checked, again for your own protection.

4.When you are blamed for someone else's mistake, send an email to the supervisor stating this clearly (again it's in writing and may be used in defence).

1. Improve your standard of work so that really you don't need supervision. That's what your aim should always be. Be very good and confidant with your work. Check and double-check it.
2. Do not do anything in the company time which does not relate to work. Start on time, take the correct breaks. Do not behave badly even if other people do. You are setting high standards for yourself. That is called establishing yourself.
3. As regards finding another job, do not resign from this job until you have found another job. Find another job in your own time, not in company time.

You will need a good reference from your present company. Become very good at what you do, that's the secret. Use capital letters and write well. People will judge you on that (and do not do things you can do perfectly well, badly, remember your aim is to be good at doing things.) Good luck!

You need to get some honest guidance, and quickly.

Ideally this would be from your supervisor, but you might be able to get a n HR person to help, or perhaps even a more senior colleague.

If you're not self-motivated and inclined to make mistakes, and feel sorry for yourself and let yourself become a doormat, you need to buck up sharpish.

Sorry to be harsh, but if you were on my team, I'd have you on a performance management plan where we set clear goals for your work, and I supervised you pretty closely. If you still failed to achieve them, you would be fired.

Think hard about what's happening and why. If you really don't want to stay in the job, and can afford to do so, quitting is an option. If not, you need to find some way to buck up your ideas and do it well. This is as much for your sake as their's. Who wants to be miserable at work.

And good luck. This is a hard situation, but if you deal with it well it may be the making of you.

Sorry that I haven't read everything, but you have a right to request flexible working, and there are limited reasons under the law which your company can use to turn down a request. I would ask them to clarify which one applies here, and appeal the outcome if you feel it's unreasonable. There's information on the ACAS website.
www.acas.org.uk/making-a-flexible-working-request

As for 'threatening HR' on their side, HR don't make business decisions, managers do. If they believe your conduct or performance warrants formal action then they can take it but they need to follow a process.

Agree with a previous poster about potential constructive dismissal if they single you out and don't uphold your rights and contract in the same way as everyone elses.

If you think the bridges may already be burned then you might as well challenge them and try to improve things than leave quietly?

Good luck!

I can’t believe just how nasty some of these comments are.

Wow.

OP at times like this the job climates a bit of a mess and finding other work may be hard. Stick it out if you can. Work hard and request to wfh 1/2 days a week once you’ve built trust back xx

If you can afford the possible jobless period of searching and are truly unhappy then leave and find something more flexible that you’re more passionate about, but ensure to keep good terms with current employer as you’re still going to require a reference.

Good luck with it all though. It can be horrible to feel targeted at work when it’s the majority of your time/ day but there are always options around it if you can manage to find the strength to fight for yourself

I've had employees like this, and so I thought it might help to offer some insight as to what your bosses are going through.

You're new, and so an unknown quantity, so although you may believe in yourself, you do still have to earn that good reputation and trust from them.

If there have been some visible mishaps, that makes them worry what other mistakes might be lurking under the surface that they're not seeing. It means they feel concerned that you might need more direction/support. If you don't acknowledge any difficulties and get defensive instead, that makes it even harder for them to trust that you can do the job, because you're then not getting it.

Working from home can be fraught for managers, especially when underperformance is visible. One of my team who was always desperate to work from home seemed to be outside walking the dog every time I called. So being caught out even once leaves a very bad feeling on the part of the manager because they can't see what you're up to.

Finally, it's horrible being suspicious and having to keep a close eye on someone. It doesn't come naturally to me, it made me hate my job. But unfortunately as the boss, that is your job - to keep everyone delivering and on-task. Everything the person does to be defensive makes that job even harder and can drive a massive wedge between you and your boss.

If you want to give this job a chance, start now by being keen, punctual, and go the extra mile. Once you've established yourself as a team player, the trust will follow. And think about how to establish a better relationship with your boss, even if they seem like a heartless slavedriver. They are probably just doing what they are being pressured to do from above.

I think the OP’s manager sounds completely unprofessional.

If the manager thinks the OP is unable to work from home on her own, why would working in the office on her own be any different?
If the manager tho k the OP’s work is not up to scratch, she needs to organise further training or a mentor to sit with her.

Choosing one person from a whole department to work in the office is petty. If an office presence is needed, it should be on a rota.

I suspect the manager is very poor st her job.

Is there a HR department that could help?

Unless you can move to another dept, I would look for another job. It sounds like there may be a pecking order in the dept and the OP is at the very bottom, something that wont change easily.

It could also be the case that the company are getting ready to move everyone back to the office. This is very likely to be the case for most employees currently working from home within the next six months.

If the manager thinks the OP is unable to work from home on her own, why would working in the office on her own be any different?

If the manger thinks that the OP is “slacking” it makes a world of difference. For starters you can tell if someone is actually present in a building.

Without knowing what you do it's hard to form a solid judgement but there seems be a lot going on here.

1. I understand your issue with your arthritis but I hope your written work is better than your written word here because that would be a definite issue.

2. I agree you're being singled out. Your manager has been informed by her manager that someone needs to be in the office and rather than do it herself she is getting her most junior staff to carry the can: that's poor management and it's also the reason she wants you to stay. Not because she values you but because if you leave she will have to either find someone else to do it or worse, do it herself. Your minor minor mistakes have been used as an excuse in this instance.

3. you are clearly being sidelined because you're the path of least resistance.

4. you lack motivation because you are bored, unappreciated and unhappy so it's no wonder your attitude could be better.

It's time to look for another position. Get a new job then leave. This environment is not for you.

I can't WFH because of the nature of my job but there's some office staff that have been brought back in and what I've noticed is that it's all the ppl in roles that are low down in the chain and apprentices

Managers and senior managers have pretty much not been seen at all. Funny that

Wow - some of these comments are totally unnecessary and just unhelpful. Have we already forgotten the motto of 'be kind'?? Be constructive not downright rude. What a judgemental lot. You all must be saints.

YANBU to WANT to leave but please don’t resign, they are trying to bully you out, don’t let them they are BU x

Your work can be done at home so you should work from home. Sounds like bollocks so the apprentice isn't on their own and they selfishly dont want to take a turn at going in. Hard to see how you can win though so look for something else.