Work telling us we wont get opportunity's if we don't show our faces?

[lovemenomore]

Hi all,

Wanted to know if IABU for being peed off/demoralised at this message from the owner of the company I work for.

Basically started the job in Jan & it has been 100% remote due to Covid/office closed etc. Since the restrictions have lifted I have been in and met colleagues but continued to wfh as do 75% of the company. There has been talk of us never having to go back in full time and people can choose what to do. Nothing formal has been announced. If we do want to go in we have had to book in. However the other day this was posted on our internal comms site;

"While booking is now no longer required, we are noting who turns up. Expect those that do to get the best opportunities and progression. It's obvious that being 'front and centre' means you are top of mind. We've always been a company that prioritises what you do and achieve over simple time served, this is just one aspect of that."

What are your thoughts? To me that is saying if you dont come in you will not be given the opportunities....

Lots of the staff arent local and live all over the country/world. A few of my colleagues are miffed but some friends have said all companies are like this?

DHs firm is changing from 4-5 days remote working a month to 8-10 which seems to be in line with his industry.

My hybrid pattern is staying the same but I like being in the office.

COVID has just become an excuse for poor, slow work, and abysmal service.

Agree. It applies to face to face services such as retail and NHS (maternity and health visiting) as well in my experience.

'I think you mean WFH has been completely abused and people now think they have the right to be paid by their employer while they do the school run and take care of their children. I worked from home long before the pandemic and probably would have been sacked if I was trying to juggle looking after my children at the same time.

you forget a small detail called... LOCKDOWN?

Of course in any other circumstances, it would not have been acceptable to have kids thrown in the mix. But when did people ever experience school closure, home schooling and well, lockdown?

Confusing exceptional circumstances, and exception work situations with WFH in normal times is not helpful.

WORKING means working. Paying for childcare if you need. It's still a hell of lot easier when you are home or when you are gone for 12 hours a day, sometimes plus commute.

Flexible working means taking a break during the day (for kids, for the gym, for lunch, for shopping) the way many people did in the past!
and making up the hours later in the evening.

It works. When the job allows it, it's ridiculous to demand for people to work 9 to 6 when they could just as well do the same hours between 6am and midnight...

It's honest and reflects their ethos obviously 🙄
I get where they are coming from and if you want to progress I'd be rocking up at least 3 days of the week

@Hekatestorch well that's good to know, I'll try again tomorrow then!

[quote nokidshere]@Hekatestorch well that's good to know, I'll try again tomorrow then![/quote]
Just checked and I called them about 9.30am. Maybe ringing earlier is better?

@alltheemptyfields

'I think you mean WFH has been completely abused and people now think they have the right to be paid by their employer while they do the school run and take care of their children. I worked from home long before the pandemic and probably would have been sacked if I was trying to juggle looking after my children at the same time.

you forget a small detail called... LOCKDOWN?

Of course in any other circumstances, it would not have been acceptable to have kids thrown in the mix. But when did people ever experience school closure, home schooling and well, lockdown?

Confusing exceptional circumstances, and exception work situations with WFH in normal times is not helpful.

WORKING means working. Paying for childcare if you need. It's still a hell of lot easier when you are home or when you are gone for 12 hours a day, sometimes plus commute.

Flexible working means taking a break during the day (for kids, for the gym, for lunch, for shopping) the way many people did in the past!
and making up the hours later in the evening.

It works. When the job allows it, it's ridiculous to demand for people to work 9 to 6 when they could just as well do the same hours between 6am and midnight...

But we aren't in lockdown now are we? So "But Lockdown" doesn't wash anymore.

Not for long. Anyone who doesn’t think we’ve got the mother and father of a recession hurtling towards us isn’t paying attention.

Really interested on when you think this will hit - is it beyond the IMF projection horizon?

Also I always found myself more productive at home because I felt I needed to justify what I'd done with my time. At work I'd get sidetracked chatting to people, going to the canteen etc and ended up getting much less done.

The fact of the matter is that many businesses now want people back in the office as much as possible.

There are some benefits to office working you cannot get with wfh. Those roles that require teamwork, relationship building and people leadership just couldn't be done as well in a wfh situation.

I believe a hybrid model is best for workforce wellbeing and work-life balance. I also reckon productivity will benefit from this approach.

Many businesses however do still function using a very outdated belief that if you're visible sitting at your desk you're working. And we all agree that can be very wrong indeed.

My friends boss has been making them go into the office during lockdown because he doesn't trust his staff to work from home. His belief is they'd sit watching TV rather than work. She's currently looking for another job.

I'm glad I get to mix to be honest.

@JassyRadlett

Not for long. Anyone who doesn’t think we’ve got the mother and father of a recession hurtling towards us isn’t paying attention.

Really interested on when you think this will hit - is it beyond the IMF projection horizon?

Not being in possession of a functioning crystal ball, strangely I can’t put a date on it. But having lived through five recessions, I’m perfectly able to recognise the perfect economic storm that makes one inevitable. The UK is holding the highest level of debt since 1945, the housing market is a huge bubble, businesses are going bust, as soon as furlough ends unemployment will soar - frankly if there wasn’t a huge recession it would be miraculous.

Saw this and thought of this thread. Ocado now allowing some employees to work from another country for 1 month a year...

www.bbc.com/news/business-58143560.amp

As a woman who has spent most of my professional life working very difficult hours in an office and mostly being overlooked or not getting promotions….I’d be interested in knowing there will suddenly be all these opportunities handed out!

But being realistic after all this time, if it was a choice between saving 3hrs commuting each day or a couple of brownie points towards a once-in-a-blue-moon raise…..I’d go for the extra free time. What goes around comes around. They didn’t promote me when I was there. So I will still work my hardest but if I can stay home then I will!

things need to return to how they were.

No they absolutely do not.

Things were pretty shit for a lot of people how they were. We need a new way of doing things. A way that gives us a better work/ life balance, reduced carbon footprint and a healthier more pleasant way to live.

Why do you hate the fact that some people’s lives can be just a bit better? Why do you want other people to be miserable?

I'd assume the staff were all local before WFH, if it was office based, so have chosen to move themselves all over the country and the world? It's clumsily put but honest, if we see who you are we know who you are.

@TorringtonDean

As a woman who has spent most of my professional life working very difficult hours in an office and mostly being overlooked or not getting promotions….I’d be interested in knowing there will suddenly be all these opportunities handed out!

But being realistic after all this time, if it was a choice between saving 3hrs commuting each day or a couple of brownie points towards a once-in-a-blue-moon raise…..I’d go for the extra free time. What goes around comes around. They didn’t promote me when I was there. So I will still work my hardest but if I can stay home then I will!

This! In fact the only time I was promoted internally in my entire career of some 13 years was during the lockdown, not when I was doing a hard slog of commuting 3 hours to the other side of London and putting on a happy face to please my manager. I am much more productive working from home, collaborate well online and dont feel like I am missing out on anything by doing face time at the office. If I need another pay rise or promotion and dont get it internally I'll just get another job at another company and so on. It's what you have to do any way to get a decent pay rise these days, not many people stay with the same company for a lifetime these days

Not being in possession of a functioning crystal ball, strangely I can’t put a date on it. But having lived through five recessions, I’m perfectly able to recognise the perfect economic storm that makes one inevitable. The UK is holding the highest level of debt since 1945, the housing market is a huge bubble, businesses are going bust, as soon as furlough ends unemployment will soar - frankly if there wasn’t a huge recession it would be miraculous

Not helped by the chancellor’s wish to impose more austerity.

@Coffeepot72

It always amazes me how many posters on here are vociferously anti-WFH. Some seem to despise those who have the option to work from home.

Yes, very true. I find a lot of people who are anti WFH have a job that can’t be done from home, or wish they could WFH. They seem a bit jealous to be honest. And people seem to forget that a lot of companies are taking the hybrid approach. So neither one extreme nor the other.

Oh dear god. Why is it so many office workers see themselves as a special breed that don't have to go to work if they don't want to?

I do work in an office. I can wfh full tim. I went back in reduced days as soon as we were allowed with the covid rules.

I hate wfh with an absolute passion. I just hate it!

Why is it so hard to believe that some people like different things and not everyone wants to live at work.

Being in the office more makes it easier to build relationships and have your work more easily seen and so promotion is more likely. However, although I think that is likely to be the case short term, I do think that longer term to retain and make use of the best talent employers are going to need to try to find a way to overcome this.

I am a manager and have had to be in the office because of the role I am in throughout the pandemic. I have definitely got a closer relationship with those who have been in more and who I talk to more. Though I am very conscious of this and work hard to try to even it up I definitely have to make a conscious effort and that is after just 18 months.

I am about 75% WFH these days.

Hand on heart I do a good job and work long hours. Probably longer than if I was still travelling to work as I'm working in the time that I would normally travel and I am in a bad habit of logging on sometimes at weekends or evenings to finish tasks.

I know people who are absolutely taking the piss though and doing fuck all at home.

So I get why companies are wanting people back in and are seeking to reward that.

Shame though as WFH suited a lot of people, myself included.

The first thought that came into my mind was that the wording could be bullying or harassing some of the people at the company concerned. Open them to allegations of discrimination, as this could be said to favour those without children or other caring responsibilities. It may also be counter productive as some people may not seek promotion for their own reasons, and then just work a bit less.

Selling the benefits of coming into an office or having a consistent policy to be introduced would be better.

@Coffeepot72

It always amazes me how many posters on here are vociferously anti-WFH. Some seem to despise those who have the option to work from home.

Yes, very true. I find a lot of people who are anti WFH have a job that can’t be done from home, or wish they could WFH. They seem a bit jealous to be honest. And people seem to forget that a lot of companies are taking the hybrid approach. So neither one extreme nor the other.

I agree. Those who work jobs that can’t be done from home seem to often have the misconception that working from home is lounging in pyjamas on the sofa with a laptop balanced on your knee, checking occasional emails, with the TV on in the background. I have worked from home for years. Ive never worked in my pyjamas or on the sofa. I don’t bother with shoes but apart from that I get dressed and do my hair, etc just as if I worked at the office.

I guess there are some people who do work like that at home, in a dressing gown or pyjamas, on the sofa, but not many.

I agree. Those who work jobs that can’t be done from home seem to often have the misconception that working from home is lounging in pyjamas on the sofa with a laptop balanced on your knee, checking occasional emails, with the TV on in the background. I have worked from home for years. Ive never worked in my pyjamas or on the sofa. I don’t bother with shoes but apart from that I get dressed and do my hair, etc just as if I worked at the office.

Well then you're the minority and one of the few who are professional.

Our zoom calls for team meetings show most people in joggers and a t-shirt doing exactly what you describe.

One person who came to the office for the first time said it was actually nice to have a routine and get up and out make up on as she had been for 16 months getting out of bed staying in her pj's and walking next door to the lounge!

I wonder if the pj approach was just because it was novel. I also WFH and have done for a few years. I also have a daily routine, including alarm and set time when I got to work (ie my home office). Am in there all day, except to make a drink or get lunch. Am presentable in case of video calls etc.

TBH most home worked I've interacted with, prior to the pandemic, have been the same.

I agree. Those who work jobs that can’t be done from home seem to often have the misconception that working from home is lounging in pyjamas on the sofa with a laptop balanced on your knee, checking occasional emails, with the TV on in the background. I have worked from home for years. I’ve never worked in my pyjamas or on the sofa. I don’t bother with shoes but apart from that I get dressed and do my hair, etc just as if I worked at the office

“Well then you're the minority and one of the few who are professional. Our zoom calls for team meetings show most people in joggers and a t-shirt doing exactly what you describe.”

Nope, not in my case. We need two widescreen monitors to do our jobs – no balancing a laptop on the settee. Everyone gets dressed (top half anyway) and looks as presentable as if they were at the office.

We will be working flexibly because our office moved during lockdown, and it is a much longer drive for most of my team (no viable public transport to the new premises)