To resign because my job suddenly requires me in 3 days a week?

[Earlyflash]

We got told on Friday that we would be required to do a minimum of three days a week in the office from monday.

I’m new at the company (4 months) and this was never mentioned in the recruitment phase. That said I didn’t push them for a written answer.

Given we’ve spent the last two years working 100% at home, this seems like a massive overreach, and I’m intending to tell them to do one.

It’s going to have such an impact on me, my partner, and my children (from previous relationship).

I already have interviews for fully remote roles.

So, AIBU for reacting to such a request?

@OLP2019

I mean really ffs until covid everyone was expected to work in an office so what is the problem

The power has gone to people's heads and they think they can dictate how a company runs their business instead of going and getting another job.

3 days a week in the office sounds ideal and if the company don't ever expect 5 days in the office, then I would value that employer. But if it does not suit you then by all means resign and find something fully remote.

@UserBot999 yes but that attitude also reeks of privilege because not everyone can afford to live close to their work.

Now those who chose to move 100 miles away ‘because I’m working from home and housing is cheaper there’…. That’s another issue - and NOT the situation the OP is in where the company had told her 1 day a week in the office, not 3..
Companies going back to their words is never a good sign tbh.

That’s not normal for here.

I'm not talking anecdotally though. You can believe that all staff who were wfh last Monday were back in the office full time at the end of the week but...

Obviously everyone should, and in most cases do, have childcare whilst they are working from home.

But like lots of people wfh just makes it easier to do the job.

I'm busier than I've ever been with work and everyday work more hours than contract in order to get the job done.

I can leave five minutes before afterschool pick up time . Whereas in the office I need to leave an hour before pick up time.

The consequences of wfh is that I get lots more work done than I did when I was in the office.

I can Obviously return to my old productivity levels, but it will be a drop

@monfuseds

You're not going to book your child into a workplace nursery 5 miles from home if you don't go to the office to work.

apparently you should do this & pay for it months on end just in case your employer decides differently on a whim 😆. meanwhile in the real world... it also ignores the fact the schools were not necessarily offering wrap around care as normal.

In the real world employers don't give a hoot where the nursery is, how long the commute is, as long as the employee does their job as per their contract. If the employee can't fulfil their contract because of childcare/commute issues they find another job.

Many employers have spent two years helping people juggle work and other commitments in a way never seen before. And that's been great, but people now need to stop throwing the toys out the pram because they now have to change things they've got used to, when we all knew this was temporary.

I'll repeat - your childcare arrangements are your problem, not your employers.

Dismissing someone because of changes that affect their childcare with no notice and without a sound business reason, could make for an interesting discrimination case. I think discrimination still applies to employees for less than two years though I'm not an expert so best consult someone who is before acting on my vague musings!

workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/flexible-working-and-the-law-a-guide-for-employees/

@monfuseds

That’s not normal for here.

I'm not talking anecdotally though. You can believe that all staff who were wfh last Monday were back in the office full time at the end of the week but...

Yes you are… Unless you have insight into all sectors

Most companies are phasing people back in until at least self isolation relaxes in March as they don't want ill staff.

@monfuseds

Most companies are phasing people back in until at least self isolation relaxes in March as they don't want ill staff.

Where are you getting this from?

@MarshaBradyo just read the news, you are saying that the vast majority of sectors & workers were back to offices at the end of last week? Do you have any evidence?

Many employers have spent two years helping people juggle work and other commitments in a way never seen before

And most staff have been juggling like mad to get their jobs done. Lets stop pretending this is all one way and a result of magnanimous employers. Employment is a two way thing and good employers keep good staff, those who treat their staff like commodities will not keep them especially in the current climate.

Where are you getting this from?

Where are you getting the idea that wfh has ended & everyone is back in the office full time already? 😆

No I’m not saying last week because wfh and plan b end January 26th

The changes here will happen when policy changes not before.

Employment is a two way thing and good employers keep good staff

This & if you don't get treated well you need to change jobs.

@monfuseds

Where are you getting this from?

Where are you getting the idea that wfh has ended & everyone is back in the office full time already? 😆

Maybe check the actual dates.

Move on if you’re unhappy 🤷🏻‍♀️. No one can tell you to stay or to leave but you.

@CaveWoman1

Seriously, employers do call the shots. You get paid to do what they tell you to do. If your boss wants you in the office, guess what, you show up at an office. And get on with your work. So many people have got used to a WFH scenario they’ve forgotten what it means to be employed. If you don’t like it, you’re a free agent. You can look for an alternative situation.

I agree. The company does hold power, although of course an employee has the power to leave. Very very few employees are irreplaceable.

@SquirrelG

Unless they told you that you would be working from home forever then surely you would have expected to have to go into the office at some stage? The last two years have been exceptional circumstances for goodness sake. Leave the job if you want to, but telling them "to do one" is a massive over-reaction.

Agree. Entitled people..

@MarshaBradyo

The guidance to work from home has ended..

Do you have any evidence? Trains are reaching capacity - unless everyone's out on leisure trips - which is possible!

@NumberTheory -exactly this, many employees have had to adapt their homes in some way to facilitate wfh for the past 2 years -we had to lose our spare room, new furniture, change childcare arrangements, use personal mobiles (giving numbers out to clients), childcare and schooling is unlikely to be normal for a while, isolation rules mean people you relied on in the old system drop in and out of availability.

It’s an employees market out there, well it is in my profession, people were pissed off with the way that they were being treated and have left the profession in droves. My inbox in linked in is inundated everyday, employees are holding a lot of the cards. People have seen and lived an alternative which for the most part has worked absolutely fine.

I think discrimination still applies to employees for less than two years

You're right it does, but since parenthood's not a protected characteristic the only realistic route would probably be a gender based claim because this "affects women disproportionately"
And it's perhaps yet another case of being careful what you wish for, if this resulted in some employers being even more reluctant to hire younger women than they are already

There's no doubt at all that WFH can be an excellent thing when it works, but while so many claim they're even more effective it's not always an objective view

The government guidance on wfh ended last Wednesday evening. It was from immediate effect.

Therefore from a covid perspective there should be no wfh anymore.

Business reasons are entirely separate.

Therefore the timescale is correct

I don't understand all the people who hate the thought of not working from home any more. Presumably none of them hated going out into the world enough to make changes to their life pre-covid that allowed them to stay at home e.g. set up their own business.