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?

They are BVU if they told you on a Friday they want you back in the office the following Monday - ie zero notice. I wouldn’t want to work for a company that thoughtless. But they are NBU for asking for staff to come back in per se.

@BritWifeInUSA

Oh yes, do go and tell them to “do one”, in those exact words. And then report back to us what happened next.

My exact thoughts.

I find myself wondering why people thought they would be able to work from home until the end of time and that businesses would just accommodate this?!? My husband has worked in his London office every day throughout the entire pandemic. Working from home, not even for a day, was something that was never suggested or even wanted.

I am sick to death of reading threads like these. I just find it so mindblowingly naive how many people who applied for roles during the pandemic which weren’t exclusively advertised as WFH roles and are now shocked they have to actually go to their place of work, to work. Complaining about 3 days a week as well, it’s not even a full week.

It just reeks of utter entitlement, to be honest. Flexitime is great when a workplace can offer it, but your family life should not depend on a WFH role unless you specifically work in a WFH job which will remain WFH. You should not be looking after children while being paid to work. Maybe on very occasional circumstances where a child is sick, for example. But not every single working day!

It also reminds me of the people who moved miles away from work and are now upset they have a ridiculously long commute. I swear people are just utterly dim at times.

YANBU to leave a job that no longer works for you. Your employer is NBU to ask you to work from the office following changes to Covid guidance, unless it was specifically set out in your contract that you'd be a remote worker

I plan on doing exactly the same thing OP. I don't want to go in any more than 2 days a week and if they ask me to then I will resign. Luckily i'm in an industry that's booming with lots of employment options so won't be too disastrous. I've discovered a new way of life that works perfectly for me and I don't want to go back to the ways of old it's as simple as that.

@PizzaCrust

I am sick to death of reading threads like these. I just find it so mindblowingly naive how many people who applied for roles during the pandemic which weren’t exclusively advertised as WFH roles and are now shocked they have to actually go to their place of work, to work. Complaining about 3 days a week as well, it’s not even a full week.

It just reeks of utter entitlement, to be honest. Flexitime is great when a workplace can offer it, but your family life should not depend on a WFH role unless you specifically work in a WFH job which will remain WFH. You should not be looking after children while being paid to work. Maybe on very occasional circumstances where a child is sick, for example. But not every single working day!

It also reminds me of the people who moved miles away from work and are now upset they have a ridiculously long commute. I swear people are just utterly dim at times.

We will probably be flamed for this but I agree with you entirely.

Resign because you are unhappy but you shouldn’t be surprised that workers are now expected at work.

Another privileged one who thinks that the world revolves around her!

Did you not ask what would be expected when COVID restrictions eased up? Bit short-sighted of you.

You are not BU to resign from a job that no longer suits but keep it professional and polite.

I couldn't agree more.

This topic seems to attract people who universalise their own experiences and get weirdly moralistic about the whole thing. On both sides.

Place of work, where both home and site are possible, is part of the conditions to be negotiated with the employer. There's nothing inherently better or worse about full wfh, full workplace or hybrid, and considerable individual variation.

If the two parties can come to a mutually acceptable agreement, great. If not, they aren't suited, no big deal, they're both better off looking elsewhere. As usual in the job market, some individuals will be better able to enforce their own terms than others, as will some employers.

Glad it's not just me who think those wfh have enjoyed their privilege long enough and now it's time to get back to work along with the rest of us.

I work in “Digital” and regularly recruit. It’s an Employees market in my area at the moment, people expect to be able to choose where there work from, and we would lose good candidates If we insisted that they came in full time.

It’s a technical revolution, the way people will use offices in future is very different (in my area anyway) and why not …

Many parents (women especially) discovered what work/life balance can truly mean, if corporations were a bit more flexible.
Being there for your child for breakfasts and early dinners, and having time to potter about with them has been so incredibly fulfilling, for both children and parents.

And now parents don’t want to give all that up, other women on MN of all places, are tearing them down and calling them entitled.

What would you call this?

Plus … the notion that those people who have WFH, have been skiving for the last two years, it utter nonsense - certainly not in my organisation.

Most roles I my industry are retaining a flexible hybrid model. A company would now struggle to hire if they didn't because it speaks loudly of their culture and in this industry that's everything!

However, working from home 3 or 4 or 5 days a week permanently is not looking after a child as well. If they're ill, maybe but you need to be committing to being available when your clients want to talk to you and that's likely office hours. Not 10pm when you've done bedtime

But the job market is massively buoyant. Best time to find what you're after.

Did you not ask what would be expected when COVID restrictions eased up? Bit short-sighted of you.

There was no restrictions 4 months ago?
And
In the recruitment process I was told 1 day per week.

I'm not sure that the OP is short sighted if the company is the one moving goal posts.

Then do one day a week in the office til you find a job you like?

You’re not being unreasonable at all - if there’s one thing we’ve all learned over the past two years, it’s that our jobs should fit in with us…I genuinely don’t know why we went in every day beforehand. In our team, we’re all so much more productive, well-rested and less stressed than we were pre-pandemic.

If they wanted you in one day a week to help build team cohesion, then I would say that was fair. However, again, if you’re looking for fully remote then what’s fair for me might not be fair for you.

At the end of the day, though, it is not unreasonable to leave a role if the working pattern doesn’t work for you. You have to be right for the job and the job has to be right for you. Working location preferences are all part of that.

Disclaimer: I’m doing the same thing, faced with an employer who is doing much the same as yours, so I’m a tad biased!

@ExtraOnion it has been the case for many and now they're getting a v rude awakening. WFH was never forever.

You can always formally apply to work from home.

I would be offended at some of the comments here is they weren't so laughable.

I've just finished my day WFH.

Started at 07:30 - just finished now - had a 20 minute break at work and probably 4-5 wee breaks, and one cup of tea in the afternoon.

I've done more than I would have in the office because I don't have a commute.

FFS there's some cynical mistrustful and downright jealous miseries on here

I’ve been on hybrid working since 2010 - it was the norm in a lot of industries and head offices that include regional/global collaboration.
To say WFH is going you are either uninformed or just envious that you are not offered it (or a bitter employer perhaps?)

As much as I would love to work from home, I have seen real decline in customer service so think it is time people went back to the office.

Meeting with your union and your employer seems like the obvious next step

I think a lot of companies have been trialling, reviewing, deciding etc and I know many places are making these kinds of decisions soon

I think hybrid working will be the norm going forward