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?

Only the lonely, the desperate and the sheep will be flocking back , despite the Daily Mail dogma. go into central London on a weekday morning during rush hour. I can assure you that that really is not the case.

People who thought this was here to stay are in for a shock.

And FWIW I would love a job which is wfh, with a serious heart condition which means a commute could increase my fatigue wfh would suit me perfectly, but those jobs are becoming less and less.

My town has thrived with WFH actually - it's been really noticeable.

Loads of small businesses opened up because more people are here to use them.

Town is commutable to London ( 70 mins) and a nearby south coast city ( 15 mins) and really was a dormitory town.

Now it's incredibly vibrant and busy. It's been a boost to some places.

Did you take this job on though mid pandemic knowing full well where your actual place of work was?

No, I’ve worked there 10 years. The office location moved about 5 years ago to an awkward part of London for me. I didn’t say my employer shouldn’t be able to ask me to come back to full time office I was just answering the question.

The length of notice isn't great. If you've got childcare covered 9-5 and you suddenly need to cover 8-6, that's not going to happen overnight. Would employers be open to negotiation on the return to office date?

I'm looking forward to this over the next few weeks. Some jobs in my organisation are home based and were pre-pandemic. Some roles really need to be in the office and its been an absolute nightmare for productivity. We have allowed people to work from home, even though it hasn't really worked. We have service users that can't be seen via zoom or whatever. I'm awaiting the uproar of but Hunter works from home!

[quote newchance2]@RockallMalinHebrides
I think there was a notice/talks about coming back to a hybrid model. And if it’s THAT important for OP, she should have specifically asked. I know I would! I remember organising childcare even though I didn’t know if I got the job yet.[/quote]
The question I asked was if the notice period given was reasonable?

I think a year from now working from home will be a dim and distant memory for most.

I completely disagree, the vast majority of jobs/companies that have the option will keep a hybrid model.

And WFH will go back to being a luxury rather than an expectation.

Although the vast majority of people who wfh had that element pre covid just less frequently. City of London office space has been reducing for years.

In our office, it's a massive talking point and we've been blindsided by the early announcement but had semi prepared the team anyways as we could see it coming. Its odd they've not talked and prepped you for it? We're doing a 'do what you can' week this week to help transition and then back to our rota and expectations to be in. This was also made really clear in interviews.

I do see where you're coming from that it's sudden and more than you expected, but I think you possibly should have seen something coming too or asked for more clarity? Bit of both.

@monfuseds

I know quite a few who have done it And other posters have said on this thread that's what they have done and now lost their childcare places

There is nothing wrong in it but it was shortsighted to have done it if your formal employment contract hadn't actually changed to WFH / flexible place Of working / hybrid working - my contract was formerly changed to hybrid working but it still stipulates that If say you wanted to WFH on set days to do the school run then that becomes a flexible working request for which a formal application has to be put in and business case etc like it would have needed to have pre pandemic

@Pyewhacket

You are absolutely doing the right thing coz next it will be four days in the office and then five. Then the reasonable unpaid overtime clause that they also failed to mention.

The labour market has changed. Flexible working patterns and WFH are here to stay and employers who think otherwise or remain uncompetitve in the job market are going to struggle to retain and recruit the best people.

Only the lonely, the desperate and the sheep will be flocking back , despite the Daily Mail dogma.

Nice to hear your opinion of me as lonely, desperate and a sheep when in actual fact what I and many other people do needs a good chunk of face to face time to get good collaboration going. Interestingly the company I left due to them saying 100% mandatory WFH is now moving to a hybrid model as it didn't work well enough.

Working from home was never intended to be permanent for most of us.

Unless you applied for a job that was clearly advertised as permanent telecommuting then you should have realised this.

If you were relying on perming work from him you should established this in writing and checked your contract reflected this.

That said, the notice isn’t great. I would have argued as you have only enjoyed Thai arrangement for a few moths you probably need less notice than your colleagues who have been wfh for two years.

By all means start looking for actual telecommuting jobs, but keep
It professional with your correct employer.

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.

This. If my employer says we have to go back into the office then we go back. I can't imagine people who have been recruited during the time we've been WFH resigning over it

@OfstedOffred

We will be telling our teams they are expected back from March 50/50 and I’m dreading the aftermath, so many entitled people who fail to understand that yes their employer can call the shots.

Um, not really. People don't have to accept a job. There are shortages of staff in many areas. In my industry we can't get good people, if a member of my team said "I'm wfh or I'm leaving" tbh I'd have to accept them wfh, they'd be so hard to replace

It's such a tricky balance at the moment. If someone in one of our services said that, they'd only really be able to do a third of their role effectively.

We would either have to

• let them work from home and spread the two thirds of the role between others. Which doesn't go down well as they are on the same salary.
• let them go and be unable to replace them as the candidate pool is so slim.

They are unreasonable to not give you more than a weekend's notice but not being unreasonable to expect you back in the office for three days.

Unfortunately a lot of people were swayed by media reports of ‘everyone fleeing cities’ to WFH forever. In reality it was only ever going to be temporary, the economy is interconnected, everyone WFH would have huge negative effects on parts of the economy which would ripple through the wider economy. In addition many people claim they work better from him but in my experience it’s mixed, some people are very productive from home but many aren’t. There was a period where I could not get hold of anyone at my local council for days when they apparently all working from home last summer. Shocking service.

I have friends who moved FOUR hours away from their office believing their employers verbal non written promise at the start of the pandemic that they would be fully remote but they’ve now been asked to come in one day a week. The expectation is this will creep up as clients demand more accessibility.

I expect hybrid working to continue with two or three days in the office at least for corporate staff. So whilst they are being unreasonable to expect a sudden rather than phased change from next week, they aren’t being unreasonable to want their staff to spend the majority of their time in the office.

I think they are bu to give such short notice, given journey times extend the day they should allow time for childcare arrangements to be made etc.
I would also check your contract. really this should have been to clarified the during the recruitment process.
I think you can politely explain to your manager your surprise in the change of tack ,ask for enough time to make any necessary arrangements and perhaps try and negotiate down to one or two days in office ,how have your colleagues reacted?
Your employer has handled it badly so yanbu to be in shock at sudden change of tack, although clearly its all linked to covid and Boris's announcements. YABU if you took a job and didn't check with them longer term expectations although they should have also made it clear.
Of course perfectly reasonable took for another job that suits you more but unless you can afford to resign without another job to go to you may have to suck it up for a while.

Your employer should have given you a little more notice but you should have sought clarification at the interview. What does your contract say? You are, of course, at liberty to look for another job but in the current climate I would be trying it out first before leaving.

I think it should have been clear at the outset whether the WFH was pandemic-contingent or the company’s normal way of working. If the former I think maybe yabu, if the latter or it wasn’t clarified yanbu. I wouldn’t tell them to ‘do one’ but certainly have a discussion with them and/or look for another job if this doesnt suit you.

@bonetiredwithtwins I live in SW London, over the pandemic dozens of school mum friends & neighbours have left London as they've moved fully remote or 80%. All agreed in contracts. One friend is a detective who has secured some permanent home working. I don't know anyone who moved to Cornwall on a whim.

I think it's unusual to expect a switch over a weekend & not representative of many companies.

@missfliss

My town has thrived with WFH actually - it's been really noticeable.

Loads of small businesses opened up because more people are here to use them.

Town is commutable to London ( 70 mins) and a nearby south coast city ( 15 mins) and really was a dormitory town.

Now it's incredibly vibrant and busy. It's been a boost to some places.

Same here and I’m amazed that the government haven’t realised this. Or maybe not because they don’t actually pay attention to what’s going on on the ground.

The notice period is unreasonable, but the requirement to go back isn't. I'm surprised it didn't say anything about location in the contract, it's a pretty standard clause. Of course it may have said "office address or other address within a 20 mile radius" that includes your home. But usually it is written "you will be required to work at..." so it's up to the employer.

YANBU to look for another job though, you can do that any time for any reason.

I think it’s stunning during a cost of living crisis, that the government and employers want to push people to taking back on commuting costs and childcare costs.

It’s madness.

Yes the Pret in my area has thrived & another one has opened up not far.

*bonetiredwithtwins

Employers have every right to expect employees back in the office*

Good luck trying to recruit and replace the people who've just left to work elsewhere then.

My husband's firm rescinded their " back to the office" decision after they lost over half of their trained and experienced staff and are now finding it virtually impossible to find suitable replacements. Treating your workforce as an expensive overhead that should be lucky to have a job went down the crapper two years ago.

What does your contract say about place of work?

I can’t understand why people can’t just do what their employer tells them.

You can’t be serious @Darbs76?! People are not owned by their employers - they swap their labour for their salary and that’s it.

OP, YANBU it’s far too short notice and you should take the other job and tell them why.

I like going to my office, and have been able to go in more or less when I want or need to over the pandemic - it’s been brilliant to be able to choose and my employer has had no impact on their earnings. No way would I respond well to being told how to work with nearly zero warning.

@SquirrelG

They were told on the Friday that the next week they need to be in the office three days. That's not even one business day before the period begins. 2 business days to get anything done. It takes no account of people who may need to make arrangements for childcare, commuting or other responsibilities. Some of which will have changed, along with the services they need to support their return to the office, since employers started (also with no notice) using employees' own homes and utilities as part of their strategy to stay in business. Obviously keeping businesses going is good for everyone. But making demands without decent notice that will strain many employees when the time frame isn't critical shows a huge lack of respect and appreciation for employees.

I disagree. I think the OP was very naive to expect to be able to work from home forever - she can't blame her employer because she didn't think things through. As for the other employees - surely they worked from the office prior to covid, so they can go back to doing whatever they did then. There are some very entitled people in today's world it seems.

I'm job hunting at the moment and the wording around remote working is very ambiguous. A lot of ads use the words flexible and hybrid very liberally but you really don't know what the culture of the organisation is until you join. Op, good luck in other interviews. Please of companies are genuinely embracing remote working - I'm sure you will find something.