Desk taken at work while on maternity

[Flopsy145]

I'm coming to the end of my maternity leave and have found out that a man in my team has moved into my desk while I've been off and replaced it with a standing desk. I love my desk, it has a window and privacy which I need more than him in the role I'm in, and I can see my daughter's nursery.
He's on more money than me, and didn't even ask to have my desk, which still has a locked cupboard of mine next to it which I need.
The desk I've been moved to is pretty shit.
AIBU to demand my desk back?

Get yourself privacy screens.

Is this actually a joke?

People work like this?

It's. A .Desk. You don't own it. The company provide you somewhere to SIT whilst you work. That's it. Liking it, being able to see your daughter's nursery blah blah blah is 100% irrelevant.

Be happy you still have a job having had a baby in the middle of a pandemic (brave move let's be honest given that the country is clearly about to go to shit! )

I would say NOTHING.

@Flopsy145

Sorry everyone I feel like I've caused a bit of a 50/50 split battle here! Didn't mean to rile anyone up. Like pp have said, in the grand scheme of things it's very minor. Is it cheeky imo, yes, is it the end of the world if I move desks, absolutely not. Even if he doesn't move, I will say I think it's cheeky to have done it so he knows he can't just move desks without agreeing with the person originally in that desk as whatever people say that is rude when you have allocated desks, I get on with him well enough to be honest, but then I'll drop it and live my life quite happily at my new desk haha!

I think that's a good idea. Tell him you're back and you'd like your desk back. If he says no, say that it was really poor form to take a colleague's desk without even the courtesy of a discussion, when they are on leave. Is there a reason you have been so inconsiderate to a colleague? I assume you were not expecting me to return?

Make sure he knows he's been rude and uncollegiate. Even if he's a selfish arse who won't give you your desk back, at least he should feel some sort of embarrassment at his snidey actions and be called on it, rather than you just meekly accepting it without challenge.

What happens if you have two
or three babies? Do you expect your desk to remain free for you for the years that add up for maternity cover? You will come across as very petty if you make a fuss about this. By all means ask. Then accept his answer and move on.

I can understand why you feel aggrieved but in my experience and I’ve worked in offices for 25 years, once you’ve gone on maternity leave you’ve as good as left until you come back. There’s always talk of whether that person will come back even if they say they will and when they do will they actually stay or work long enough so they don’t have to pay back their maternity package ( if you get one on top of SMP) and then leave. There is also the out of sight out of mind element to being away for months.

I’ve seen so many women return to work after 9/12 months off and be really unhappy at the changes that have taken place eg office reshuffles, colleagues left and new starters, changes to management. Being away for a year can make you feel like you’re starting a new job when you return if there’s been lots of changes.

The day I returned from maternity leave I was out in the redundancy process because in my absence the company had found a way to distribute my admin to junior support members of staff and had a freelancer do the important bits. Obviously they disguised that and the official line was a ‘reorganisation’ but the reality was they’d realised they could save money. I’ve met so many women who have been made redundant after returning from maternity leave and in every sector!

I would stop worrying about where you’re going to be sitting, as lots of others have said it isn’t ‘your’ desk, you haven’t been there for months so someone else is using it and they don’t have to move just because you’re coming back. All that matters is that you have a deal to go back to.

Respectfully, you don’t own the desk and I’ve never worked anywhere where people don’t just sit where they’re told. We all have preferences and by all means voice them but otherwise, just get on with it.

I've been hot desking for years so gave no desk. The fact you have a view and can daughter's nursery is neither here nor there. Other people have right yo a view too so from that point of view it is someone elses turn especially as usual were not even there.

[quote Flopsy145]@Cheekypeach I understand it doesn't 'belong to me,' but everyone in my team has had the same desk for years. If there's ever been a switch it's been discussed and agreed between the two people switching, our boss has never been involved. I know if I wasn't off I wouldn't have come in one day and found he switched them without asking, but he's jumped on the opportunity of me not being there which I personally think is wrong. People may disagree, but personally I think it's cheeky and rude to do that to someone if they're off for maternity, medical, sabatical whatever it is. I would never do that to someone, or I would have said 'hey hope it's ok if I move to your desk while you're off but just let me know when you're back and I'll make sure it's ready for you.'[/quote]
You’re missing the point entirely OP. You’re being the cheeky one. You bagged a prime spot for years, and now you’re annoyed that when you were off for a year somebody else is now sitting there - despite the fact there may be good reason why his standing desk needs to be there.

I get very fed up of unofficial office rules affording some people more entitlement than others - ‘Oh but you can’t put your lunch in the microwave at 12.30 because Jane always puts hers in at that time and she’d be annoyed’

No; what’s cheeky/annoying is people who think by force of habit that they are entitled to things that they’re not. You’ve got this all the wrong way round.

@Flopsy145

Sorry everyone I feel like I've caused a bit of a 50/50 split battle here! Didn't mean to rile anyone up. Like pp have said, in the grand scheme of things it's very minor. Is it cheeky imo, yes, is it the end of the world if I move desks, absolutely not. Even if he doesn't move, I will say I think it's cheeky to have done it so he knows he can't just move desks without agreeing with the person originally in that desk as whatever people say that is rude when you have allocated desks, I get on with him well enough to be honest, but then I'll drop it and live my life quite happily at my new desk haha!

Do you not think maybe this was agreed with the line manager? It's seriously not cheeky and by even saying that to him you won't come across well, especially if it's for medical reasons and it turns out there is a good reason why his standing desk was placed there.

Everyone in my office wfh for18 months due to Covid. We were then given the option of hybrid working which meant we had to hot desk, or being assigned a permanent desk which would be somewhere you were randomly assigned but would almost definitely not be the desk you used to sit in.

Based on the responses to this thread I am absolutely amazed that World War 3 did not break out and the company continues to function.

OP - you need to request a space that allows you to work without being overlooked as you look at confidential material. The rest of your post is irrelevant.

I'm in public sector ...

Yes, I thought it might be; with anywhere else I'd have assumed this was a joke but it all makes perfect sense now

It also wrecks what would have been my suggestion - that you "demand" your desk back, mention discrimination a lot and give them the best laugh they'll have had in weeks

It boils down to - if your work contains personal and confidential information, the setup with a colleague overlooking your place doesn't work well.
No harm done in place being used, actually not even without asking (if you were properly off, reaching you only to let you know of switching the desk places sounds strange).

I'd check with your LM how to approach it - whether switching places back, office reorganization, other solution.

I agree with the pp who said it is YOU OP who is coming across as very cheeky and entitled.

48:52, what is it with this cursed ratio? :D

@Leftbutcameback

I think a lot of people who are used to hot desking don't understand about having a fixed desk spot. In my old office (left in 2015) we all had our own desks and any desk moves were discussed and agreed in advance. I moved three times in 7 years, but never far. I wouldn't have agreed a move to under the air con vent as that was what I hated. I wasn't bothered about a window.

Psychologically having your own space is important to a lot of people. It's also a practical thing in terms of getting desks set up for you with cables, foot rests, screen height etc. together with having files close by, and not having to clear your desk every night. It's one of the reasons I don't bother going into an office anymore.

Even in an office with hot desking our EAs had permanent desks.

It's poor behaviour OP, raise it with your LM and good luck.

I am amazed thast your manager allowed such territorial behaviour

We had a sort of similar issue in my workplace. A woman got a secondment for a year and she had the corner desk, nice window, better PC. We had a new member of staff take over her role though there was a gap in transferring back. The 'new' woman got a permanent role at a lower pay grade about a month before her colleague returned to her more senior role.

We suggested in passing that maybe the newer colleague move to the spare desk (doesn't have a window and generally more 'exposed') and she ignored it.

What happened was our colleague returned from her secondment, in a foul mood and had an absolute fit over the stuff on 'her' desk. We had barely said 'hello, welcome back' and she was picking up the woman's stationary and anything personalised and dumping it on the spare desk. She sat down absolutely fuming. Newer woman came into the department and was completely floored to find this happening and introduced herself to our old colleague who snapped 'do you want to get the rest of your stuff off of MY desk'. Newer woman is quite sensitive and scurried around her, scrambling to pick up her things with tears running down her face. We have no office manager and technically the older colleague was the most senior member of staff.

So there's a lesson in how NOT to handle it!

[quote Flopsy145]@Cheekypeach I understand it doesn't 'belong to me,' but everyone in my team has had the same desk for years. If there's ever been a switch it's been discussed and agreed between the two people switching, our boss has never been involved. I know if I wasn't off I wouldn't have come in one day and found he switched them without asking, but he's jumped on the opportunity of me not being there which I personally think is wrong. People may disagree, but personally I think it's cheeky and rude to do that to someone if they're off for maternity, medical, sabatical whatever it is. I would never do that to someone, or I would have said 'hey hope it's ok if I move to your desk while you're off but just let me know when you're back and I'll make sure it's ready for you.'[/quote]
"allocated desks" not the desk you choose in the place that you choose but the desk and the place that are allocated to you. I am sure that had you been around, you would have been told that XXX is going to be moving into the spot that you currently occupy and you will be placed elsewhere instead....but you weren't so it was just done. Honestly move on.

about this confidentiality thing......I used to work in the NHS and the confidentiality setup there is within teams and only very rarely limited to an individual....individuals go sick, move on, are on leave...even maternity leave....and someone needs to take over their caseload or deal with queries when the usual person is out of the office and so on....so why the big deal about seeing each others screens if you are on the same team? And what is so fascinating about the OP's screen that the person behind will want to peer at it?

It could be worse - my sister’s job moved to a different country while she was on maternity leave!

@DoNotGetADog

It could be worse - my sister’s job moved to a different country while she was on maternity leave!

hahahahaha

@theemmadilemma

I'm so happy my team all work at home. I have never in my life seen something turn a group of grown ass adults into tantruming children as much as a desk reorg. Childish fits abound if you dare move someone from their preferred desk where they can skive and no one can see...

WFH has been the best thing to happen.

All the petty turf wars, childish behaviour, tattling, slacking has been completely eliminated.

All the time and money wasted on these things...

You sound a bit precious , it’s the companies desk and they can move people around as they see fit

Is this actually a joke? People work like this?

IME they do in much of the public sector
With too little to do and too many people to not do it, things such as "my desk" take on an imagined importance they'd seldom have elsewhere

So many nasty comments on this thread Presumably if the OP’s replacement has stayed until she returned, this wouldn’t have happened. Her desk would have very much still been her desk. Mr Standing Desk has spotted an opportunity and annexed her space as his own. Time for the OP to return to her job and desk as though nothing has happened. As with the example above where things went badly, don’t even entertain anything other than your desk being your desk. Straight back in, first day, bits and bobs out, crack on. If Mr Standing Desk creates a fuss, let him, and remind him that he had no right to invade your territory in the first place.