Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Desk taken at work while on maternity

459 replies

Flopsy145 · 25/01/2022 04:23

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?

OP posts:
NightmareSlashDelightful · 25/01/2022 07:28

@duvetdayforeveryone

If the office manager refuses to intervene, take the following steps...
  1. Go into the office when the desk thief isn't there.
  2. Unlock the cupboard, and put something super stinky inside.
  3. Lock the cupboard and walk away with a smirk on your face.
  4. Come back from Maternity Leave to see the man has run far away from the stinky smell and the desk is yours once more!
Yes, by all means do this if ‘gross misconduct’ are words you particularly enjoy hearing.
Claymorekick · 25/01/2022 07:28

Please go and speak to your manager and start with the need to see your daughter's nursery - see how that goes Hmm

Why do you need to see it - do the staff hold up a sign for you at certain points? Do you have a pair of binoculars handy? Is it to check the nursery is still there every day?? Not the point of the post but I can't get past this need to see the nursery Grin

rwalker · 25/01/2022 07:29

It's not your desk
his wage and sex are irrelevant
and don't demand

If he's had to go to a standing desk due to health /medical issues perhaps its been put there as next to wall/window . rather than having him stood up in the middle I would fell very self consious if I were him

skodadoda · 25/01/2022 07:29

@Porcupineintherough

Do you have an office manager? If so, speak to them, if not I guess your boss. In my office you dont own your desk or your desk space and they might certainly be relocated if you were not in the office for months.
She was on maternity leave!
Skyeheather · 25/01/2022 07:29

Are you upset because you now can't look at your daughter's nursery from the window? It will be better for you if you can't, otherwise you'll always be looking out the window to see what's going on, if she's playing outside, if she's being taken out on a walk, when she gets back etc. It will do your head in and distract from your work.

If you have been away for a year then I don't think it's unreasonable for someone else to move into your desk especially if it's in a prime spot by the window.

Have you asked nicely if you can have it back? Maybe the man only moved in on a temporary basis and plans to give it back?

Francescaisstressed · 25/01/2022 07:32

Completely unreasonable. You want a desk because it's a better desk, you aren't entitled to it. You could certain raise it, but unless you have a legitimate reason ( I'm thinking desk assessment needs rather than seeing a nursery) I can't see why he should have to move.... He might do it just to be nice and reasonable of course. P

LittleOwl153 · 25/01/2022 07:33

If you are the closest thing to an office manager, I would as you say ask him to clear your desk. If he hasn't then I'd announce a move around on the basis thaybhe can see your screens which is clearly unacceptable. So his standing desk needs to be put in a more appropriate place for everyone...

icelollycraving · 25/01/2022 07:36

I’m surprised you left items in your desk for your entire mat leave.
You could mention you would like to return to your desk but I don’t think you can insist.

newname12345 · 25/01/2022 07:38

@LittleOwl153

If you are the closest thing to an office manager, I would as you say ask him to clear your desk. If he hasn't then I'd announce a move around on the basis thaybhe can see your screens which is clearly unacceptable. So his standing desk needs to be put in a more appropriate place for everyone...
Why is seeing someone else's screen clearly unacceptable? Ever you ever worked in an open plan office? Most screens are visible.
HidingFromDD · 25/01/2022 07:38

seriously do not kick up a fuss about desk position, if you have a genuine need for privacy then discuss with your line manager but be prepared for a desk somewhere completely different. Your biggest problem is that they've managed to cover your role without you for a period of time, is your role actually needed?

MajorCarolDanvers · 25/01/2022 07:39

I'm afraid you have no legal right to a particular desk.

You could try asking nicely. 'Demanding it will be unlikely to achieve anything.

londonrach · 25/01/2022 07:42

Desks get moved. Whilst not on maternity I had to move desks several times over my years of working with a desk. It part of work. I now work in a clinic. First person to arrive choose the clinic that works for them out of the three. Yabu. It's just a desk. If that worried about it talk to your manager but seems abit petty to me

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 25/01/2022 07:44

I'm considering just telling him 'im coming back on x date, if you could make sure my desk is clear by then that would be great, thanks!' and seeing what he says?

I’d try this - talk about it as a “well of course this is happening” - might work! I really wouldn’t like being shunted along so that he’s standing over me!

Our office is open plan so everyone including the Chief Exec just books a desk. Makes it more straight forward really - and justifies all the working from home we’ve always had!

C8H10N4O2 · 25/01/2022 07:45

I'm considering just telling him 'im coming back on x date, if you could make sure my desk is clear by then that would be great, thanks!' and seeing what he says?

To be honest I'd do that if the office was fixed desks and typically people on LoA, off ill, or on mat leave returned to their own desks. Just assume its temporary and express the same degree of entitlement to your space that men do.

Key point I'd raise if I wasn't in charge would be the role - if privacy for calls is important in your role then its obviously inappropriate for someone to be in a position overlooking your screens or for calls to be overheard.

I wouldn't complain about losing the window view, although tbh, its obvious he grabbed it for the windows and the privacy.

Is it a small org? I don't so often see fixed desks in large orgs.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 25/01/2022 07:46

Has there been wider rearrangements of desks, or just this? Maybe the office manager/your senior/your maternity cover had good reason to want to try a different arrangement? In our offices standing desks are on outside walls. I could see them being massively distracting in the centre of an office.

My organisation has hot desked for 15 years, the only allocated desks are the standing desks!! The office also moved both times I was on maternity leave!!

Have you actually asked for your desk back? The current occupant might well be expecting to move when you return.

RedskyThisNight · 25/01/2022 07:48

I can't think of anyone I know who's been on maternity leave and come back to the same desk. We just wouldn't leave a desk empty for that length of time.

What's important is that you have a desk that's appropriate for you to do your job. Is the desk you've been given satisfies this, then you have nothing to raise. Even if it isn't, you can't request your old desk back - you can simply request a more appropriate space which could be somewhere entirely different!

Askingforfriend · 25/01/2022 07:49

My last job, I was an office manager. I had my desk laid out so it was difficult to see my screens and I had privacy filters on them. It was because I sometimes handled confidential documents that my managers did not want shared. Also people are nosy.

My husband worked in the same office. He also had his desk set up so people couldn't see his screen for the same reason.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 25/01/2022 07:49

my office was taken when i got back and i struggled to get back my post card and my fluffy toy, let alone my dictionary. the girl was foul.

PyjamaFan · 25/01/2022 07:50

Do the nursery staff know you've been watching them?

I can't get over that comment.

Fatmax22 · 25/01/2022 07:52

If you genuinely need privacy from other people in your office to do your job then this shouldn't be a problem. You haven't said exactly why it is the case, but if it's true then sort it out. If you are his manager then you just ask him to move his desk and point out that you have to be in a position where your calls can't be overheard by anyone. If you aren't then you need to ask your manager to sort it out before you return.
Similarly, if it's the case that your colleagues cannot be allowed to see what is on your screen for confidentiality reasons then again it's reasonable to request that he moves.

However - if there is no reason why your colleagues can't see and hear your work then you'd have difficulty arguing this one. They could have moved offices not just desks in your absence after all. Also, if they deal with confidentiality concerns by putting you at a desk in a completely different location, that's reasonable too.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 25/01/2022 07:53

I wouldn’t mention the nursery bit though!

Pleasebeafleabite · 25/01/2022 07:53

@Foolsrule

Agree with *@HollyBollyBooBoo*. If he’s not there often, plenty of opportunity. How creepy to have him standing over/behind you now. Didn’t anyone think that would be inappropriate?!
Hilarious

Standing desks go up and down.

Are only women allowed to use the height function so that it’s not creepy?

Simonjt · 25/01/2022 07:58

@Foolsrule

Agree with *@HollyBollyBooBoo*. If he’s not there often, plenty of opportunity. How creepy to have him standing over/behind you now. Didn’t anyone think that would be inappropriate?!
Virtually everyone in an office has someone working on a desk behind them, how on earth is working at a desk creepy or innapropriate?
Fiftythreepercent · 25/01/2022 07:58

I'm considering just telling him 'im coming back on x date, if you could make sure my desk is clear by then that would be great, thanks!' and seeing what he says?

How does this work? The desk has been replaced by a standing desk. He is not using your desk, he’s just using a new standing desk in the space where your desk used to be surely Confused

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 25/01/2022 08:00

Just assume its temporary and express the same degree of entitlement to your space that men do.

^^
This really