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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:
godmum56 · 25/01/2022 08:29

@KatherineJaneway

It could be he was moved there as he needs a lot of natural light to see properly. I'd check this possibility out first and if not the case, I'd email him and say that you will return on X date and will ensure his sit stand desk is moved to Y location for that date.
hilarious
Pipsquiggle · 25/01/2022 08:29

For the past 10 years I have worked in hot desking offices - no one 'owned' a desk. The only people who don't hot desk are the people with special desks that have been set up by occupational health

If you want to raise it, your best arguments are:

  • I need more privacy than him due to the sensitive meetings I have and it can only be in that area of the office due layout
  • Him being able to look directly at your screens due to the confidential nature of your work plus lack of privacy

Do not mention the window (everyone wants to sit next to a window) or the nursery

MichelleScarn · 25/01/2022 08:36

Don't work in this type of environment so just a bit confused. Op is being called ridiculous/entitled/laughable for expecting to have a set desk that she previously had, while also getting told that's his desk now, you can't expect to have it back, you've been away, he's been sitting there?

girlmom21 · 25/01/2022 08:37

Discrimination because the business made use of their empty desk? JFC Grin

tigger1001 · 25/01/2022 08:39

Just speak with your line manager and ask where they are planning for you to sit. Have the conversation about confidentiality etc.

Offices get moved about and desks change. We have fixed desks but if management want to shuffle people about then that's what happens. It's often done because of personality clashes.

godmum56 · 25/01/2022 08:39

@MichelleScarn

Don't work in this type of environment so just a bit confused. Op is being called ridiculous/entitled/laughable for expecting to have a set desk that she previously had, while also getting told that's his desk now, you can't expect to have it back, you've been away, he's been sitting there?
yup that's right....she doesn't own or control the office environment or the furniture
Toanewstart22 · 25/01/2022 08:43

@MichelleScarn

Don't work in this type of environment so just a bit confused. Op is being called ridiculous/entitled/laughable for expecting to have a set desk that she previously had, while also getting told that's his desk now, you can't expect to have it back, you've been away, he's been sitting there?
Gone a year Offices move on and develop and change Most accept and adapt accordingly Some, like OP, whinge and stamp feet
PrincessNikla · 25/01/2022 08:45

If OP had been in the office when this change was first suggested then she probably would have been able to stop it. (Or it would not have been considered in the first place?)

Therefore she has been disadvantaged by being on maternity leave?

DGRossetti · 25/01/2022 08:45

@madisonbridges

It could be worse. A colleague of mine went abroad on business and not only did he lose his desk, he lost his office as well. He ended up in a broom closet.
Those of us of a certain age will remember the documentary comedy series "Hot Metal" which saw a management restructure put the office managers desk in the lift...
Cheekypeach · 25/01/2022 08:45

It’s not ‘your’ desk though OP, just somewhere you have sat long enough that you feel it is ‘your’ desk. And I agree with PP you can’t really ask to keep it so you can gaze out of the window Confused

aristotlesdeathray · 25/01/2022 08:47

@PrincessNikla

If OP had been in the office when this change was first suggested then she probably would have been able to stop it. (Or it would not have been considered in the first place?)

Therefore she has been disadvantaged by being on maternity leave?

She might have also been able to stop them moving from PG tips to Yorkshire tea

Or stop them from changing the brand of toilet roll

None of which matter

Just like the location of her desk

Cheekypeach · 25/01/2022 08:47

@PrincessNikla

If OP had been in the office when this change was first suggested then she probably would have been able to stop it. (Or it would not have been considered in the first place?)

Therefore she has been disadvantaged by being on maternity leave?

What? Nothing should change while a person is on maternity leave, not a reshuffle of desks or so much as moving a cabinet? The disadvantage pertains to HR matters, not whether they’ve decided to rejig the office furniture. And how would she be disadvantaged from sitting at another desk anyway? Confused
Pky45 · 25/01/2022 08:48

It’s not ‘your’ desk, it’s your allocated workspace, now it’s another persons allocated workspace

UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea · 25/01/2022 08:49

If it's just a desk then the bloke won't mind moving back Smile

themerrywifeofwindsor · 25/01/2022 08:49

YABU, you (temporarily) left. Your employer had no way of knowing if you would even come back after mat leave.

Cheekypeach · 25/01/2022 08:50

@UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea

If it's just a desk then the bloke won't mind moving back Smile
Why should he?
aristotlesdeathray · 25/01/2022 08:50

@UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea

If it's just a desk then the bloke won't mind moving back Smile
It's not just a desk

He has a standing desk

Which often have short power leads and need to be positioned in certain areas

As if he was in the middle of the office and standing that would most likely be an issue, hence why he has been moved to the side

The OP has been away for a year

Has no right to demand her old area back. Or desk back.

C8H10N4O2 · 25/01/2022 08:50

Honestly it is completely irrelevant that other people hot desk. The OP doesn't hot desk, they have fixed desks to the extent she was not required to clear it when going on leave. Her mat leave cover used it until relatively recently.

Why are people bending over backward to make it reasonable for a woman on mat leave to lose her fixed desk to a man?

OP mail him to tell him when you will be back and needing your desk. If he has been put there for something to do with need then he can say say. You then need to take up the privacy issue on the basis that your role requires a degree of confidentiality.

Incidentally in general I use 3M gold screens on every screen I use as I move between desks and locations all the time. They are easily the best privacy filters I've ever had.

RedskyThisNight · 25/01/2022 08:51

@PrincessNikla

If OP had been in the office when this change was first suggested then she probably would have been able to stop it. (Or it would not have been considered in the first place?)

Therefore she has been disadvantaged by being on maternity leave?

She was also disadvantaged by not being able to contribute to any of the 50 zillion work decisions that were made while she was on maternity leave, that she would normally get a say in. That's the way maternity leave work. If you're not there, you don't get to influence things - which is why some women choose to take very short maternity leaves.

Moving her desk, as long as the new place is perfectly fine for her to do her job, might be a disadvantage, but it's not discriminatory.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 25/01/2022 08:52

Does it really matter if someone can see your screen, its only work they’re seeing.

Seconding anyone who says it can matter because you might share a workplace but it doesn't mean that a lot of the material people work with isn't confidential from others.

Pky45 · 25/01/2022 08:52

@PrincessNikla

If OP had been in the office when this change was first suggested then she probably would have been able to stop it. (Or it would not have been considered in the first place?)

Therefore she has been disadvantaged by being on maternity leave?

This is just not true, desk moves are done based on business needs, where teams are growing or merging or disbanded, not just because you want a window seat with a nice view.
aristotlesdeathray · 25/01/2022 08:53

@C8H10N4O2

Honestly it is completely irrelevant that other people hot desk. The OP doesn't hot desk, they have fixed desks to the extent she was not required to clear it when going on leave. Her mat leave cover used it until relatively recently.

Why are people bending over backward to make it reasonable for a woman on mat leave to lose her fixed desk to a man?

OP mail him to tell him when you will be back and needing your desk. If he has been put there for something to do with need then he can say say. You then need to take up the privacy issue on the basis that your role requires a degree of confidentiality.

Incidentally in general I use 3M gold screens on every screen I use as I move between desks and locations all the time. They are easily the best privacy filters I've ever had.

The OP should definitely not message the person using the standing desk

How ridiculous

If she is going to say anything (she shouldn't) it should be to her line manager or HR

Cheekypeach · 25/01/2022 08:54

Why are people bending over backward to make it reasonable for a woman on mat leave to lose her fixed desk to a man?

Because she now has a fixed desk elsewhere. That’s all fixed desk means - that you have a regular desk, you don’t get to specify exactly where it is. If it’s a particularly desirable spot why should OP get to hog it for years on end?

YellowLemonz · 25/01/2022 08:54

Desks are taken up all the time at my company if people are on maternity. They don't just sit empty.

Ask for privacy screens.

Toanewstart22 · 25/01/2022 08:55

* He's on more money than me, and didn't even ask to have my desk*

Irrelevant on more money
And ask you? Get over yourself OP you were on maternity leave