My employer lied about flexible working - I want to leave.

[ConfusieSusie]

I joined a new organisation late last year, they offered me (along with the rest of the company) a Hybrid working arrangement whereby we would attend the office 3 days a week and WFH the other two days. We also had flexibility to WFH in instances where any of our children were sent home from school or nursery due to displaying any symptoms (this is an illness policy within school & childcare services across the board where I live).

What has actually transpired, is that we are required to be in the office every day, and MAY be able to WFH if it is absolutely necessary. However, if we take flexibility in a given week, we have to "make up for it" the next week by showing up every day. I am commuting 90 minutes each way and explained at the outset that flexibility was enormously important to me because of this, and would be one of the most influential factors in my decision to take any job offer. I feel completely duped, the majority of people doing my job in other companies are either on a Hybrid model or fully remote.

AIBU to hand in my notice? I have never left a job after only a few months but I feel very strongly about this.

That is ridiculous. They clearly have no trust in their employees. I would be handing my notice in.

@EarthSight

It seems employers are so desperate for good employees that they are willing to lie, and then once they think they have those employees in their grasp and dependent on them for money, proceed to take the piss.

It's difficult to advise, but if you think you can taken the hit, then leave. I think you've already made a mistake by pandering to their them - you should have said a flat NO from the very beginning when they were trying to change the terms, but I appreciate that you were still trying to figure out what you were going to do at that point and probably feared the consequences (which the assholes fully took advantage of).

Do not feel bad for leaving after a few months. You were lured into your job under false pretences, and now they are taking advantage of your vulnerability. Do not stand for this behaviour - if they are unpleasant enough to do this to you in the first place, it's not a good sign of how happy your employment will be there in future. Even if you hand in your notice and they suddenly say you can work your original pattern because they're panicing at you leaving, think carefully before staying. They've already shown you their true face and I think you'll need to watch out for yourself in that company more than you should have to.

Exactly. The OP could have left a perfectly good job to join this place on the pretext it promised something the employer had no intention of honouring.

Do you still have a copy of the original advertisement OP?

[quote ConfusieSusie]@returntoUK I wouldn't say that would be possible, nor would I be interested in pursuing it. As I'm on probation until next month, there would be no point trying to leverage anything!

I have never left a job after such a short time and would feel bad doing so. However, a colleague of mine whose son has a chronic cough which will take some weeks to clear has been told that if she can't attend the office to do her work that she should consider leaving, he job can and has been done from home the last 2 years. I just feel that's an awful way to treat someone, especially as working parents of young children are very stressed at the moment trying to manage absences and new school policies for illness.[/quote]
They're clearly a shit company to work for

Can you get another job lined up first?

Naaa bollocks to that. Your in high demand at the moment, get looking and hand that notice in.
It will be you expected to dish their shit out and justify it.

It seems employers are so desperate for good employees that they are willing to lie, and then once they think they have those employees in their grasp and dependent on them for money, proceed to take the piss.

It does, doesn't it? Evidently a counterproductive approach.

I got offered a role last year...
Wfh with occasional meetings f2f
Advertised as "up to 12 hours per week"
Turns out it was 2 jobs, not one.
And after an initial blitz (of basically setting up a database and IT systems for them) it would be about 2 hour work per week.
I quit after 1 day!

I hold a senior position in HR and no you wouldn't be unreasonable to leave as it sounds as though the psychological contract has been broken.

However it is worth having an open and honest discussion with your manager or the director of service.

FWIW I was amazed at how my team transitioned to remote working but leadership during that period was intense. We are operating to a hybrid system for staff who are not customer facing. All non customer facing staff must be in three days a week and there is a rota to ensure we have enough staff at various levels in on any one day.

It has been made crystal clear that hybrid working is a trial and could change at any time but with notice. I have observed that staff hired during lockdown have been far more resistant to come to the office than longer standing staff. Whether that's something to do with existing relationships and the fact that work is a social construct I am not yet sure.

I wonder op if it was always a bit silly to take a job with such a long commute when a return to the office was inevitable at some stage, hybrid or not.

Look, even if there had been some terrible misunderstanding instead of this, "say one thing, do another" approach, the bottom line is that it's not working for you, so naturally you should look for a more suitable job.
You can be frank yet civil at the exit interview - it's clearly creating business issues for them after all - but your own interests come first.

YANBU to leave, of course you're not. There are no rewards for staying!

However, I'd push for the deal you took the job on with. I'd probably just tell them I'm WFH 2 days a week as per our agreement.

I'd also simultaneously look for another job & look forward to telling them to shove their job!!

If you can't afford to lose your job before securing another then I'd just go in 5 days one week & 3 the next, or whatever it takes to keep them happy until I found another job.

@RosesAndHellebores out of interest why ‘must’ non customer facing staff be in 3 days a week?

From your updates it sounds like this is not a company anyone would want to work for. Why invest your working life into a company that will easily turn round and tell you to leave first sign of a problem. There will always be the threat hanging over your head of having to take unpaid leave or it being implied you should leave. What if you are you DH or child have a serious accident?
What if you assume caring responsibilities for another family member? Do you think this company will have your back in any shape or form?

If the answer is no , then you are wasting time there when you could be with another firm that values it’s employees a bit more

Have heard of a few people recently who had been working from home but are now being brought in to the office
Probably inevitable as we move out of restrictions
But for you and anyone else that is unhappy you have the option of leaving and getting another job

I was told that while it wouldn't be written into policy, I would absolutely have flexibility to work from home 2 days a week and in circumstances where I needed to. This was a huge focal point of discussion prior to me accepting the offer

Have you asked them why they haven't kept that promise?

Ah Susie, I once left a HR job too where I was duped — I suggest you start looking round for what’s out there and start applying and then hand your notice in. Really stupid policy in companies, they will lose some really good people.

You're of course fee to hand in your notice at any time for any reason.

@SheWoreYellow

It’s worth checking your contract. If WFH isn’t in your contract it’s still worth talking to them before you hand your notice in.

Certainly check your contract but check post offer follow up emails also.

I’m HRBP for my company and they (the parent company/legal) don’t want us actually putting hybrid in the contract however we sell the job on the merits of hybrid (eye roll) and we do 1/2 days in the office in reality. Our latest new starter contract I just changed the wording myself and will await the backlash if it gets found out 😂

@Kaftankweed because that is the decision taken by the Board. It is also because there are very few staff completely non customer/stakeholder facing in a service industry.

Personally, I never worked harder than remotely with every request being a call, teams or email, the regular team meetings to cascade information and keep everyone motivated, etc. Also there is something about nuanced tone and atmosphere when people are present that helps senior management to "read the room" and feeds into more strategic decision making.

@returntoUK

Did you turn down or not pursue other roles because of this job? I’d be suing for compensation.

Would never fly.

they haven't written anything into contracts yet, many companies haven't as it is still early days in the grander scheme of things

This is the point isn’t it? It’s an evolving situation for organisations, big decisions are still being made. I took on a new role at the height of the pandemic on the basis of there being ‘no expectation that we’ll be back in the office full time’, but I took a risk because my contractual place of work is the office and it’s 90 minutes away. I also knew that prior to Covid it was 1 day a week wfh. It’s worked out for me, we are selling off a large part of the office estate, but other organisations have come to different decisions and whilst you might argue they’re short sighted, shooting themselves in the foot or whatever, it’s up to them. You are free to move.

On the children thing, working from home with primary school age children in the house isn’t sustainable and never was. Parents have always required childcare in order to work, and unfortunately a lot of people are taking the piss at the moment.

You can leave a job for any reason you like.

You were deliberately lied to, they were deliberately dishonest.

How you can do your job in HR, looking after staff, when you know well they are liars, would surely be very difficult.

Perhaps I’m more radical than I realised. I’m also in a very senior HR role. This is what we do. Work has to be done. People can work where they like. People must ensure they collaborate and exchange ideas and most come into the office 2-3 days a week. There is a rota to ensure desk space and for people to see who else is in to catch up. Our approach is that coming into the office is about liaising with colleagues and collaboration. We absolutely trust employees to get their work done.

It doesn’t have to be written in the contract to be part of the contract - if flexible working was an important part of the offer and you accepted the job offer on that basis, it is a contract term. There is no doubt they are in breach, but what difference that makes when you are still on probation is debatable!

My organisation is in London and we pay London Weighting. If exceptions are made for some staff to work entirely remotely or only to come in occasionally because they live so far away, should we continue to pay them London weighting?

Yep, I would be gone!

Problem is WFH is a piss takers dream and an employers nightmare.

Unfortunately it will be the same old story a few spoilt it for the majority