New manager want me in the office. I wfh-help!

[Stressedgiraffe]

We've changed management structure so my new manager wants me in the office. Ideally once a week but might settle for every month.
I've been there over 2 years. I wfh permanently but my contract says HQ.
I live 5 hours away always have done. They knew where I lived when I started. I go into the office about every 3/4 months for a few days .
Could I push for a change in location in my contract or do you think I'm screwed?

Our company is happy to move people’s contracts to WFH if that is what they prefer post covid.

However their pay will reflect that. No more London allowances if living in a place that is further than a standard commute

Cant have cake and eat it. Not saying that’s what happening here but an example of someone in our office who kicked off at her pay being renegotiated when she moved to a wfh contract, as she is now living in the Lake District

I am seconding pps: Once a month does seem fairly generous.

Could you negotiate for a change to your contract specifying that it actually is just one a month?
I´d try to find a compromise and get it in writing. I´d be a bit worried about new manager deciding that one a month actually wouldn´t be enough and insisting on more (e.g., one once a week suddenly being considered the minimum).

Well, that's the $64,000 question. There are employers who are in demand enough to set their own terms, of course. But for those who can't, there seems to be a lot of variation in how realistic they are. Some are very aware of what they offer in relation to the competition, others need to learn the hard way.

God, same. I couldn't work in an office now - I have ADHD anyway and that combined with menopause means I need peace and quiet to be able to work. People with honking laughs or who want the radio on when they work would probably drive me to murder, and I wouldn't even be sorry. I couldn't be productive in an office environment, other than for the occasional brainstorming session. I do think the office has some value for younger people - apart from anything else, it's good for socialising - but for most of us who've been at the coal face for a couple of decades, and are in knowledge working jobs, it's just not necessary. If I had to commute into work again, I'd quit. There are still plenty of fully remote jobs available in my field.

Hi OP, I work in HR.

Often we don't want to issue home worker contracts as it has other implications e.g. for our corporate insurance costs as we then have multiple working locations, for DSE assessment reasons and also as we do not want to be covering the hotel/transport costs of employees travelling into the office every so often for meetings.

Do you have any emails from when you accepted the job discussing the fact that you'll be WFH and in the office every few months? If the contract says you're office based this must have been a discussion at the time and having the evidence of that would help your case.

Ultimately if your contract says HQ then yes, they could ask for you to be in the office more frequently. But if you can show the email/written evidence of your previous discussion this may help you negotiate, especially if you're a good worker and they don't want the hassle of you leaving.

My OH now works hybrid, nobody's contract has been updated to reflect this which means that in reality they move the goalposts every 6 months or so.

I wonder what would happen if all the employees insisted en masse to go in 5 days a week when there's not the office space to allow for it anymore and one day of the week is completely closed because that's what it states on their contracts.

From my point of view I'm currently job searching and very few companies are willing to put in writing in a job advert what they actually consider hybrid working to be.

I never understand why people sound so gleeful at stuff like this. Why should working from home be seen as a perk? It doesn't mean you're less productive. Paying for the commute isn't something you should just have to 'suck up' unless you have to. And if a company is looking at ways of paying its staff less, you can guarantee it'll be looking at ways of paying YOU less.

Good advice to check if you have legal expenses insurance. It's a common add on to household insurance

I'm fairly lucky in that there's a lot of government contract work around. I don't mind 2 days in the office but certainly not 5.

Maybe menopause isn't helping me. You do get the 'more mature' person stance too of 'I can't be doing with this'. In one office, I had a woke younger colleague who was vegan preach to me about veganism, he was also gay so again preaching on this, and being woke in general. His colleague wrongly accused me not long after starting of 'being a Daily Mail reader' (I'm not!) - probably because I'm blonde, white and of a certain age, I'd said nothing at all to that effect! I said I'd report him for bullying (there was something else) if he carried on with that. Luckily we eventually got on, but why should I have to be subjected to that?! At least at home you can deal with people from afar.

They need to consult you in this change.

Even though your contract says HQ as you've been wfh for 2 years they have accepted this and need to consult you in changing it.

Call ACAS for advice on how best to handle this.

I'd suggest you be willing to settle for once a month plus they pay your travel expenses.

We have lost out on good employees because we only offer hybrid. We have lost staff and we have had employment offers rejected. However, we are public sector (which is why we don’t offer wfh contracts as standard) and tend to attract recruits from public sector - most of which are mandating 2 days per week office based (we ask for 1). It’s interesting for me to watch this space right now as future ways of working are so uncertain. My last organisation have embraced wfh and sold off all their offices. Contacts I have in other organisations (private sector) are reporting a trend towards hybrid and getting ‘bums back on seats’, especially this year so far.

Follow Molly Johnson-Jones, Flexa on Linked In, she's an advocate for hybrid/wfh work, has her own company promoting this.

WFH is a perk in some degrees as you don't have to commute, but I am far more productive at home than I am at work.

Do they pay for a hotel

You can get decent travelogue rooms for £80 a night or less and if you book ahead a train isnt too bad. Once a month seems fine to me especially if you meet a friend. I’d do it once or twice to shut them up and then maybe let it slip a bit afterwards

Just been reading through the responses.
I'll try and find any emails stating it was wfh with a few 2/3 times a year in the office. Everyone who wfh in the uk has the company hq as their office location. Its a global ftse100 company so many many remote workers.
I applied as it was a remote position. My fault for not checking contract. I'll dig it out and see if it says anything.
I've always had my expenses paid for travelling to and from work.
I don't drive so reliant on trains, not allowed to drive medically.

I already do!

I don't see WFH as a perk - my company stands to make a load of money selling off their former office building as everyone is remote now. It's an interesting culture as there definitely are some slackers (and they're really bloody annoying) but they get carried by people (like me!) who work twice as hard to fill in the gaps. Remote working is certainly not without its challenges and we're not there in terms of defining what it looks like and how it should work - but the bums on seats days are definitely over. I really can't see the UK ever properly going back to that. The issue is really the companies that bought or leased big expensive HQs on long leases just before lockdown and now want something to show for that investment.

Agree with this.

Tough.....

I think once a month or once every two months sounds accommodating on their part

Agree with having a conversation but please don’t ask for a bonus in order to get to your contracted place of work. That will really not go down well.

So you are disabled?

There you go - reasonable adjustamebt which sounds like they've done.

Case closed

The OP lived there when she was offered the job. Which she accepted because it was WFH. Of course an employer should factor that in.

Agree with this, every one is replaceable but some are harder to replace than others and you don’t want the hassle.

How are people measuring that they are more "productive" at home? Unless it's piece work it's hard to tell.

Check to see if you have the original job description with "remote" in it along with the discussions. If you were recruited as a remote working and managing a distributed team, but head office was put down to save company costs (less insurance, checks and office space) then you have a stronger case than if you were recruited for office based and it was made clear that wfh was temporary.

How well placed are you to change jobs if it comes to it? Ideally you should be able to negotiate a compromise but keep the new job option open.

IME the current fad for "back to the office" is more from the upper middle layers of management rather than the top. Where companies are struggling a bit in the current economy the cry goes out that "something must be done" and back in the office is "something". If they don't have a constructive reason for wanting people physically co located its likely to be presenteeism as an alternative to addressing deeper business problems.

There are good cases for WFH, in the office and hybrid but if the management cannot articulate those reasons and show the metrics to prove them then its either poor management or a business poorly led.