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?

You can formally apply for a flexible working request (including wfh). There is information online about it. All workers are entitled to apply whatever their contract says. That's what I would do. In the meantime you'll have to go into the office once a month to keep them happy.

My team and I all have WFH contracts - a new Manager wants us in the office once a week. As a concession the Manchester based colleagues can come every other week (to London). Once a month sounds reasonable to me.

She can't drive due to medical so I would also state it's something to do with reasonable adjustment which hold more weight

If your company offer the option of full.time working at home then put in an application for that but make the effort to go into the office at least once prior to show willing.
If they don't and you were being allowed to wfh due to Covid when you started then you may struggle. So I'd negotiate for the once a month and see how you can manage that.
If you are a carer you may be on a stronger footing. I'm no expert on that side

To be honest I'm really sick of the entitlement around issues like this.

You chose to work for a company 5 hours away.
You chose to sign a contract that stated HQ on your contract.

How therefore is this "stupid" that they want to enforce this by asking you in once a month?

Why do people think they have entitlement to work from home when their contract says differently? The pandemic? The pandemic is over.

Your personal circumstances are not your employers problem to be quite honest with you, however what I would do is sit down with HR and your manager and explain your situation and ask them if they can help you - that's right, ask if they can help rather than expect that they should back down because "it' always been this way".

The business you work for pays for an office and all the amenities that come with it and if nobody is there then are you happy to be on the redundancy list so they can pay for it if nobody can be arsed to come in? They're being pretty reasonable with you by asking for once a month to be honest but just FYI they are paying you to do a job and they don't actually have to explain themselves to you. You could just get a new job if you are that bothered by it.

Try to negotiate based on custom and practice and the fact you've had this arrangement for years with no issues and get your contract changed

Put in a flexible working request to WFH (which if agreed will result in a contract change)

If neither of those work I honestly think once a month is actually not too bad or you could leave and make sure you cite why so hopefully they will be a little more forward thiking on remote work going forward.

The company are perfectly forward thinking around remote work. It sounds like OP who thinks that she can work for a company and never see anyone face to face that isn't forward thinking.

So they didn't benefit from her labor and choose to employ her and agree for her to wfh for 5 years?

If they’ve been paying for your travel to the office this stands you in good stead for it not being your permanent place of work.

An interesting read on this topic for anyone interested in what the employment tribunals think

https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1858173/140k-a-year-manager-loses-landmark-tribunal-bid-right-work-exclusively-home

With a potential commute of 5 hours (!!) I'd have wanted WFH in the contract

Since for whatever reason you didn't get it, I'd either negotiate or start job hunting - and probably the second

This is poor advice, and becomes actual invention by the last paragraph.

OP needs specialist advice from someone who actually understands the law on custom and practice and has seen all relevant paperwork. That's not you. She shouldn't try and decide on her approach until she's had this.

Ditto from me, the contract says London, the (During Covid) advert said WFH. When I considered offering more time to them, they told me I'd have to come to the office once a week at my own cost. So they lose, I'm not giving them anymore than my hours a week now.

The only thing I would say about this is that when we were young whippersnappers we benefitted from older colleagues sharing experience etc with us. I'm not saying we should all be forced into the office to train the youngsters but we should probably at least acknowledge that we benefitted from that in a way that the current youngsters may not.

In that scenario, you can claim/ the company should be paying for travel expenses.

Oh that's good you follow Flexa!

To me - the companies already had leased offices on long leases even before Covid. There are only so many people in offices in cities around the world that can be used for e.g. housing (does that make sense? I mean to rent/buy offices turned into flats). Apparently, BoJo and his ilk were under pressure to get people to return to the office due to their investments. Then the threat to the owners of e.g. Pret etc. Another thing people don't like seeing but which has increased is the homeless crisis. Why couldn't there be more hostels built/converted from old offices?

What people don't seem to realise is the high street is dead/dying - the old House of Fraser in Victoria is closed down for one. A lot of the office blocks there are redeveloped and either housing or food/drink outlets.

I agree that she needs this, but her general attitude seems incredibly entitled. There are potential grandfather rights she can take advantage of here but I still honestly just roll my eyes with this whole "I've always had nothing to do with anything and been paid for sitting doing my own thing daily and now shock horror i'm being asked to take part and be part of the workforce how dare they" attitude.

Her job is most likely a flexible working contract not a remote working contract, if it's the latter then it would be stated, and she would also be entitled to have other remote working perks that come with roles like that such as desks/monitors/expenses for travelling to the office. If it's flexible working it's at the employers dicretion.

I get what you're saying. But in my experience, at my position, all I had was a grumpy, older Office Manager in one job who really liked to lay down the law and a grumpy, older legal sec who ended up bullying me! I mean I'm sure other colleagues did share their experience and in other work sectors yes, they probably did the same, but I don't see why this same experience can't be shared virtually?

Personally I think employers took the piss for too long on this one. Some of the claims about younger people needing to work in person are overblown, but presume we can all agree that it's beneficial for some younger people in some roles. For a long time, it was just assumed that this training was something more experienced employees should be providing, alongside their own work.

When I was a trainee, many of my older colleagues mostly made it quite clear they didn't want me working on their client files and were too busy to train me up. At the time, I thought they were being dicks. Subsequently, I get it. They were overworked, and they weren't given any accommodation in their other work for helping me learn. It was a small business who were trying to do stuff on the cheap and they were right to be resentful. My next move was to an organisation where the training was part of someone's actual job, and it was like night and day.

I think that's the opposite of what I was saying.

https://www.davidsonmorris.com/custom-and-practice/

The thing is, the law does allow for contract changes based on custom and practice in some circumstances, so it's not a good idea to let your view be coloured by your belief that people exercising their legal rights is entitled. OP has said there are potentially emails that contradict the contract, so it's likely she's going to need specific and technical advice. You're just not able to provide it here.

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

Wow! Is this a thing that happens? I've never heard of this in my industry. Or you must be very highly sought after!

I've found the original job spec and it's a remote position as well as emails before I started with HR confirming its remote with occasional visits to the office.
They might help if I need to push back.
In theory as long as they continue to pay expenses I can prebook train and cheap hotel. I don't mind going there once a month.

You are reading into things that I am not seeing.
OP sounds like someone who has been doing a job for 2 years and now has a new manager who wants to inconvenience her and cost her lots of money. There's no more entitlement than that. It's much more defensiveness.

Ffs why did you take a job that was 5 hours away when the contract did not say WAH. I hate the WAH culture that is a hangover from covid. Looks like you will need to look for another job or negotiate your contract.

Yes, we've always claimed mileage (or tube ticket) to office. Plus parking if we don't get a space aa there's only a few and it's first come first served.