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?

How is the OP able to be a F T carer for her husband and able to WFH ?

I don't think this is a good question for popular vote.
It sounds you are in a defacto WFH position, which just wasn't specified correctly in the paperwork. Actually, them paying for your past office trips is part of the proof, that you aren't office based.

YANBU at all. Still, worth a legal advice, just to know how to phrase your response, so you would point out the crucial points and ask the right questions. Maybe the new manager does have a full picture yet?

I have little sympathy for those who moved out and unilaterally decided to change their jobs for permanent WFH, but it isn't your case.

Not sensible of you to make assumptions about paying. OP might well have access to specialist employment advice for free, and I outlined two common ways on the first page of this thread.

Also not sensible to make assumptions about whether any such conversation would be perfectly reasonable. You've done a lot of filling in blanks to fit with your preconceptions in this thread, and it leads you to give bad advice.

It can be done - I had to work full time from home with two young kids also at home during lockdown, as many people did! It depends on the job but generally if your employer is happy with flexible working, you can fit work round your other commitments. So long as you do the job, and do it well, employers generally don't care how (at least in my experience, although this thread suggests otherwise!)

Absolutely classic MN. Also total rubbish. Of course she's not being a CF.

One of our children, whenever new job, they insist that WFH is drawn up in their contract as part of the package. Once a month is reasoanble and inc in contract and emergency situations and this would be supported by paid time off for travel and expenses

Where do you see she is a full time carer for anyone ?
She states she is a sole earner because of DH's disability, but that doesn't mean he needs care from the OP, he might not need care at all or he might have professional care.

Barbados looks beautiful

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“I wfh permanently but my contract says HQ.
I live 5 hours away always have done. They knew where I lived when I started.”

not to be blunt but you also knew where you lived when you applied for the job. If your contract says HQ you could always ask to continue working from home but the contract is not in your favour

I think based on this op you should be fine. Bring it to her and the customs /practises argument although if she really takes this to an end point it could end in redundancy for you.

TBH I think you are lucky they only want you in once a month, I would jump on that if I were you.

Your contact doesn't say WFH, most employers now want their employees back 3 days a week now.

Good reasons for you to make the case to HR and your manager!

Why, after pages and pages of posts which would inform them they’re wrong, do people with no understanding of the situation still comment rubbish?

What the contract says has very little bearing after this long.

Sorry, OP, but surely you considered the possibility this might happen? Even when Covid began, four years ago, people were talking about eventually going back to the office, so it's hardly a new thing. And if there's nothing in your contract to say that your post is on a permanent wfh basis then you might not have any choice. Have you looked at not only your contract of employment but any covering letter you received/other documents since you joined the company, to see if they say anything else you might use in your favour? Are others in the company working from home permanently in a similar role? Any union membership or access to employment advice through your home insurance?

As I said earlier I have the job spec and emails that say the job is remote.
I was employed after covid. Most of the people I work with wfh.
My new manager ( who was part of the recruitment process when i repeatedly asked if this was remote) now wants her team in the office at least once a week .

They can’t pay your travel and hotel expenses without having it treated as a benefit in kind….which you will be taxed on.

You'd be amazed at how well I do my job, even though none of my team nor any colleagues with whom I work directly are in the same office. Some aren't even in the same country!
So regardless of whether I'm at home or in the office, I spend my days talking into a screen or on the phone.
And I've been doing it for a decade.
Guess I've spent all that time just sitting on arse and I imagined all those times I was still working away 14 hours after logging on.
As a side note, I am in charge of a large team of professionals. I don't give a shit where they work so long as they do the work and do it do a high standard. In the office, in their garden, sitting in a café - all fine by me.
Why would you hire someone who you felt was lazy/incompetent enough to need constant supervision?

Just go in once a month

But your contract says you don't work from home...

Unless they can justify it (which would be tough after 5 years) then it can be considered constructive dismissal.

People are so against WFH sometimes
I don't even speak to my colleagues in the office as I'm on the phone all day, so being at home makes no difference

My manager can still listen to my calls, record my screen and monitor what I'm doing
I probably speak to colleagues more via text than I ever got chance to have a conversation in the office

They can if they consider her workplace to be her home.

*TBH I think you are lucky they only want you in once a month, I would jump on that if I were you.

Your contact doesn't say WFH, most employers now want their employees back 3 days a week now*

Same! There's a weird sense of entitlement these days about WFH. The increased flexibility is great, but people seem to NEVER want to go in the office l, EVER, despite their contract saying they're supposed to?! Madness. I work in my workplace every day (school teacher) and omg I can only dream of WFH one day a week...

It hasn’t been 5 years. It’s been 2.

They can if they consider her workplace to be her home. But her contract says it's not.