Desk and office given away

[Proseccoprincess33]

I am due to return to work following maternity leave next month. I am anxious about going back but this has been further intensified by the fact my office has been given away during my time off. This has been my office for 5 years. Not only has it been given away permanently but I have not been allocated another office or even a desk. I only became aware of this because some colleagues alerted me to it and I then contacted my manager to discuss it.

She is off site and very hands off so we rarely see her if at all. In fact I have never met her. So had I not been given this heads up by my colleagues I would have been coming into work to see my office and desk occupied and no place for me to sit on my first day back.

I am part of a multidisciplinary team and I manage one of the departments. Therefore having my own desk and office is so important to supervise staff and the nature of our work is very sensitive so privacy is a vital. But at this stage I'd settle for a desk of my own.

I am having a meeting with my manager about this very soon and have found out she has invited 2 very senior managers along also which is intimidating and not helpful to the anxiety I am experiencing. I think she fears I will be very unhappy and so has her reinforcements ready to tell me tough sh1t.

Her solution so far has been that they'll slot me into a desk somewhere when other staff are off....ie hot desking.

AIBU that I am so upset about this and want to fight for a resolution? Any advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation would be much appreciated.

Thank you 😊

Are you in a union?

Yes to getting your union involved if you’re in one and, at the meeting, watch like a hawk for anything that could constitute maternity or sex discrimination!

Ugh I wouldn't like this - who has the office now? Have you not been in for any KIT days? How many days a week will you be in the office once you're back?

Having no desk where there is not a formal hotdesking for all solution is an absolute nightmare. You'll spend a significant amount of time either trying to find somewhere to work or somewhere private for meetings. This is definitely one to push back on. It happened to me in a new job and had a significant impact on my wellbeing.

Take your union rep with you!

Contact Pregnant Then Screwed for a chat.

Thanks for all the responses. Yes I am in a union and was tempted to bring them onboard. I suppose I wanted to see how this meeting went first before I went in all guns blazing but maybe i should be protecting myself.

I will be in the office 3 days per week. But without trying to confuse things our team had 4 desks allocated to us and that's the way it's always been. In giving away that office we have lost 2 desks. I am going to be job sharing now with another girl and we will have 2 other members of staff. So ideally we would have shared that office and the other members of the team would have had the other 2 desks.

So we will have 4 members of staff and 2 desks. The manager manages various teams and really doesn't care much about our team, hence why I have never met her. She's a different discipline to me as well and doesn't really understand our role.

I don't want to be seen as being difficult. I just want a desk and a space to call my own.

Oh and the people who are now in this office aren't part of our team. They were based in another building (where my manager is based) but I think one of them was very difficult and this has been the perfect solution moving them out to my room. If I had been on sick leave this wouldn't have happened so I don't see how it's fair or acceptable.

I think when you meet your manager, I would go in with the attitude that you're just working out which office will now be yours. Don't phrase the conversation as 'how do I get a new office' - it should be a given that you have one as it's required for the role.

Hotdesking is the way a lot of work places are going along with hybrid working and flexible working hours.

For management meetings rooms are booked for that period.

Frankly, if you're only in 3 days I think you won't get far.

Wtf this is so bizarre. Based on the fact she's invited to 2 senior managers along I would definitely bring my union rep along. Also I would come with the question of 'there are 4 members of staff and 2 desks - can you explain where the new desks will go because obviously we can't hot desk - our work is sensitive and we need an office with adequate number of desks' be assumptive and stand firm.

OR if you'd rather work from home (some people would prefer this) I would go to the meeting and say either I get a permanent office or I work from home permanently. Be firm, a man would not stand for this shit.

Can you ask them to email you a copy of the agenda for the meeting?

An office and your own desk are not contractual (unless in your contract and I've never bond across that before)

They are perfectly entitled to change desk and office allocations at any time.

What you are entitled to is to return to a similar job on not worse terms and conditions- is that happening?

Your desk space is not a matter for the union.

If you wish to negotiate different desk and office space allocation then take a professional approach and make a business case for what you need.

This depends on whether the people using the space during the OPs maternity were consulted. If they were, and they failed to include OP in the consultation, then she has been discriminated against.

@SecondUsername4me

If it's not contractual then they can do what they want and don't need to consult.

Any 'consultation' about desks with have been a soft nicety.

Typing on my phone sorry about the weird autocorrections

Agreed - but if others opinions were taken on board, and answered to, then the OP should have been given the chance to be included

We will need to agree to disagree as to whether that amounts to discrimination or just bad manners.

Will there always be hot desks?

I don’t think hot desking is an issue, in my company our MDs (on £500k + pa) hot desk and never have the same desk every day.

If you’re being singled out than that it is unacceptable.

Thanks for all the input. No od be the only one hot desking. I work in a palliative care team where I am continually supporting people who have palliative conditions and their family and the other members of the team.

It isn't just the no desk situ, it's the fact I wasn't told and had to discover this myself. Then to be told it is a permanent move and we will 'just sort it when you're back'.

And yes whilst I am only in three days, there are 3 others in the team and not enough desks to accommodate us. Also I take students in from time to time and now have no room for this either.

It's just a logistical nightmare. The desk is not about seniority or amount i earn, it's about being about to work in a sensitive manner and support those who need it most. This is not a business, it's people's lives.

Also we are being told that any WFH is being pushed back and they want us in office...! But I think I will ask for agenda for meeting

Yes, only the CEO and 3 directors have an actual office where I work. Everyone else hotdesks and books a meeting room (of which there are many) for supervision sessions and other meetings, or if they need a quiet room to get a specific task done.

It works perfectly well.

I'd contact your union, to be on the safe side.

I get that hot desking works in most offices and that is fab but I am having confidential conversations every hour of every day. I'd be trying to book rooms on the hour every hour. Also it is not the done thing in our work. I'd be the only one hot desking with every single other person having their own desk.

And if I hadn't gone on mat leave that desk would still be mine, as it has been for the past 5 years. If I was on sick leave it would never have happened so I don't see why mat leave is any different. Or even if they'd had a solution for my return I wouldn't mind. I'm not attached to the desk, I just need space to work. Also they aren't even sure if there will be any desks for me to use one of the days.

I don't want to be seen as being difficult. I just want a desk and a space to call my own.

Fuck that. We have to let go of not wanting to be seen as difficult as women - it means we disadvantage ourselves. Speak to your union and pregnant then screwed, because as far as I can see, these changes have made your job almost impossible when you go back.

Write a list of all the problems this will cause and go through them one by one

Obviously this will mean x. How will you ensure y does not happen?
How will you solve the problem of...
Where will you store 1, 2, 3 so that...

Make it very clear that it is their responsibility to solve all issues this causes.

Finish by saying you will need their solutions in writing for you to follow and that you can refer to and share in the event there are problems due to the new arrangements.