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 😊

Do the people who have been given the office needs to have confidential conversations?

Do the rest of your team have to have confidential conversations? Did they come and use your office when they do?

If you need to have confidential conversations every hour of every day then I would go in on that basis "we're obliged to keep medical information confidential: it is essential I have a space private to my team for discussions and phone calls".

Ideally I would find the regulations that obligate you (GDPR, or maybe something to do with Caldicott?) and have them available if pressed.

I'd look into the confidential aspect, is it a nice to do or essential? There's no point bringing that up as your issue if they can immediately shut it down.

I'm sorry but I have highly confidential meetings on very sensitive issues everyday (I have even had to sign the official secrets act and non disclosures) and I hot desk. You clearly work in a team where it is normal to need to have sensitive conversations. It's not like they are asking you to discuss your own personal sensitive information in an open plan office. It's a work environment, and if you work in health then likely everyone is dealing with confidential issues all the time.

I think you need to get over this. I wear a headset and use a screen protector that stops people seeing my screen.

It's funny how people who work in helping others get used to change (dying is change right?) are often the people least likely able to deal with change themselves.

I get that it is upsetting how you found out but I think you have to just suck it up.

Go in all guns blazing (politely and professionally). Bring your union rep. This is insane. Your job clearly requires a desk and an office. Did you have maternity cover and where did they sit?

@LakieLady 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.

Good for you. But as the OP has clearly reiterated several times, this is not a hot desking office. She will be the only person expected to find somewhere to sit each time she is in and her role requires a confidential place to deal with people.
Not sure why your completely different offices situation is relevant

@IIdentifyAsInnocent Oh dear lol someone's triggered....

The rest of the team are different disciplines. So I might be talking to someone or about someone they have no involvement with. The Trust has a big emphasis on confidentiality so that is a good point 😊 thank you.

My role involves a huge emotional support element and I will conversing with people who have just found out they are dying or have lost a loved one and supporting staff who are trying to deal with these emotive issues. So not quite secret service but real life and huge impact to these families.

And again hot desking is not the done thing in this team for these reaosns. No one else does it or I'd get onboard with it.

I really appreciate all the supportive advice from both sides of the debate.

This happened to me. I'm also NHS.

I offered the options of finding me a new office or I'd work from home when I had confidential meetings.

I now work from home for a big chunk of the week and it's bloody brilliant.

Just be assertive and offer solutions you're happy with

@AndSoFinally haha, amazing. I do think if they can't find a solution I'll be pushing for WFH too. I'm so glad it all worked out well for you 🙂

I will Def be assertive and come armed with solutions. Thank you x

If you’re hot desking it can get noisy too with other staff talking to each other, on the phone etc - not at all conducive to having such delicate conversations as those involved in your field of work so I would push this issue also

How do you know it wouldn't have happened if you were on sick leave instead of mat leave?
Was no-one doing your maternity cover? Who is having these sensitive conversations now? And where?

From the sounds of it your manager doesn't manage this other team?? And I would be surprised if she dictated accommodation? I imagine senior managers have been brought in because it was their decision.

I understand the need for confidentiality etc, but the "all guns blazing" thing is a little OTT, IMO.

Just talk to them. It was never 'your' office. It would have been seen as a valuable waste of space, while you were still on maternity leave.

Calmly explain the need for confidentiality in your role and offer your preferred solution.

Why does everyone want to have a battle these days?!

It looks like you have a couple of options OP, and it would make sense to suggest the ones that work for you. Would you rather be in the office, or at home, or be hybrid and do a bit of both?

Most people find some home working is great, especially with family, but it can be really good to have the social connection of office work when you need it too, and to get out of the house sometimes to have your own time.

Have a think about which option works best for you, office home or hybrid, and propose a solution based on that, and based upon the clear need for confidentiality while you work. I need to take private calls but not every day, so hybrid works well for me.

If you do want to be in the office, you mentioned there are bookable meeting rooms - is there anything to stop you booking one of these out for your number of office days each week? So say you're always in the office on a Tuesday, you have a recurring booking every Tuesday to have the room all day? You could test this idea out in the meeting, and this might be a good compromise between your office needs and their lack of space to give.

Wishing you lots of good luck in the meeting, it sounds intimidating going in with two senior managers but they are all people, who legally should be motivated to make sure they are treating you fairly and making your transition back to work as comfortable as possible. I think leading with the business need (I have to be able to take confidential calls to maintain care level) rather than personal need (I'm used to having an office and I feel lost without it) will help, but not to say it's not worth mentioning the personal side too.

I also wondered what another poster asked, did you have a mat cover? In which case, were they consulted about the change?

Have you read that the op is the only one who would be hot-desking? I imagine this is a clear case of maternity discrimination- the lawyer would say while the op was on maternity leave, her desk was allocated and no provision made for a new one. On her return she was told she had to hotdesk. The op would be the only person at the firm hot-desking, and this was done to her while she was on maternity leave. Why are you discriminating against employees on maternity leave by giving them unfavourable working conditions compared to all other staff on their return?

Do you not share a desk with job-share partner? Seems frivolous with government money to provide duplicate resources for one job.

What is your job-share partner doing?

When you say two other staff members are they job-sharers too?

ETA - does that explain two desks for four staff ie two desks for two jobs?

Thanks again for all responses. Unfortunately they didn't put out for maternity cover for me despite the budget being there and me begging for months for it to be put out. As I said they aren't very supportive in management, are a different discipline and manage many teams that take priority over us all of the time.

The girl I job share with is in some of the days I am in as we need to attend a team meeting together one day a week. The other two staff members are not job share no.

If I had been allocated a new desk I'd accept it and move on. It's the fact my manager didn't even tell me my room had been given away. We had discussion about my return and nothing was said. Then I was informed my room had been allocated to another. I then went ot her and asked if this was a temporary measure and was told no. I was then told she would sort it upon return and I would slot in somewhere depending on the other teams working hours.

I should explain that the 'guns blazing' is more her attitude and the way it was handled. But I will be calm and professional.

Ultimately I don't want to leave my precious babies to go back to work but I have to. I'm already upset and then to have a manager who cares so little (she doesn't email back half the time) and has made a major decision without so much as telling me, it makes it so much worse.

Also I hadn't received an invite to the meeting she arranged and emailed asking for it. She bluntly said it had been sent to my trust email. Now considering

1. All of our communication has been through my personal email.
2. I will be on mat leave still during this meeting and have no access to he trust email whilst I'm off.

So had I again not contacted her asking for the invite I'd have missed the meeting.

So between desks being given away with no solution, maternity cover not being sought, failure to reply to emails on multiple occasions, the invite being sent to an account I can't access and the fact she clearly doesn't care at all it has made me a little angry. But I know that anger will get me nowhere.

I will Def be asking about WFH until a solution is found. But like I say they are asking people not to WFH anymore so can imagine that will be met with resistance too

But thanks so much for all thoughts and ideas. All are very welcome and exactly what I needed prior to the meeting.

Its not just the hot desk issue then, it’s her whole treatment of you and your role…

Also as a manager myself, I hold myself to high account and pride myself on being supportive and approachable for the team. I can't imagine acting this way but I know I need to realise not everyone manages the same way too.

Definitely take a union rep in with you OP. Many years ago the first hint I got that I was being made redundant was when my desk disappeared in an office reshuffle. I'm sure that isn't the case here - suspect your manager is just an idiot - but if she's there with the assembled ranks of seniors you want firepower too.

@breezesin yes I suppose it's everything yeah.

@Igmum this has crossed my mind as there is a reshuffle in the palliative world. I have a permanent contract so could just be moved but it is a possibility 😕

I'll Def even speak to union before I go in and see what they advise. Thanks again x

I think you need to be clear and consistent with your justification for seating arrangements.

Hot deskng is better for hybrid working. For the business it means it can reduce number of desks as not everyone is in all the time. They have allocated 2 desks for 4 people - I'd say that's a sign that they are happy with hybrid working - or they are going to get rid of people.

Don't argue that you need a desk just because you have 'stuff' that needs to be stored. If you need a fixed desk with fixed paper files and to meet in person with people etc then it's hard to justify full time wfh.

Raise the visibility of your team in the office- to ensure its seen as impt and a key part of the multi disciplinary team.

You might want desk allocation to keep team together when all in office, for example- to share ideas, best practices etc This is a reason why pure hot desking may not be best for your team and thus for patient care. (I'm wondering if this was the reason other departments have allocated desks?...and maybe yours doesn't because your department had no advocate when decisions were made when office was shifted around?)

You may ask for locker space / shared cabinets for storage.

If you say you need to have private convos and thus an office. How does that argument stand up when hybrid working or WFH? I'd think carefully how you frame this justification so that it doesn't scupper wfh / hybrid if that's your aim.

@lateatwork thanks for this. This decision was definitely made when there was no advocate for our service present.

Basically our MD team is based on a floor of a building. It needs to be this way for joined up and holistic working. It's better for the team and for the service we provide.

So I have already raised this as an issue as those occupying the office space have no need to be in same locality as our team. So it would make more sense to move them or to have made provision for this during the year I have been off.

There is a member of our team going to retire soon and I suspect they will push back on recruitment following this despite there being the budget. So that's probably formed part of their decision making. But as the budget is there and we need this post to run the service effectively I will have to fight for this too.

I don't want to have to fight. I just want to go back to work and have a desk and be able to recruit staff with a budget that is ours and readily available.

My experience to date has been that EVERYTHING is a fight with many ignored emails and phonecalls. And it is tiresome. But I feel passionately about the service so will advocate for it.

Yes but the OP's organisation doesn't have hot-desking! Everyone else has their own desk and she is expected to come in every day and hope that someone is either ill or on leave so that she can sit down and work. With hot desking you arrive for the day with a desk reserved for you. What is the OP supposed to do if she can't find a spare desk? Sit on the floor??

Completely unacceptable and I would get my union rep in that meeting.

I would also state that I was assuming that the interlopers would be vacating my office before I returned because of course they were only using it while I was away weren't they?

Read the OP. This isn't hot desking. Everyone else has their own permanent desk. There aren't spare "hot desking" desks. OP is just supposed to come in every day and hope someone is either ill or on leave so she can camp out at their desk. If everyone is in I guess she is expected to sit on the floor.

It’s pretty clear that this service is likely to be cut! Definitely take your union in to the meeting as odds on this is to notify you that a consultation period is being opened and given your status a returner from mat leave you should have specialist advice from the outset.