Page 4 | Desk and office given away

WhistPie · 02/02/2024 22:04

Isitovernow123 · 02/02/2024 21:03

Doesn’t the op state that there are 4 of them and only 2 desks? If so, they are not the only one hotdesking. As for the confidential phone calls, there is no reason they cannot be conducted in an open office with other healthcare professionals. Not ideal, but if there’s nowhere else then it is acceptable.

Op, what dept did the office go to? If you are job sharing, where would your colleague work from on the day they are in?

Show quote history

Read her post at 16:50 yesterday (1st Feb). All of it.

ReadingSoManyThreads · 02/02/2024 22:23

Pop your phone on Voice Recorder for the meeting in your pocket or set face-down on the desk. It might pick up on some sex discrimination. You won't be able to use the recording, but you'll be able to use the transcript, should it come to that.

RhiannonTheRed · 02/02/2024 22:39

I hot desk now. I hate it. I used to have photos of my partner and our cats, my family, my friends stuck on the walls of my little cubicle, I had my drawers of snacks and stationery, my mug and some tins of soup. I had a folder of guidance notes on my desk. I now get to walk in to a plain desk and feel like a cog in a corporate machine, a number instead of a person. If I worked in management I would want my own desk, I miss it enough as it is. The fact you found out via a colleague as well is gross. I'd be really upset and uneasy. I hope it works out for you lovely.

Wolfpa · 02/02/2024 22:40

Did you think they would keep the desk as a shrine to you while you were away?

i think you are overthinking this and are now preparing for war instead of a conversation.

it’s just a desk, there will be others you can use

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:44

@Bookworm39 that is honestly the best story ever. Good for you. I'm so glad that things have worked so much I'm your favour. Will definitely give them a ring on Monday. Appreciate your support ❤️

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:45

@Wolfpa you haven't read the whole thread so less of the attitude. I don't care about THE desk, I just want A desk! Of which there are none.

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:47

@RhiannonTheRed I am so sorry to hear that. That is truly awful for you. And it really does affect morale. Thanks for the support ❤️

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:48

@ReadingSoManyThreads thanks for this. Not a bad idea 😊

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:49

@WhistPie thank you once again! You are truly awesome. Can you come to my meeting 🤣

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:51

@Btwmum23 thank you for this. I have sent them a message 😊

OP posts:

TBOM · 02/02/2024 22:53

@Proseccoprincess33 - can you quote posts you’re replying to? Tagging a poster just means we need to scroll up thread to find the relevant post and is probably limiting responses.

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:54

@VoiceOfCommonSense yeah I do get that but I don't think it's fair I am the only not to have my own desk and it is all the other behaviours of my manager too, like the way I found out etc. But thanks for your input.

OP posts:

Original poster

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:55

TBOM · 02/02/2024 22:53

@Proseccoprincess33 - can you quote posts you’re replying to? Tagging a poster just means we need to scroll up thread to find the relevant post and is probably limiting responses.

Edited

Oh sorry. I didn't realise I could do this. Thanks.

OP posts:

TBOM · 02/02/2024 22:57

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 22:55

Oh sorry. I didn't realise I could do this. Thanks.

Show quote history

No problem, MN isn’t always the most user friendly interface. Have you asked your manager what HR advice is on this? Innocuous question but suspect she hasn’t thought about anything beyond her own convenience.

TBOM · 02/02/2024 23:00

I also think you should let go of communication and focus on the single issue that as a direct result of your mat leave you’ve been placed in a position where you may not be able to fulfill the requirements of your role without significant extra workload vs colleagues who were not on mat leave. Having to find a workspace every day and book rooms is extra workload. Ask how it was decided that it would be you that took that on.

k1233 · 02/02/2024 23:26

gillefc82 · 02/02/2024 14:23

In my experience, most workplaces are moving away from personal offices with seniors instead sharing space with their teams (possible exception being Exec level). This is designed to foster a closer relationship as a team and make the manager / leader more approachable/connected.

Can you ask about feasibility of blocking out /book a meeting room as a project room for your team to use for any sensitive conversations?

Regarding a desk, absolutely a provision should be made for you to have a space to work from. In the move to hot-desking, sometimes businesses don’t make allowances for all hands meetings where full teams will be on site and needing somewhere to sit and log on.

May sound a daft question, but what type of desk is it? Perhaps time to suggest a move to a project collab desk set up similar to this, where you don’t have workstations in the usual way, but just network cables and power sockets and you can get a good number of people in the space that 4 normal workstations would occupy?

Good god. Do people have screens or do they just work on a laptop screen? Laptop screens kill productivity and efficiency. I could not imagine the noise and interruptions that set up would cause. Not to mention the utterly unsuitable chairs in the picture.

LT1982 · 02/02/2024 23:33

But the point is no-one else is hot decking!

AutumnLeavesOften · 02/02/2024 23:35

Proseccoprincess33 · 01/02/2024 13:53

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 😊

This happened to me.

They said I could sit with the Admin Team, I am of course female and so were the Admin Team, but I was a Manager, with staff and people responsibilities

My position was very shortly after made redundant.

I however was in a Union, and not only had they given my office away when i
I was on Maternity Leave, but they had also given my job to TWO men while I was away.

It went to mediation, and they were told they had to find me a new job, within the company, I managed to do that at another site.

I was recompensed.

I should have asked for more really.

But join a union, they were very helpful for me.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 02/02/2024 23:41

pootlin · 01/02/2024 15:12

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.

Edited

If hot-desking is a non-issue for you then you are lucky enough not to need a specific workstation setup. OP might because of recent birth or other health reasons.

Confusedmeanderings · 02/02/2024 23:48

F

Christmasnutcracker · 02/02/2024 23:55

Proseccoprincess33 · 02/02/2024 09:09

@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

This happened to me. I was on annual leave for a week during pregnancy. When I returned to my desk, somebody else was sitting on my chair!
Nobody had told me. Hot desking wasn't a thing then.

I remember feeling very humiliated. The people I had previously sat with didn't know where to look when I arrived in. The person at my desk looked confused and embarrassed.
Manager at the time asked me to just sit wherever there was a free desk.
Shortly afterwards I was asked to move departments so they had actually given my job away with the argument that I would be leaving for a year in a few months anyway.....

A few months later, the manager at the time, chatted to me and embarrassedly said that it was handled badly at the time. No shit! I think they didn't want me on their team because they expected people to stay late, until 7pm, frequently and I never stayed later than 6pm.

It was embarrassing and humiliating for me. I had taken such pride in my work before then.

pootlin · 03/02/2024 00:05

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 02/02/2024 23:41

If hot-desking is a non-issue for you then you are lucky enough not to need a specific workstation setup. OP might because of recent birth or other health reasons.

Show quote history

🤦🏻‍♀️

Hankunamatata · 03/02/2024 00:31

Is the job share a new thing or on place before maternity leave? If so where your job share partner been working and the two other members of staff you mention if the office you all use has been taken away?
(Sorry if u have said and I missed it)

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 03/02/2024 00:32

My biggest concern is that the lack of an office/work space is not the main issue here, and the OP is missing the signs that something else may be afoot. Setting up a meeting which includes 2 more senior managers, as well as not needing maternity cover for over a year may well mean that the OPs role no longer really exists.
Make sure you take along union representation and ask for an agenda and ask what is the main purpose of the meeting.

Mumma1822 · 03/02/2024 00:46

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 03/02/2024 00:32

My biggest concern is that the lack of an office/work space is not the main issue here, and the OP is missing the signs that something else may be afoot. Setting up a meeting which includes 2 more senior managers, as well as not needing maternity cover for over a year may well mean that the OPs role no longer really exists.
Make sure you take along union representation and ask for an agenda and ask what is the main purpose of the meeting.

I agree, I would not attend the meeting unless you have union representation in the call with you. I’m so sorry that your MAT leave has had added stress I really hope you get everything sorted out. ❤