to expect employee to be flexible and attend team event on a day they are usually off?

[traintocatch]

We have an employee who recently reduced hours and chose to have a whole day off during the week -Tuesdays (working week is Mon-Fri). Before approving this, we agreed they would work on Tuesdays as and when required for project delivery so not 100% set in stone. Since they started this pattern we happened to organise team events with external facilitators and 2 of these events were held on Tuesdays. Whilst not critical that they attend, it would be important for their development, their understanding of company culture as well as team morale and really showing that are willing to integrate. We cannot always choose days to suit them. They declined to attend on both occasions and wondered what would be reasonable to expect? I know I would attend and take the day off another time that week?

Post to this free HR community, they will provide some good HR perspectives on the matter- www.peoplestreams.co.uk

You’ll have to pay them extra if you want them to work on their day off. YABU.

Before approving this, we agreed they would work on Tuesdays as and when required for project delivery so not 100% set in stone.

Have you got that in writing?
Is this day event required for project delivery?

If not they don't have to "go the extra mile" they might be prepared to "go the extra mile" or part-mile in other ways but you can't require them to do this without varying their contract.

Please explain to me, how it is crucial for an employee?
"Whilst not critical that they attend, it would be important for their development, their understanding of company culture as well as team morale and really showing that are willing to integrate. "

This is bullshit corporate lingo. It has zero impact on their professional skills their company is employing them for. And boosting team morale by telling someone to reshuffle their private life to accommodate some totem dancing event is really great.

I run a company and I absolutely love employers like this that make such unreasonable demands on their employees oh so casually, because it means I can scoop up the best talent locally in my industry when they get sick of these bullshit demands

My current deputy came to us precisely because her previous employer kept scheduling meetings in London on the one day she had agreed that she’d start work late, as she didn’t have breakfast cover for her children. Those children are now 14 & 18 and she has been a complete star for the last decade. The company would be very different without her.

Oh do piss off with your extra mile...

Bloody hell, OP. So they work part time, and Tuesday is the day that they have no contractual responsibility to you? Why would you expect to have any access to them at all on that day? If you buy a bun in the supermarket do you expect to be able to nibble on the naans on the next shelf?

Well at least when she wants to swap for her own convenience you'll know what to say!

I've been part time since my children were born (many years now) and have non working days but have always tried to accommodate swapping days whenever I can if needed, sometimes it hasn't been possible but often is. Means when I want to swap for sports day/appointments/day out, work never mind. I feel very lucky to have a flexible employer so also try to be a flexible employee.

The thing is, OP, that not everyone wants to get ahead, develop, prove themselves, go above and beyond etc. Some people just want to do the job they are paid to do and get paid. You've said it's not crucial, so that very much falls into that category. The other reason to work Tuesday – finishing projects in her remit – are related to just doing her job and getting paid.

Let her be – she just won't be in line for performance related promotions or pay rises.

And it's not a "day off" - like she was taking sick leave or holiday. She just hasn't sold you that day. It belongs to her.

I think YANVU.

The new working pattern has just been put in place and you are organising two events when your team mate is on a non working day.

Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday are there non working days. Flexibility is something that can be mutually beneficial, at a future point.

You are moving the goal posts just after they have been placed.

I'm another who can't cope with team building events. I appear to be at ease at the office and I like most of the people here very much in fact but going to another setting to do an activity is for some reason very hard for me to do. I have some physical problems that preclude participating in most activities and struggle mightily with small talk away from the office. I turn into an idiot basically, its awful.

The last major team building event we had planned was right before covid hit and my estranged mother died the day before. Damn skippy I called in and stayed out of the office for 3 days until it well and truly over.

I did say a little thank you to my late mother for finally doing me a solid favor w/o it needing to be paid back on her terms LOL.

I suspect your employee isn't keen on the event and this is what's making them disagreeable.

edit to add I know how hard it is for management to cook up these events and that they usually actually do want employees to attend, participate, get to know each other better, learn new soft skills, etc but generally speaking NOBODY wants to attend them so you have my sympathy to a point.

Any team day I have been on is not "crucial". Training yes, "team days" no.

We had one tail end of last year. Mad management has decided that if you are not failing sometimes you are not trying hard enough and pushing boundaries to become better. Someone obviously had listened to an ancient CEO of Amazon or suchlike telling his story of success and thought they would be "original" and build a team day around it.

We had a day going over the company values (which change every 10 mins so no one remembers what they are), then discussing our failures and how positive they were. So nearly everyone made up failures that made themselves look good, and then everyone else sat around listening and fake validating them either thinking -

• that was a big fat lie!
• what a twat for making that error and admitting to it, should have been sacked!
• I make errors too because I have too much bloody work to do and if you are taking me away from it for a full day for this crap you could at least put on some decent grub!

WASTE. OF. FUCKING. TIME.

Day off in lieu and it’s fine

Think everyone needs to calm down a bit. It wasn't an outrageous question tbf.

It's not how I operate but I've come across many managers who would think similar to op and they've managed to have great relationships with their employees because theyve been given flexibility in other ways.

Although op, managers are generally not very liked on MN. You would be better on Ask a Manager as pp said or see if there is a Manager group on FB.

Maybe you can ‘go the extra mile’ and ensure that the training is available on her working day.

People have different attitudes to team building days. Some people think as you do, whereas others think that they are a waste of time and not critical to project delivery.

IF they don't meet you in the middle you know to focus on the people who do and help them grow

What if they can't meet you in the middle because they have a serious responsibility on Tuesdays which they haven't told you about because it's private. Such as a therapy session or responsibility for a sick relative or . . .
well the list is endless.

Maybe this person has none of these things, but there are people who do.
Are they not worth helping grow? Because their other responsibilities are too great?

I think you have to accept this employee rightly or wrongly does not think this team building day is important.

Everyone knows that offering the option of attending organised fun events on their day off and then bullying them out of their role if they choose not to take you up on that "option" is a great way to boost morale.

it may well be that if they thought this day had some value to them they’d have said yes, but team morale building days are fairly universally shit

Everyone I know and have ever known and have ever worked with would agree with this. So do I

Team building is usually a management box ticking exercise, isn't it? Unless the "team" is newly brought together, and/or not working well together, in my experience they are a complete wate of time, money and resources. People don't have to be a team player at all, actually, to be able to contribute to a team. I suppose it all goes with the open plan office culture from the 2000s (another disaster).

You are extremely fortunate to have employees both willing and able to sacrifice their weekends. I hope you compensate them appropriately for it. It does not mean you are entitled to expect the same from all employees, or from those employees on repeat occasions.

OP I have some really bad news for you....

1. If you have a morale problem in your team then you need a mirror - not a "team event" - they do not solve team morale. People don't leave jobs or teams - they leave managers - ie you.
2. 99.99999% of people HATE "team events" - I cannot believe that companies haven't "got" this yet and still try to force this crap on their employees under the dubious guise of "fun" - they're crap and everyone knows they are crap. All they do is take people away from the (excessive) work they're trying to get through to meet their invariably unrealistic targets!
3. From your corporate BS posts alone I know EXACTLY what the "culture" is your company without attending your cringy team event! I suspect your employee knows too - which is why she doesn't want to give up her own valuable time to attend your BS event.

Honestly - it baffles me that you think your corporate "party line" tripe is fooling anyone. Everyone sees straight through it; it's BS and everyone knows it. "We care about our employees' well-being" is the biggest lie in the corporate world these days... usually said while employees are being discriminated against, bullied and bombarded with workloads and environments that are designed to make them crumble. Then when the employee tries to set a boundary for their own health, it gets chipped away at while all the time criticising the employee for "not being a team player". No - they simply haven't drank the corporate Kool-Aid and are prioritising their LIFE.

I used to be that person - going the extra mile (many extra miles in fact!) - but the simple fact is, that "extra mile" only ever goes in one direction! It's corporate BS speak for making your employees work for free.

In this particular situation, your employee agreed to work on a Tuesday when required for project delivery; in other words - when it's urgent and essential in order to meet a project deadline. It should be the exception - not the norm.

A team building type event is NOT urgent or essential to meet a project deadline and in fact, all it does is put employees back in terms of their workload so they end up more stressed because they've missed out on a day when they could and should have been getting actual work done. Your employee of course will not be happy with taking a different day off because, rightly so, she probably wants to use that day for her ACTUAL JOB - not some bullshit event that wastes time, money and just annoys everyone while work is backing up.

If you consider your ridiculous team event (that no one wants to go to btw! You do know that right?! Please tell me you're not THAT delusional!) to be so important - schedule it on a day when your employee is being paid to be there and don't expect her to rearrange her personal life for it.

Finally - be very careful about your attitude towards your employees; treating people less favourably on these types of grounds is tribunal territory.

No team day i ever attended was crucial
Most were a total waste of time