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?

I work 3 days per week but sometimes have to swap my days. It's not an issue for me to do so, so I do it. Flexibility works both ways.

I also work 3 days, and I will also swap days sometimes, if there is something crucial for me to attend.
I also do it in full knowledge that my line manager is more than happy for me to swap a day when it suits me, which I am not 100 convinced @traintocatch would be so open to.....

However, I would not be swapping a day to "learn about company culture", and the idea of it being a way to improve "team morale" is just laughable. How could anybody think pressurising someone to come in to work on a NWD, could possibly be good for Team Morale ?

Sounds like you don't really agree that they can have this day off - you don't really support flexible working and you don't respect the choice they made.

I work 4 days Monday to Thursday and yes I will flex and switch my day around if really needed but i think you have to consider frequency of such requests & also the seniority of the role. I don’t mind if it’s once every 4-6 months but more frequently isn’t always possible as it is the day I do the school run. Last year they had the team away day on my day off but my DD had an INSET day so that took priority for me, this years it’s been switched to a Monday as I think quite a few people across the team (approx 100) don’t work Fridays & then it’s also being fair to everyone by the company being flexible with the day needed.

I wouldn't consider a team building day a good reason to switch my regular non working day.

I would for a client focused reason but definitely not for so called team building.

I hate when people say this. It actually really doesn’t matter what the reason is they work part time and whether they have childcare responsibilities or not. The simple fact is they do not work on that day and they do not get paid for it. It doesn’t matter if the plans for the day are to sit on the sofa in pyjamas binge watching Netflix, they simply do not get paid to work on that day. It does not make their non-working day less valid than someone who has young children to care for on their day off.

Yes you are unreasonable. I worked four days a week and wouldn't attend non critical events on my non working day. I was flexible and changed my day if I could if it was critical but certainly not for a team planning day , 'development opportunity' type event.
It is actually extremely annoying when managers always assume that X can attend even though it's their non working day.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

🙄I'm really glad you're not my manager.

@alfagirl73 Mike drop!!!

Yabu. It’s not their working day. They could have no other commitments, they could be doing absolutely nothing. Regardless of whatever they are doing, it has nothing to do with you as it’s not their working day and you are very unreasonable to expect them to swap things, just because you would do so - that employee isn’t you.

It's their day off. YABU.

YABU. It’s their day off, end of discussion. What other people are happy doing in their lives is irrelevant. The fact you’ve agreed to them reducing their working hours is a separate matter and not one you can then use against them as and when you feel like it. If you’ve been shortsighted not to agree in advance and in writing before allowing them to reduce their hours that team meetings are necessary outside of working hours then that’s on you. If it’s that important then you will arrange the meeting during their working day as is the reasonable course of action. If you won’t, then it can’t be that important that they attend and this is a non issue. Poor management from your side to expect otherwise. You seem to be making some mighty assumptions. Not everyone who has secondary school children are able to leave them at home on their own. The fact you’ve posted on here instead of getting professional advice from your HR department or ACAS is very telling. Do your job properly, stop being lazy and do some research.

You’ve said “recently” - so I’m assuming this arrangement has only been in place a few months at most. Therefore the fact that you’ve asked them twice makes it pretty unreasonable to be honest.

Your issue here is that you have said when needed to attend on a Tues . If they are. It used to coming in on that Tuesday why on earth are they going to start they have obvs asked to reduce hours for a reason. You probably could have accommodated your employee by not scheduling something on a Tues.
as it is you look like an arse and are not supporting flexible working .

We had an employee who negotiated a 4 day week. It was agreed that if they were needed to cover staff absences/do training/deliver presentations to their clients they would get a week's notice and they would choose which day they would swap for their day off. The employee was very keen to reassure management that this arrangement was something they were very happy with and wouldn't be a problem.

On the rare occasions that they were given a minimum of a week's notice (often more) of something they were needed for they usually refused point blank to come in. On a couple of occasions they were asked if they could come in as their clients needed them to deliver a presentation which couldn't be picked up by another team member. They agreed to come in and which day they would take off in lieu but on the day didn't come in which was very embarrassing for the company.

They frequently expected other people to cover them or help them out but it was very much a one way street. The rest of team were very resentful of them and there was a worry that other people's requests for changes in working patterns wouldn't be well received.

They handed in their notice eventually much to the relief of the rest of the team.

Do you ever go the extra mile and give them spontaneous payments outside their contract?

@Turquoisa80 you're talking bollocks. It's no one's business what she does on her NON WORKING DAY!

I recently tagged another day's holiday onto some annual leave to avoid a bullshit team building day. That's how much I hate that kind of shite. They know I've done it on purpose and I don't care.

FOR PROJECT COMPLETION you shout and I will shout back

this

@alfagirl73 nails it.

OP - unless you actually own the company, why do you care? All any of you are doing is making money for someone higher up the chain.

This person isn't causing any detriment to the team or the organisation, and they're there to do a job, not sit around doing tedious away days.

If you have an issue with how they do their job, raise it, otherwise all the happy clappy team building work should be optional.

This is not a slight on you, it's great for you that you care deeply about your job but you must understand that other people can do an effective job without it being the main focus of their life. The healthy attitude to work is that it's just what we do to fund our lives, not the purpose of our lives. As you've said, you're new to this role; I imagine in a few years you'll have gained some more perspective and won't sweat the small stuff like this.

and "disappointed" fills my diagonal line.

I think what I would question is whether it works both ways for both of you:
would you then be happy if they swapped their Tuesday for another day if needed say their child’s birthday was Thursday could they swap it that week?

and is that something they would consider doing? If you would be happy to flexible both ways and if this is something they may do I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable this arrangement stands in my office and works quite well.

that is so depressing.

no wonder we are slipping down i’m going and productivity. This way lies a shitty future.

No you don’t have to give up your home life for work but equally work can find someone willing to be a team player.

2 x per year with a change of day off? why is that so awkward on a school day?

who says this has anything to do with childcare?

It's not just two times a year is it though? It's been two times since the employee recently reduced their hours.