To refuse to go into a hot and sweaty office

[Floofydawg]

I've been WFH full time since Covid but we now have a directive of two days a week in the office. I can do my job fully remotely with no problems. I've been going into the office as directed but last week the air conditioning in the office wasn't working and we weren't allowed to open any windows to let some air in. The office was very very hot. I ended up going home because I felt ill and had a headache from the heat (I did work when I got home). Manager is expecting us in the office later this week even though the aircon is not fixed and we've been warned it could be warmer due to the heatwave. AIBU to refuse to go in?

I would also add that I am struggling with menopause and not being able to regulate my body temperature. Not saying I should get special treatment however I do struggle with it. I'd rather be home where I can open my windows and let some air in.

Sickness absence interview coming your way then.

It's not a nice little perk. It's a reasonable adjustment.

Get over it.

Nope....I've embraced the NWOW and my output has doubled.

A reasonable adjustment should be between the employee, their line manager and/or maybe HR.

I have a disability and a reasonable adjustment. I do not need to disclose details about my disability to people I work with. I wouldn't talk to them about menopause either.

The OPs workplace is in teh dark ages, much like the WFH/public sector workers are lazy brigade.

I would NOT tolerate anyone making fun of someone in this way. Absolutely appalling.

As is the idea the women have been going through this for years, I was fine, race to the bottom brigade.

Some women are deliberated by hyperemesis gravidarum, otters sail through pregnancy. We should support people according to their needs.

Then, they don’t get them…?
It is the same for a disability or pregnancy, it has to be viable for the company or organisation.

The OP isn’t asking for much really. She’s already set up to WFH and it’s not as if we get many hot days. It’s unfortunate the air con is broken too. It’s unusual.

I don’t feel I’m being pitched against other women. I am not menopausal, so no skin in this game. It doesn’t impact me if a woman who works in another organisation works from home when it’s 30 degrees AND the air con is broken. Even if she did work with me, it wouldn’t impact upon my work and my life.
I don’t think any less of the OP and neither should anyone else.

There is no maximum temperature working limit for office workers. Employers must stick to health and safety at work law. Including keeping the temperature at a comfortable, safe level, providing clean and fresh air.

If the air conditioning is broken and hot weather is forecast, everyone that can WFH, should.

Our office is closed over the Christmas holidays and everyone WFH. We support operational staff and have targets to meet.

You don't open windows when it is 30 degrees - all that does is bring the hot air from outside in.

How on earth do people think we managed pre air con days? We just got on with it, and there was no WFH in those days. You could buy a fan OP, they aren't that expensive, but you won't so stop moaning.

I am 65 and in all my long working life I have never once heard a menopausal women ask for any adjustment. It seems to be a MN thing.

So women ,who don’t work in an office are just being ignored on this thread.
I commented a few hours ago! Saying that my job doesn’t go away if I refuse to go to work despite the heat. Absolutely no choice for me

Ever since I was a teen I get ill in the heat, dizzy, nauseous, extreme sweating. Now that I’m menopausal it’s even worse . I would not be able to work like that and would ask to WFH. I find it funny that it’s ok to ask to WFH to pick kids up from school when people don’t want to pay for extra care, yet get snarky if someone wants to wfh because they get ill in the heat.

How do you think menopausal women worked in offices before air con? Because they did. They worked in other non- air conditioned places too. Many still do; not all hospitals for example are new and shiny, many are Victorian, and are stuffy and cramped places to work.
It is pathetic; wfh has been abused, and people who don't want to go to work becuase they maight hav a hot flush with no air con, or indeed any other excuse are just making it worse for others.

We are not stuck in the dark ages. We've just got on with it. Some of us got on with it unable to take HRT due to previous cancer treatment. Some of us got on with it in un air-conditioned places of work.
We were not moany~arsing about wanting to wfh because we couldn't. Like generations of women before them.
It is all a bit pathetic and does women no favours.
And if you're paid and contracted to go into work, go to sodding work

How do you think menopausal emergency staff work while menopausal? Or farmers? Or divers? Or any other job where presence is required? Are they supposed to just get on with it, while you, being senior enough, can just do what you want?

Utterly ridiculous when you can work from home

I wouldn't go in until it was fixed, it was 34 degrees in my sitting room yesterday until I put the (portable) air con on. There's no way I could have worked in that.

I would just state it as a fact, I have no idea why people are so subservient.

"I'm going through menopause and this means I struggle to regulate my temperature. I am unable to work in a hot office. I am happy to come in once the air con is fixed. Until then I will work from home".

Not another one.

There seem to be a lot of posters on this thread who haven't understood that menopause is a thing that drives some women out of work entirely. This isn't new, either. When you say people just got on with it, you're wrong, because some of them stopped and continue to stop working because of it. Same goes for @Howtoeatanelephant- some of them don't, is the answer.

That is not the sort of thing we can afford to be doing with our skills shortage and population pyramid as things stand, however offended some of you are by the concept of a menopausal woman needing adjustments in her work.

You could choose to get a job in an office?

I have no idea how anyone copes with office work - or anything that involves public speaking or being around other people, when they are literally dripping with menopause sweat rolling down their face. Not everyone suffers this way, but I did. You end up soaking and you're then cold and shivery as your clothes are then soaked through. This can happen many many times a day. And night. It's awful.

You just have too. You don't have a choice but to just get on with it.

That's just facetious

It's such a pointless argument anyway.

Because some reasonable adjustments aren't possible in all jobs, they shouldn't exist in any? Yeah, that'll definitely help everyone. Sorry Steve, but because your wheelchair means there are some jobs you wouldn't be able to do at all, no ground floor workstation or lift usage for you. Otherwise we'd just be ignoring all those other jobs.

since you can wfh and do so regularly, makes perfect sense to allow you to choose in this situation. No air con in an office that usually has it, and has no alternative, is really unpleasant. Even without the menopause.

How do you faint on cue?

Yes it's so embarrassing and your confidence drops.