Change in Working from Home procedure

[HappyKite2067]

I have a fairly flexible job, I’m expected to be on site for certain meetings and activities but for the past 2 years, outside of this I could work from home. We are now being encouraged to be onsite more and although we don’t have a WFH policy, the procedure has changed. We now can only WFH limited days and we have to seek permission to do so. It feels like my job, which was previously very flexible and suited me, has turned into quite a micro managed job. Am I being unreasonable to think this is something to be bothered about, and raise with HR? Or are most work places now starting to push staff back into the office?

What does your contract actually say about it? If it doesn’t say you can, then chances are they can. Custom and practice is one thing, but reality is different.

A lot of places are pushing back on wfh. I’d push back o be expectations as more time in the office but also asking for permission to wfh sounds more like the expect you in daily

It depends on your contract, I do think and have seen companies pushing people back to the office

Yes I think the expectation is that we are in unless there’s a reason we need to WFH. It just seems quite sad, as I’ve got a really nice work life balance, and I don’t abuse the system at all!

I’d be bothered and I would be looking for another company that was hybrid or fully home working

lots of companies now pushing everyone to be back in the office at the moment

Sadly most places are pushing back into office now - most contracts state your place of employment is the office/a physical location but flexible working can be done to suit business needs which is quite a hard thing in the contract to argue!

We were majority office working before Covid and were completely remote over covid but are now 2 days a week in the office. I don’t think they’ll do more as our workplace isn’t big enough to accommodate everyone as we sold a few premises over covid and moved everyone into one.

But you’re right - demanding what days you come in and having to ask for permission isn’t flexible. It’s hybrid, but not flexible. And employers don’t understand the difference a lot of the time.

You should check your contract. Wfh is a luxury for most, and rarely in a contract, even those created since Covid.
I fail to understand how having to attend ones place of employment can be construed as 'micro-management'!

Contract doesn’t say anything around it unfortunately! It’s always just been an unwritten rule, a perk of the job but also something they do use to attract staff and have always referred back to.

Get a new job! I’d never work somewhere that didn’t allow home working again

Its very strange as management also don’t lead by example, and we often are in anyway as meetings have always been in person, so some weeks I might not work from home anyway, but during those quieter times where I just want to get my head down and do admin, I might then take advantage and wfh 2 days a week. The permission thing has my back up a little as a professional.

lots of companies now pushing everyone to be back in the office at the moment

Yes, many new starters are required to be in the office 5 days a week.

In my sector it does feel micro managing. On days I have no in person activities, I’d literally be going in to sit in my office on my own to do admin, but I wanted to see what other workplaces are doing to see if it is unreasonable or not!

Or are most work places now starting to push staff back into the office?

My organisation (40k people) is slowly increasing the pressure to return to the office. I doubt it is alone in this move.

Could you make a flexible working request to formalise that you can work from home up to 2/3 days a week? My work did this and as we hot desk they then realised there isn’t actually the space in the office now to have us all in and backtracked a bit

The issue is, the whole job differs each week, which is why the flexible working worked! Some weeks I do need to be on site every day, some weeks I need to be across the country for a week. The variety and long hours where kind of negated by ‘well during quiet times I can work from home all week and get admin done’ or ‘I can go home at lunch and finish ‘x’ task’. And this is why it feels micromanaged because it’s not a job you can micromanage really.

I'd be looking for a new job that had wfh 2 or 3 days a week. If I'd been successfully wfh for years without any performance issues, having to ask permission would irritate me. Obviously they're within their right to do it. But it would make the overall package of benefits for the job less attractive to me, so I'd look elsewhere.

The issue is, the whole job differs each week, which is why the flexible working worked! Some weeks I do need to be on site every day, some weeks I need to be across the country for a week.

Cross posted - this would make it annoy me even more. It looks like you give a huge amount of flexibility, travelling for a week etc, because that is part of the job. I'd want a bit of flexibility in return.

My partners company reduced the size of their office space so no room to return to pre covid days, it’s suggested they go in one day a week.

My friend started a job recently where they let them wfh 3-4 days a week, so in their experiences it’s definitely not a push back in to the office 5 days a week

Exactly, and it’s been raised how we then won’t work beyond our contractual hours if this is the case but I don’t want to make waves if the alternative is another job with the same restrictions! I had to ask to WFH last week after I’d been away on business for a couple of days (over the week&weekend) it felt so surreal.

I think this is my situation. Yes it wasn’t in my contract but the benefits where the flexible working.

I work for a big company that is being bought by a bigger company, the company buying us has recently mandated their staff back in the office 2 days a week. This prompted a discussion with my colleagues about our contracts, some of us are on a WFH contract but some are not but live miles from an office so I'm not sure what will happen when we are bought.

I work for a large public sector employer. Until we finalised our hybrid policy, no one was applying to work for us, which was previously unheard of. We are in the office for a minimum of 2 days per week, which seems to work for everyone and thankfully we have the trade unions on our side.

I would not work for anyone who didn’t offer a decent hybrid arrangement, the world has changed

Facilities Manager here - Hybrid policy at my place. In minimum 2 days a week compulsory - global access reports being run each month (yes you can and yes it's legal). Lots of employers keeping tabs on attendance - good luck.

I’m fully remote (ie this is in my contract) but my company is really starting to take a harder line on hybrid working. WFH is still allowed but hybrid employees are supposed to go in three days per week and this is now being formally monitored and reporting provided to managers. We’ve got a newish CEO who’s quite traditional and wants us all interacting in person. It’s all very well in theory but we’re a massive company with international reporting lines and teams - in my team alone we have people based in France, Ireland, the US, Australia and the UK. Most of us are remote so it seems really pointless to force the hybrid team members in when they won’t even see the rest of the team. We’ve had a really successful couple of years too so it’s not like we’re slacking at home. Just pointless jobsworthing to make people come in.

This is not my experience at all. WFH is standard in my industry and in no way a luxury. Nobody expects to be mandated into the office, and nearly all contracts state WFH in some form. The world has moved on. Employers that insist on presenteeism in the office are out of date and need to modernise.