To think I must have some rights here?

[Bringittbqqck]

I have worked at home since before covid one day a week. When the pandemic happened we were all fully remote. For the last four years most people are remote and come in only when necessary ie for a meeting etc. some people will therefore be in one day a month or one day every two months. There is absolutely no need to be in the office for the sort of work we do, unless we need to actually see a client in the flesh (this is rare).

I came back from maternity leave a year and a half ago. I have been in the office twice in that time for a team building day and for a client meeting on another day. There have been no issues. on my return everyone (including management) was keen to say that the working world remained different and we can work wherever as long as it gets done. This was massively important to me as I’m a single parent to my little girl and getting her to nursery etc is half a days work in itself and I have literally nobody to help me.

Yesterday my manager announced that he would like me in the office once a week from January. I know this seems like not much and that I should just go with it but I now live very far from the office, which was done on this assurance that ‘working life is different and you can work from anywhere.’

It will cost in excess of 50 pounds a time to travel in, with car parking and the train, and will take 2.5 hours each way. I am already close to the breadline with nursery fees and don’t know how I will mentally cope with this journey on a weekly basis when I have to fit in a nursery run around it.

i haven’t responded to my manager yet to address this as I was a bit taken aback by it. Surely I have some rights to resist this? It just not sure.

It's a change to your terms and conditions and you have to be consulted about this.

It's worth raising this with HR.

What does your contract state about your working location?

Precedence appears to have been set. But unfortunately I'm not sure verbal agreements will have much sway over a written contract.

Do you have anything additional in writing regarding the work from anywhere agreement?

It depends what's in your contract but there may be some legal precedent that if your conditions have been different to your contract for a long time that your contract has de facto changed. It's worth contacting ACAS. However it's never wise to rely on being totally remote and making plans to move away on that basis.

I think the written contract is office location is x and that’s where you’re based.

it hasn’t been that way since 2019 though.

Is it just you or is everyone being asked to go in once a week?

What does everyone else do? Do they go in weekly?

I think @VioletCrawleyForever has homed in on the key question. Is this in fact a change to your Ts and Cs, OP? Does your contract give you the right to WFH?

Good luck with this. I am sympathetic; I am just not sure of your rights

Then unfortunately it is unlikely you have any recourse.

As above speak to ACAS but you are contracted to the office.

“This was massively important to me as I’m a single parent to my little girl and getting her to nursery etc is half a days work in itself and I have literally nobody to help me.”

Sorry, this sentance jumped out at me. Are you taking your dd to nursery during work time? Could management have found out if so?

Also, what does your contract say?

Contacting ACAS per @TheSilkWorm ’s suggestion is a great idea

Do you have it in writing that you can wfh every day? If not and you have an office base in your contract I’m not sure there’s not. Much you can do as they can request you go in.

Sadly reassurances mean nothing if no change to your contract was made.

Without a contact stating you work remotely I think you'll struggle to challenge this, but check with ACAS.

If your contract says offfice based then in truth, your employer can require you back in. It’s of no concern to your employer where you live, only that you show up for work, whether that’s in the office or online at home. The fact that you moved is a you problem, not a them problem.
once a week is not excessive either. I don’t think you’ll have a leg to stand on tbh, your best bet is to chat to your line manager and try to find a compromise.

If it is 2.5 hrs each way to the office plus a 8 hrs work, what nursery is open 13 hrs a day anyhow? Surely that in itself makes it impossible.

No I take her to nursery before work hours but what I mean is that in itself means I am back at my desk just as the working day starts. I’ve been up hours by then. If I have to go into the office even at the earliest drop off for DD then I will inevitably be late in. The trains are always late too and it just doesn’t ever go smoothly.

I don’t think others have been asked to. I am not sure though. I am most junior (although still reasonably senior).

I am so stressed about it I am at breaking point and feeling I need to go off sick which is SO unlike me. Never had a day off since the day I started in 2015!

@hennybeans yes exactly. I’m very stressed about it

Many organisations are now bringing people back into the office on a hybrid basis of three days in the office and two at home.

Has your productivity gone down since working from home or are you possibly less contactable than before?

I worked in an office where this was a huge issue. Only my manager was WFH and everyone else had to come in. She was uncontactable constantly. Everyone knew she was barely doing any work and if you phoned her about anything urgent, she wouldn't answer.
She wasn't asked to come back into the office because they didn't want to "single anyone out" even though she was the only one allowed to WFH in the first place! I wish they had got her back in. No one could get anything done because we were waiting to be able to actually speak to her to sign off on the things she insisted on micromanaging.

I'm really not trying to be harsh but if it's just you, it's unlikely to have come from nowhere, and I'm just thinking if you can find the reason why they're asking you in, maybe you can head it off by changing how you're working e.g. being more "visible" while WFH and making a flexible working request or asking them informally to reconsider once you've shown what you're going to do differently.

Can you not just have a grown up conversation with your manager about your concerns and to understand the reasons why this change is being requested? They may be more understandable/flexible if they understand the complexities of the childcare situation - my line managers certainly have been in the past, although suspect we work in different industries.

I wouldn't panic/go on sick leave until you've at least had this conversation.

This isn't an ideal solution, but if it boils down to you having to be in the office one day a week, could you enrol dc in a nursery near the office for that one day a week? Dc would have to do the long commute, but if it's that or lose your job...
I assume you have no family to help or a friend who could watch dc one evening a week?

If they really won't budge on coming in one day a week, would they agree to a flex in your hours? So you could suggest that you work a shorter day on your in office day, to accommodate nursery pick up a drop off + commute, and make the time up by working slightly longer days on the days you are home?

Why did you move far away from your job?

You should always base your travel & childcare on your worst case/contractual position, not on a goodwill/informal arrangement.

@MiraculousLadybug no it’s definitely not that. Im available pretty much 24/7 for work and always in usual work hours.

Request WFH under flexible working. Doesn't really matter what your contract says as flexi, if granted, overrides that.