To think you shouldn't have to work in the office on Christmas Eve?

[oliverwe]

I work in an office environment. Some people work from home fully remotely, most people are in the office 3-4 days a week. My manager has decided that we must come in 5 days a week. That is minus him and other managers of course, who usually go to their country houses for long weekends.

My folk live in Cornwall and I'd like to go and see them for Christmas. It's about 6 hours on the train or driving.

Manager has told me he expects me in the office on Christmas Eve. I can't take annual leave as other people are. AIBU to think I shouldn't need to be in the office? I can and used to work from home so it's just grinch behaviour.

Indeed.

Have you ever considered not being awful, or am I naive to ask?

I don’t really understand this country’s obsession with working to the absolute bone.

That used to be the case. I would argue that now the opposite is true. Many people want to work the bare minimum, wfh and whinge about having to earn a living, citing every possible reason why they should not have to.

(Am not including me or my NHS inpatient colleagues in that!)

I doubt call center workers can skivE

They are not the only job where people WFH.

travel down night before and work from parents

Why did you not book it off as annual leave if it was important to you?

I don’t see it as a right that people should not have to work in an office on Christmas Eve. In all my previous jobs it has always been expected of you unless you have booked leave or are ill. You could have booked holiday a long time ago if having the day off was so important to you. Other people managed it!

People don't seem to read the thread!
OP if the managers are allowing themselves the flexibility then it is unreasonable to insist that you work in the office if your job can be done remotely. If there is a reason, like the office needs to be at least minimally staffed by someone, then it's the luck of the draw and maybe next year you won't have to.
The fact your family lives so far away is annoying, but not their problem.
My son is the only one in his work place whose family lives a ferry and train away. They are still not giving him more than Xmas Day and Boxing Day off (retail). It means he will only be home for 36 hours and a three hour trip each way. He accepts it. Next year he hopes to go abroad (where the rest of my family lives) so he thinks he works this year and gets next one off.

And this is a good example of people who don't WFH completely misunderstanding.
Does it really matter to you whether I work on a train, from a spare room at my parents' house or a hotel?

It's not a right to WFH. As you've left it too late to book leave, you'll just have to suck it up.

How are you going to get to Cornwall and do a full day WFH on Christmas Eve?

Yes. Most jobs cannot be worked from a random train, hotel or spare room, even if they are WFH jobs. I WFH and can’t work from any of those places. I have to work from a designated place on a designated PC with multiple screens and complete silence all around me.

That sucks for you but why would your very specific set up have any bearing on where I or OP work?

I see it all the time on these WFH threads, people with tunnel visioned and can't grasp that there are different roles with different requirements.

Maybe the OP could work from her parents house just like I could, and is a little peeved that her boss is on a power trip.

I agree, if he wants you to do this, he needs to lead by example.

Where I work, which is public sector, people don’t piss take wfh (contrary to Daily Mail headlines) but managers don’t ask lower grade staff to do anything they won’t do themselves. No way would higher grade people be doing “long weekends away” (we can’t afford second homes in the country anyway!) and expecting other staff to be in the office every day.

It often seems to be to be pure delight in making people’s lives harder!

I can see why managers might want to make sure people are working on those days if they aren’t on A/L but that doesn’t need to be in the office.

It might be because the WFH policy changed in the meantime. I would book leave because I'd struggle to work from my mum's house (though she does have a summer house I could potentially use :) ) but it would be much easier for me to simply take the day off.

But if peoples' relatives have larger houses where they can get the requisite peace and quiet, and a decent internet connection, I can't see the issue. There might even be co-working spaces open on Christmas Eve, too, at least for the morning.

Tricky to answer if we don't know what you do for a job

But it is usually needs of the business

If you wanted to see family book the day off in advance

And I very much doubt all managers own country houses that they swan off to every weekend ... Perhaps a caravan in Wales but you are stretching

Most jobs cannot be worked from a random train, hotel or spare room, even if they are WFH jobs.

I would argue the opposite, actually.

It's also wildly unacceptable to work on confidential /commercially sensitive stuff on a train.

I have lost count of the conversations I shouldnt have over heard and screens I shouldn't have seen

Sweat Jesus chrust I actually can not believe what I am reading I am nearly 30 years woromung in office work most attached ti factories even the factories that ran 24 7 Xmas eve eas if it wasn't a day off was a doss day. people who came in came in late long canteen lunches sweets brought in sparkling fruit juice ( cause we couldn't drink 😂) long lunches sweet f all was done. no one in Europe was working USA not online yet and Asia was asleep. we all had long lunches abd everyone snuk off. it hasn't changed sorry to disappoint you mumnrstters. one company was annoying as we had yowait for the md to come round wishing each department happy Xmas but sweet f all was done. where I work now due to the way Xmas is falling they ate working overtime coming up to Xmas and production finishing the Friday before Xmas. it would cost a fortune to open the two days before Xmas. about 80 per cent are finishing the Friday before Xmas. people can work Monday and Xmas eve - Xmas. people can work the two days after but they will have great peace
to everyone who says its a normal day it's not really and has been for 50 years or so. op your boss is an ass look for a new job ASAP. i did that once I eaa told I couldn't half Xmas eve off cause didn't have children - I had it booked and approved the Jan previously

I’m a civil servant and work on a hybrid rota, we were due to be in on Christmas Eve and they’ve ‘kindly’ allowed us to work from home that day, last year and the year before they let us have the whole week at home but not this year. Don’t see why really, most the the work days in that week revolve around games over Teams and very little actual work

Wow, that's sobering.

We have far too much work for that. We're still working manically (at home or not) even up to and over Christmas. (Also public sector)

It shows there is still some public sector fat to trim.

It’s not that they need to trim the fat, we have a lot of work and usually work hard but it’s work that can wait a week over that period so they ease off on us.

She could drive there the night before and work in Cornwall Christmas Eve

The world has changed.

COVID exposed a reality that many, many jobs can be done from home and the people who object to that are usually envious as would love to work from home but can't, or the type of people who want to be in the office because it's their only source of social interaction and they want other people to suffer listening to their crap all day or doing their work for them.

as other threads have demonstrated, people are moving away gladly from wfm
for the social aspect

I use to work all over xmas same as a few others i know.
Id rather work than deal with xmas crap.
But as the years have gone on i just piss off on holiday now.