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.

Does nobody read the thread? The OP has already said she wants to go by train after work on the 23rd, not travel on Xmas Eve 🙄

Your boss is a real Grinch.

After people queried how she was going to drive and work. Until then OP didn't mention which day or how she wanted to travel.

Even if you could work from home they might insist its your home

It is a nightmare if you need to travel for Christmas or cook and prepare for guests. I am lucky enough to have got Christmas eve off from the office this year but it was touch and go and only decided last week. We are open til 5pm. It is very Grinchy.

Wow everyone is being pretty harsh. If you have a job that can be done remotely, you travel outside of work time and he is going to be wfh himself then it's totally unreasonable.
Even pre covid when wfh was just occasional we were allowed to do it on Xmas eve and/or finish at lunch time.

He's very unreasonable

Many people have to work the whole of Xmas period including Xmas day .

We're encouraged to use annual leave if we need the time off, but Christmas is a time that our bosses actively discourage WFH, because it's much harder to maintain the necessary confidentiality if you have guests/kids at home/staying elsewhere. How much work would you really get done if staying with family Xmas eve, especially if everyone else is off??

Not suggesting you should have to work it, but if you've got a trip that long, you book leave, surely?

Come down with something contagious so you can either WFH or not at all what would they prefer.

Perhaps travel at the weekend and get stuck there?

Every job I’ve had we finished early on Christmas Eve, NYE etc

In my last job, if you weren't on annual leave you stayed at work in the office until 4pm on Christmas Eve. The managers did the same.

It’s really mean. And I say this as a HCP who works right over christmas and new year. If you don’t HAVE to be in work, why make you? Unnecessarily mean spirited I think.

This exactly. The OP is a good example of why employers are being made to go back into the office. She's swinging the lead. No way can she drive to Cornwall, and do her job as well. Not helping the argument for 'working from home' @oliverwe

Annoyingly it's a normal day
We used to finish at 3pm on Christmas Eve and NYE but this year we are all working until 6pm
Great fun

Shes planning to travel the night before and work from her mums.
i wish people would read the thread before responding!!

Because the senior managers aren't in the office 5 days a week. One rule for them and one for the other staff.

No, it's not a normal working day. Many, many offices close early. Also the trains finish early. Loads of people who don't have relatives locally need to get the time off to see their families on Christmas Day.

How can the OP do her job 'working from home' when she is spending 6 hours driving to Cornwall?

Can’t you read??
and pack it in with the patronising winky face emojis.

How is that relevant to OP as an office worker?

Where does the OP say she will work from her mum's?

(Also, seriously, did you think telling me to stop using emojis would result in me stopping? 😆)

.

Yes. There are lots of rules for managers that are not for general staff and vice versa. That's why some are managers and some are not. Otherwise everybody would do the same work, have the same responsibilities and be paid the same and that wouldn't work.

I’ve never worked anywhere that didn’t “close” early to allow people to travel to family.

LOADS of places don't. How naive!

I’ve never needed to travel but don’t train services stop early?