To be unhappy with this hybrid work policy?

[HybridWorker]

Office has started enforcing 2 days a week in office. Fine.

The part I'm unhappy about is what happens if a company holiday or sick day, etc falls on on of your usual in-office days. You're supposed to make it up by coming in a different day of the week. They say that's "fair and flexible". The trouble is, my wraparound childcare that enables my commute is definitely not "fair and flexible" in the same way. With my childcare, I'm signed up for Thursdays and Fridays as a permanent arrangement, and that's just the way it is.

I will find a way to work around it. I'm just unhappy that it seems like unneeded stress. I think some other workplaces don't make you make up days off that are out of the office, but I'm not sure.

YABU = That's fair, you should just go into the office a different day and/or my work makes us do this.

YANBU = That's not nice, and/or my work doesn't make us do this.

Have you spoken to them about it and explained your situation? I would expect there to be some wiggle room for situations like yours. You're clearly not taking the pisss...as I imagine some people might, which the rule is there for.

Our place has a policy 60% of working days in office. It doesn't matter which days of the week, and is averaged out over the month. We have an online attendance tool to monitor this. Sounds a bit much, but actually works really well.

Depends on what your contract says.

If this was me and assuming the company holiday or sick days are few and far between, I'd probably make an effort for about half of them and skip half without mentioning it and see if the manager raises it.

My firm wouldn't do this, but I also know they are looking at who doesn't come into the office to see if their jobs can be outsourced to India.

We do 1 day a week in the office, doesn't matter when. By agreement with the team we are all in on Wednesday, but if I can't make it on Wednesday I've got to come in on a different day. I can see why it's problematic when you've got childcare to consider.

Are they monitoring that carefully? DH is meant to be in the office 3 days a week. From what I can gather, he's about the only one who is!

Yes, ours turns out to be 40% of days per week, but it's not averaged out. So, if you are working 1 or 2 days in a week, 1 needs to be in office. Or if you are working 3-5 days in the week, 2 need to be in office.

Oh the old "outsource to India" chestnut. Companies have been there, done that, and brought the jobs back to Blighty or nearshored them like opening offices in Belfast.

Ours averages out over the month but I still find it odd because prior to COVID my team went in one day a week to connect, discuss issues, caseloads, really productive things. Now I go in to work 3 days and listen to others talk about the traffic. Our meetings are usually online so I sit there with headphones on.

I have a similar set up. I have wraparound child care for 3 days so I can go in that extra day if I miss a day. Means I go in more than 2 days a week some week and I track it on a spreadsheet so I can prove I've "banked" some days if I am off sick

I think you need to make a formal flexible working request.

@skippy67 do we work at the same place? (Civil Service)?

We are 60% of our available working days for the month in the office.

Basically I work 3 days a week and that means 2 in the office most weeks 🤷‍♀️

What’s the reason given for coming into the office?

If it’s to collaborate with others, you could argue that on the make-up days there is nobody to collaborate with, so you’d effectively be sitting there on your own with no benefit to yourself or the business

what are your childcare arrangements for the days you aren’t in the office? Can you see if they can stay a bit later on the odd occasion that you have to work a different day in the office?

The sick days are overkill but when taking annual leaves seems fair enough to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you give it a few months I doubt it will actually be enforced.

Are you often sick that this would be an issue?

How old are you children?

This is probably to stop the small minority of people that spoil hybrid for everyone else by being being too sick to come to the office but well enough to WFH on their mandatory office days, so do less office days than everyone else

Most people only have one or two sick days a year this is probably not an issue though surely? And I’d really sick like a whole week then it wouldn’t make sense to make the days in the office up!

maybe it’s local government where sick days are seen as a right and average 8.8 days a year 50% more than the private sector

We had something similar at my last (very toxic) workplace for a bit. It was absolutely a punishment for daring to have a day off sick because no one worked in the office Monday or Friday, so you’d have to come in and sit totally on your own, in silence, for 8 hours. If the CEO knew someone was due in, he’d pop in at a random time to make sure you’d gone in. Enough people left/kicked off that they did stop it but it was mind-boggling that they did it in the first place.

I don’t think it’s that unfair if your team are in other days, but ultimately this is the chaos that hybrid working causes. Could you/would you want to find a fully remote job?

Is Belfast not in UK?
I think due to childcare questions you should request a home working agreement.

@EmotionalSupportPotato I have a similar set up. I have wraparound child care for 3 days so I can go in that extra day if I miss a day. Means I go in more than 2 days a week some week and I track it on a spreadsheet so I can prove I've "banked" some days if I am off sick.

That's really smart. I'm probably not going to do it myself, because DS currently doesn't like the wraparound care. (They changed management a bit ago and have some new people, and he doesn't like change.)

But I like the idea a lot.

I am the childcare arrangement for those days. The school is very near home, and DS is now old enough to be allowed to walk home himself. So, I drop him at school and start work by 9. Then, in the afternoon, he comes home at 3:30. I let him in and keep working until 5 while he hangs out in the lounge.

Just one child, DS, who is 11 and in his last year of primary school, so I know arrangements will need to change in September anyway... whether they will change for the better or worse, I'm not sure yet 😀

The contract says hybrid, 2 days a week, so I know I can't formally complain, since that is what it says and that's what they are doing. I'm just sad that when it comes to the little details like this, they chose to do it this way, and so was wondering how common it is, since I think it's generally not clarified in job adverts and such, so you may only know by asking around.