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.

No. The general consensus among our team and immediate managers is to lay low and comply as best we can while waiting to see if the whole thing blows over a bit. Because, yes, we all agree that the rules were brought in to stop people who were taking the piss.

I think you need to worry about it only if it becomes an issue in reality. The only public holidays that fall at the end of the week will be at Christmas and Easter so likely you'll have bigger childcare issues in those weeks anyway. And realistically how many annual leave or illness days might you have on those days that again aren't in school holidays. DS is old enough to understand that you need to fulfil your work responsibilities so if on the very odd occasion he has to do an extra day then so be it

It's not just about collaborating with your team. Even if you don't work with anyone in the office, you still need to go in 2 days a week.

I don't work with anyone in my office. I go in, sit at a computer doing my work, join some remote meetings with people in other countries, then go home. If someone sitting in the desks near me says hi, I say hi back, that's it.

I gather I'm not the only person in this situation, as they have made it very clear, that even if that's how it is, you still need to go into the office.

No. I think I've taken 2 sick days in the last 20 years, though occasionally DS is sick and I have to take leave for that.

You never proactively greet a colleague, you wait till they greet you. And you just sit there silently al day working?

My boss tried this, which is ridiculous as we’re supposed to go in to ‘network’. If I have to go in on a different day then there’s no-one to network with. I basically just don’t go in now unless I can’t get away with it anymore. I’ve been in the job approx 7 months and I’ve been to the office about 10 times (we’re supposed to go one day a week)

Screw that 😂

@HybridWorker what days are you planning to go into the office and how many days do you do?? there are 5 days in the working week

I think you'll be fine in reality, especially as your child is nearing secondary age.

My work has the same, stipulating that I must be in the office on two specific days of the week. That is fine the vast majority of the time as DDs are in after school club on those days. If on occasion I can't make it in due to sickness etc I just lay low and get back to the normal routine the following week. You are not the person that the policy has been brought in for, it's to stop the piss takers.

I work 5 days a week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I work from home. Thursday and Friday I go to the office.

@Dietingfool You never proactively greet a colleague, you wait till they greet you. And you just sit there silently al day working?

Yes. At least, I think yes. I'm an introvert. Maybe once in a while I say hello first? I'm not sure.

I should clarify... I'm not completely silent on the remote meetings. I do talk to the people I'm working with in the remote meetings, it's just that those people are in different offices in different countries, not the office where I'm sitting.

@LivingOnTheVeg 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?

Yes, I'd love a fully remote job and may very well start looking into finding one 😂

They started monitoring badge swipes recently, so they say they are now monitoring it carefully. We will see how it goes.

I think your gut to sit tight is best. It’s probably not going to be enforced eg if you’ve been off sick then often it’s best to wfh when back so you don’t pass it on or aren’t 100% after an op but ok to wfh.
Or offer to do 2 half days if they insist due to no childcare.

Can you get a day or two in hand eg going in over holidays when he’s in childcare or other parent around. Then you are always ahead.

I think you are over worrying. How many company days and sick days will there be in reality? And on average 3/5 of them will fall on days that you are at home anyway.

I'm sure you can make ad-hoc childcare arrangements for the very odd day that there is an issue, or, on the basis that your DC is 11, just let him be at home on his own.

Why do you have to make up hours if you are out sick.? Do you have to make up hours if you are sick on your wfh days?
I can understand if you booked every Friday as a stand alone holiday day when it was an office day or even if you are only ever sick on an office day but other than that not sure why you should have to make up time in office.

Whether it's 'fair' or not is a different matter but my previous employer took a similar stance to this. I submitted a formal flexible working request and was rejected. I went on to appeal it and was also unsuccessful. I wasn't able to make the hybrid offering work so I found a new job and left.

Just tell them you can't be flexible about what days you come in and will need certainty for childcare reasons. I can't see a downside for the company or team knowing exactly which days you'll be there.

@HybridWorker did the company not enforce the two days before? when your son did not walk home from school, who collected him and dropped him off?

Civil service?

They have to do it or it creates a loophole where people are off sick for a day or two at full pay to avoid going into the office at all.

I've never seen the jobs come back, what sector do you work in? A lot of places have stuck with Eastern Europe, some have moved on to the Philippines because it's cheaper than anywhere else.

So frustrating OP. Arbitrary requirements and rules dressed up as being “flexible” when the reality is they aren’t. My office bought in similar rules (having been recruited not 1 year before on the basis office attendance was only once every 6 weeks). I was “called out”
for leaving on an office day before 5pm. I quit. The afterschool club finished at 5.30 and the commute was an hour, I was supposed to work “flexi-time” allowing me an early log in and earlier log out.

In principle our office is like this - basically you need to make 40% across the month so if you miss a day, you will need to make it up.

In practice, most line managers turn a blind eye to it for someone who is otherwise a good worker and for whom it's an occasional issue.

It's more in the policy so that where you have someone repeatedly taking their office days off sick but mysteriously always being fine for their WFH days, you have a way to push them to sort it out.

In your situation, I would just give your 11 year old a key for the odd day this happens

My Office said 2 days a week in the office. Which was fine but I only did 3 days! So proportionately it was a lot more significant to me than my colleagues.