To ask if you (also) just ignore your "required" days in the office?

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

I am supposed to do two days. But the office is a minging hotdesk box full of coughing weirdos and the toilets are smeared with shit by 910am.

I can't do my job well in the office so I just don't go. I do manage people and they seem to appreciate the flexibility (half go into the office sometimes, half never do, we perform well).

Anyway it's been a real eye opener for the power of low key just defying silly rules.

Anyone else?

(If they cracked down I'd go elsewhere)

It depends on the company but if enough people do this quite a few are going to go straight back to 5 days in the office, so it’s really just storing up problems in the longer term.

How did you manage with toilets before Covid? Do you report it to facilities etc?

We are required two days but they are really accommodating and will let us work from home if there is a reason. Such as not feeling 100%, waiting on a delivery, anything going on in your life really. Generally il have a couple of days a month working from home on the required days as does everyone else. We wouldn't get away with just not going in for no reason. I actually do enjoy the days in with my team, we always have a good laugh but we are far more productive at home with no distractions.

I don't have a requirement to be onsite X days a week (luckily). My husband does, his job does have different benefits though but this is definitely a drawback. He has to trudge to an office twice a week, and achieve half of fuck all,nobody is on his floor, one laptop screen, no privacy for calls etc. It's a stupid archaic ask that's usually made by old misogynistic fuddy duddy boomers.

I don't mind going to the office if it fulfils a need, and I do, when I have a reason that need me there, but with all the tools we have at our disposal - that cost companies millions, we should use them efficiently.

I've not progressed with recruitment processes to higher level role when I found out that their 2 days onsite was mandatory, and even subject to disciplinary if not observed. If you're that unwilling to trust me to make my own decisions about prioritising my time and fullfilling my work duties, then the reality is you just want a bum on a seat, then it's not the company for me.

You need to get reasons not to in your employee passport... It's also much worse for managers to have to do a pip than employees to be subject to one.

My work has a 1 day a week policy. There are not enough desks in the office for everyone. If you’re not in before 9, there’s no chance of finding a desk. there are also not enough meeting rooms or meeting pods, which makes it difficult.

Late 2023/early 2024 I was largely ignoring it and going in maybe once a month. I am now mostly going in once a week. If there is something going on , I might skip a week but mostly just go in. One day a week is fine. 3 days a week would be hard. 5 days a week would see me looking for a new job.

The company is moving to a new bigger office next year. I expect it will become 3 days a week at that point, to justify the extra rent they are paying.

It's not storing up trouble it's illustrating to others that they can and should do the same. Eventually all those pension funds can dump commercial property stocks and humans can live good lives rather than slaves to the shareholders lives.

We are tracked on it, so no. If you can't make your office days one week for a valid reason, it's expected that you make them up over the next couple of weeks. I don't mind going into the office; it's in town so I have a wander round in my lunch break and get some fresh air whereas at home I tend to eat lunch with one eye on my laptop.

I can't wait for the boomer mentality to leave workplaces

If I did this it would impact on the development of more junior staff who need to be trained and who learn a lot better when together

Yeah it I had to go in office days would be my skive days (and tinned sardines at my desk for lunch 😀)

My work requires 3 days a week but doesn’t stipulate which although some days it is driven by the meetings scheduled for that day.

Do you mean a disability passport? It shouldn't be abused in this way by people who just don't fancy going in, it makes it harder for people who genuinely can't go in.

That's nonsense. Everything useful I know I learned myself (in horrible cramped smelly offices)

If you manage people, who do you do training or new hires or juniors when you aren't there? How do you do the informal chit chat that makes people feel like a team and not just cogs in a machine? How do you motivate and mentor your people?

If I were your boss, I'd be seriously pissed off that you were ignoring the rules and setting a bad example. There are important but often intangible benefits that come from in person working. And if people like you take the piss with wfh then the bosses have to be heavy handed.

The office is a barrier to access so taking a stand against it helps everyone.

They're not just for disability, though, that's why they're called employee passports

All I can say is that I wish there had been this sort of wfh potential when my kids were little. The lack of it meant I gave up a really good job. It was too logistically complicated.

I think wfh is a major breakthrough for parents of young kids… though when I say “parents”, in my day, a lot fell on women’s shoulders, so it’s a step forward for women. And btw when I write “in my day”, my kids are young teens… so talking ten plus years ago. I hope wfh continues.

The only thing I will say is that pre-kids, I loved being with my colleagues! It was good for mental health to go into the office. Good to learn my craft, good for mentoring and for working together on projects, being seen, delineating between work and home. Getting dressed and out of the bloody house.

Yes, if I’m asked to come in I do. My team have presence in four offices, some of which include over night stays so it’s usually every other week, I have a great relationship with my line manager and our time is meaningful when we are in the office.

For the first two years of my time at the company I had a line manager who only worked from home and didn’t see why anyone needed to be in the office - he was just off retiring and I think he found it suited him better. I thought it was ok at first but in the end I lost a lot of respect for him and thought he had a pretty archaic management style. I don’t think he showed much leadership and his team was very dysfunctional. Since then I have had better line management and now feel annoyed with myself I put up with that.

Do you seriously after the last 5 years not know how to manage people remotely? You don't need to inhale their breath fumes to connect with them.

Every update you post you just sound batshit crazy. Breathe their breath fumes. How close are you sitting to them?

I have no skin in the game here. WFH sounds like my worst nightmare and would respect anyone's right to do it.

But I think you are overegging the pudding a bit. Coughing, spluttering, shouting on phones ,shit on the toilets . I work with 20 colleagues in a school and the toilets are immaculate and people are respectful and courteous to each other. I'm sure other people in workplaces would say the same.

Civil servants are now being threatened with disciplinary action for failure to meet 60% attendance. If your designated place of work is an office and you have no flexible working arrangement in place you should be there. Somehow we all survived pre pandemic doing so.

As for "taking the piss", working productively (I have been in the top 10pc of staff in a huge org since I started this job), while also being comfortable isn't a sin against the great puritan God of work.

People suck. I refuse to believe a random selection of 20 people include no arseholes.

There are so many redundancies at the moment, it’s a tough job market. I’d be wary of thinking you’d get a job easily elsewhere with a relaxed attitude to WFH/in the office.

TBH you just sound cross with anyone pointing out there are valid reasons to go in the office. I’m not sure what I think about the fact half your team do go in but you don’t show up on these days or do any face to face time with them.