To refuse to provide bank statement to my work to prove I was in the office

[HanExplorer]

I’ve found myself in a very unusual situation and am standing firm so far despite pressure.

I work in a hybrid role with a requirement to attend our office twice a week, this is measured monthly based on card swipe data. On one of the days in May, I forgot my pass so was issued a temporary one to use that day.

Earlier this month my manager flagged I was showing a day short for office attendance in May and said I’d need to make up a further day in June. I looked at the dates they had on record and quickly realised the missing one was when I had the temporary pass so that obviously hadn’t registered on the system.

I explained this to my manager and she still maintained I’d need to attend an extra day to balance the totals on the system as there ‘wasn’t any record of me attending’.

I realised I’d spent money in the on site restaurant that day and there’d be a record on my bank showing the company name. I screenshotted this on my phone, cropped it so you could see the date and sent it to my manager.

She has checked with her manager and told me that I need to provide a copy of a bank statement which shows my name and the transaction - that would of course also show all my other activity!!

This has been dragging on and I’m standing firm so far, but I’ve had a call booked in with my manager and her manager for tomorrow and I’m wary of what they are going to say.

My office is over an hours train journey each way so not a case of driving 5 minutes down the road to work a further day - regardless, I don’t feel I should do out of principle.

Could not agree more.
I'm not sure I would want to work somewhere with this culture tbh.

my DP works in a cyber type role and has told me these programs are not fool proof

Get the statement on your computer screen. Scroll/filter it so you can see the statement header details (including your name, etc) to prove that it's you, plus the relevant transaction. Take a screenshot. Open a "paint" program. Paste the screenshot in there. Draw black rectangles over the bits you want to redact. Save the image. This is 100.00000% foolproof. Even the CIA can't extract the underlying information. (I'm surprised your DP didn't think of this!)

And you don't fix either of those issues with a print out of a bank statement. I would absolutely pick this hill to die on.

You would if you'd been in the office and could prove it. You'd prove it with your bank statement and then take them to town for their laxity.

Otherwise all the excuses re the bank statement might look to management like one more diversionary tactic to change the focus.

What if there was a security log and there is no record that OP was issued with a security pass that day, security staff have no recollection of her and there is no evidence of a temporary pass having been used? Presumably the temporary pass would show up on the system when it was used to swipe/tap in and out?

What if IT has been consulted and can provide no evidence that OP logged into the system that day? And ditto all the other ways of proving presence.

I speak as someone who used to work with a woman who would leave her computer on, a jacket on her chair, a handbag (turned out to be empty) under her desk and a post-it saying 'In meeting till 4pm or Interviewing all afternoon or Taking late lunch' or similar on her screen should anyone notice she wasn't there. She got away with leaving the office at 2pm to go to a second job for the best part of a year before anyone became suspicious. She then wanted me, and others, to lie and say we'd seen her.

What's wrong with your bank statement? Is it all love honey and only fans transactions?! I just couldn't be bothered to be this awkward.

As much as I think the requirement to prove you were there is beyond pedantic of your employer, is this a battle worth fighting? Redact the other transactions, give them what they require and I’d be looking for alternative employment where employees are treated with respect, like adults.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d be raging and not wanting to give them this information, it’s so unnecessary and intrusive, but I don’t think they will back down having asked for it.

It's 2025, where is the cctv?! Also just redact your bank statement don't make life awkward for yourself, you've been wrongly accused, you have proof just give it to them

So print it out and respect by hand using a thick marker and then take a photo and email in?

Shitty of the company to not show any trust in your or have the right systems in place, but you seem to be making it much more complicated than it needs to be…..might be easier to go and work the extra day if this proof part is too much hassle for you.

If you buy your tickets on the Trainline app would a copy of the tickets be a good idea?

Why would they need to hand anything over? Security can view and confirm your attendance, no need for your manager to see it directly.

Whether redaction is fool proof depends on which tools you use. Often, people take a PDF and put black lines over the text they want to hide, not realising that the text is still there and can be extracted easily. There are tools that genuinely remove the text so it cannot be recovered. For example, it can be done online at Redact PDF - Secure PDF redactor. I would use this to redact your bank statement so that it only shows the information your employer wants to see.

Completely agree with you but im just thinking (aimed at the employer) why doesn't an employer know how to make their own checks on staff attedance. Asking for a bank statement when a screenshot was already given and an explanation which im sure they can check , is silly on their part. Its one day attendance at work not a murder enquiry .

This! Simples

It’s massively intrusive and none of their business to see the bank statement. It doesn’t matter what’s on it, whether it’s the vape shop, or Mounjaro, or just the petrol station. There are company processes to use: the temporary pass, CCTV, log in details.

But mostly this just shows how pointless the working days in the office are if you have to rely on a cup of coffee transaction. It’s obvious in this case that dragging the OP in was pointless.

@HanExplorer i completely get the where you stand in the sense that I hate having to show my bank statements to my employer (unfortunately it happens to both myself and my husband) what we do is we print it and then redact all the values (and where you spend it if you want). And then show it to them. And once they have accepted this I would say to them (in an email so there is proof) 2 things:

1. they need to review their processes. Yes you forgot your pass - but it shouldn’t be the case that every time an employee does so they have to provide proof they were in the office - are their word not enough? Do you really need to be micro managed that way? You are all adults after all.
2. in the case of an emergency (fire for example) - how would they know that you had left the building and that you’re safe? If there is no record of you being in the office they would be none the wiser.

anyway. My two cents.

Or the low-tech option is to print the statement, use a marker to redact, then photocopy with the darkness level turned up.

Ha, this was my first thought too.

OP, you have provided proof. Your employer has the means to check CCTV if they don't believe you. They just cba. I wouldn't be giving this any more headspace and I wouldn't be making the day up.

Why are you making this so difficult?
Get you bank statement up on a screen or print it out. Lay bits of paper over the transactions you don't want them to see then take a photo of it and send it to them.
Alternatively put search parameters on your bank statement to only show transactions on that day. It's really not hard.

Why are they being so petty? If they aren’t recording temporary pass use correctly (ie a sign in sign out log) then surely that is a huge security concern and much more worrying than your one office day?

Here you go @HanExplorer, here's my bank statement. The black bits are what you need to redact and the red bits are what I'm redacting on top (my name and the reference code of the transaction) because I'm posting it in public. The Easyjet transaction is the equivalent of your on-site restaurant purchase. If you can work out the full Easyjet reference number, I will give you the £28.99 myself.

Security doesn’t have to hand it over. They can just confirm they have seen you on cctv on that day. Or does your manager not trust security as well?

get another job, this is way too toxic

You have two choices- either redact the blooming statement OR do an extra day in the office.

TBH if you were one of my employees I’d think you were behaving ridiculously over this.

Exactly this

well said!!

There is a lack of trust here. You have provided both an explanation and evidence. I think you should go down the grievance route - not about this but on the principle of how you can be expected to work with a manager who has so little trust in you?

Get a digital copy of your statement. Blank out all other transactions. Take a screen shot of resulting info. Send screenshot (which they will not be able to unpick to see other financial info) with breakdown of how much company time, money and resources this lack of trust has cost.