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.

Because it's Mumsnet and people love to have "hills to die on"... it's the "principle". 😆

Do you not have a system for signing out temp passes? Every office I've worked in would have made you sign a log book to take the temp pass. Which would solve your problem.

Otherwise redact.

Really? You’ve never, for example, changed handbags and left your pass in a different handbag? You should get an MBE or something.

The manager sounds rather like Denholm Reynholm to me.

😂😂😂 exactly.

As posted previously, and whilst i agree she should be trusted, there might be a few reasons why she isnt and it would be very quick to diffuse the situation as said above by PPs.

• the manager could a jobworth PIA but he/she/they are the manager sadly
• she could have form - she isnt coming back on the thread
• the fact that nobody has come back with the log form from security shows that perhaps there is a reason that the company is pushing
• days are counted by signing with your pass, she forgot it, it could be company policy to prove by other means that they were in
• or other reasons

so yes common sense is gone and she is a PIA

Can you attach your pass to your work clothes or bag?

You're reluctant to ask the one person you had a call with to confirm you were in the office? Why? Very straightforward.

As a PP said, Whoever issues temporary passes should be making a record of who they issue them to. How else are they going to take a head count in a fire/emergency situation? If nobody is making a written record then the company is surely breaching H&S protocols?
You haven't mentioned raising this point with them, OP. What did they say about why the temporary pass hadn't been registered? Have they investigated and asked the appropriate staff what went wrong? Has that person denied issuing you with a temporary pass? Is that what's led up to this?

Bank statements are almost all on line now: just print a copy up with your name and address on it and redact anything you're embarrassed about.

If I was managing you your behaviour would be making me very suspicious.

What if OP had made a packed lunch and there was no restaurant payment?

That wouldn't matter, because presumably they would have some kind of reliable, secure and accurate way of clocking people in and registering their attendance........ oh......

Certainly not a hill I’d die on. Given I’d forgotten my pass, I’d probably do the extra day, or redact the bank statement. Or ask how the security passes are recorded on the system.

Obviously, you can show a redacted statement, however, the bigger issue here is that an internal process does not appear to be looked at.

I am assuming you had to sign in to get a visitors pass - why don't they just look at the signing in book for that day? They could even look at the video evidence for that day in reception (if they have it).

I think it's really poor form that they are asking you to provide personal documentation from an external source when they should have internal evidence that should irrevocably prove you were in the office.

They really need robust processes in place particularly if they are going to be so draconian on office presenteeism

Did you attach it to your halo?

The OP would have had to have signed in to get a temp pass. It's not her fault that there isn't a system in place to tie up having a pass and attendence in the office.

Either they have a record of her being there because of that or they just let any randomer off the street into the office with no evidence, either way that's a pretty big failure of their administration procedures.

OP shouldn't have to provide personal information because of that - and besides which, she has provided the evidence, just not in the very particular format this jobsworthy twat thinks it should be in.

Why have you answered this post and not the ones right at the beginning, with the obviously sensible "redacting transactions on your bank statements" suggestion?

I had the temporary pass so that obviously hadn’t registered on the system.

So where did you get the temp pass from? Surely there is a log of who had it and you should have signed for it?

Do as others have said with the bank statement. It's an easy solution. I'd also ask about proof of temporary pass being issued. They must have that somewhere as well, and if they don't, then they need to look at that for the future. In short, you are being awkward for no good reason.

Whenever I was issued a temporary pass this was logged in a book and I had to sign when I gave the pass back. Surely there is a record of you being issued a temporary pass?

I can think of many reasons:

1. Changed handbags
2. Changed coat
3. Only in the office twice a month so don’t leave your pass in your bag all the time
4. Disorganised
5. Distracted by someone else in the house whilst leaving
6. 2 car family and you take the other car for some reason but your pass was in the usual car
7. You had you bag stolen and your pass was in it
8. You lost your bag
9. The phone rang as you were leaving the house distracting you

I’m sure many, many more. I don’t think I’ve ever done it myself, but I can definitely see how it could happen!

Indeed.

Of course there’s a system if someone had to set up a temporary pass for her!

The company are asking OP for proof because she quite obviously didn’t get issued with a temporary pass because she wasn’t there.

Provide a copy but with all the other transaction details blacked out. It's pretty easy.

Eh?

Do you think they throw her salary in cash out the window each month and just pray it ends up in her bank account?

What a bizarre comment

So wierd, surely signing in for a temp pass and your IP address that day would show you were in the office.

Or they record the temp pass, but there are no records of her being there and theybwant to catch her lying because she has form.

either way, i repeat if she is isnt lying, she could diffuse the situation very very quickly. Or there is a reason that she refuses and it doesnt look good for her.

people who pushes that hard and should the loudest are usually the guilty party.

when you want to implement culture change you do it quietly strongly and firmly (see Rosa Park)