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.

They sound thick. Computer says no style of leadership at its worst. They should know the temp passes don’t register on the system and have a contingency process for this very occasion. Purely their issue if they don’t - not yours.

I know you were tying to be helpful but don’t bother trying to send ‘proof’ to them. If your word isn’t good enough then they clearly have no respect for you.

Did you miss the part where OP has already shown she was in the office via screengrab of a transaction at the staff canteen?

Unless you think she faked that as well, of course.

To be fair, you do carry some of the responsibility though for forgetting your pass. Hence, it really down to you too to prove you were there. You are being OTT - just blank out the other transactions. Why make a mountain out of mole hill.

Sounds like a terrible company OP. They’re being unreasonable not you. You’ve given them proof so basically they’re saying they don’t believe you which can’t feel nice.

It is also unreasonable to make you come in for a day where you’re literally going to sit with your headphones in just so they can say everyone’s filled their ‘quota’. Totally get coming into the office of there is a business need for it but otherwise where is the benefit?

You could fight it with them, bring in that trust and confidence piece but they don’t sound reasonable so for sanity reasons you might want to just give it them to get the issue resolved quickly.

Whichever you choose, as pp’s have said I’d be looking for another job

This ! it is easily sorted....why such a fuss....blank out the other entries....

Is there some back story here that you are missing out...it seems OTT!?! when easy to prove...

So you think she didn't go to the office and so faked a screengrab of the canteen transaction as well then?

Her company is making an intrusive request for personal information they have no right to see because of their shitty systems. I'd tell them to fuck off as well.

A screenshot of paying £6.50 for a sandwich doesn’t prove she was in the office, I’m almost certain it doesn’t show the date and time on the screenshot or they wouldn’t be asking for the other key parts of the statement.

Why?!?! It’s nothing major they just have to say oh yes Han was in that day too 🤷‍♀️

Didn't you have to sign in to get a temporary pass? Is there no record of that?

Don't they have CCTV they can review? It's a pain in the backside but give them the statement and blank out the transactions apart from the relevant ones.

The company should have either a written or electronic log of who is issued a temporary pass. This is basic H&S!! How on earth do they know who's in the building, if they're giving out passes without any records?!!! I am pretty certain that would be in breach of some legislation!! Very very sloppy. The easiest way is to print of a paper statement, and blank out any other transactions. Your bank may even stamp it, if you took the original and copy into branch, to say it's genuine. A complete pain in the arse, and it's not particularly nice knowing that your Manager has zero trust in your word!!

This is exactly what I would do. I don't understand @HanExplorer issue.

I was thinking this, if there was a fire, how on earth would they know who was in the office to make sure all staff are accounted for? Madness!

It would show the date, I think.

This - take a copy of your bank statement and redact all the other entries/bank balance data.

Alternatively - your office security should have a record of issuing you with a pass. They have to legally have a record of who is on the premises for insurance/safety reasons so will have a record of who was issued with visitor passes on that date, so just email them for confirmation and then send it to your manager.

If it's a screen grab from her digital banking it will show the date and a transaction description, presumably identifiable as being the staff canteen.

Printing off an identical statement would show exactly the same thing.

And still beside the point. If this company doesn't:

• Have a record of who was in the building on a temp pass;
• Have a record of who accessed their wifi/ IT systems on a given day via user logins/ IP addresses or similar.
• Doesn't simply trust an employee when they say they were in the office

Then that is a shit company to work for. If absolutely nothing else, if there is no log that she had a temporary pass what do they do when there is a fire?

On my online banking you can actually print off individual purchase.

I click on the transaction. Then create PDF. it will print that transaction with date and time.

@HanExplorer You could provide your bank statement to close the situation down but i would consider escalating this through HR.

How long have you been at your place of work.....over or under 2 years?

They have a flaw in their system. Thats not your responsibility to fix. If a temporary card is used it should be registered against you or the person who its issued too. Thats their issue to resolve not yours.

Has this situation ever happened before where you have forgotton your card or missed a day in the office? If its a 1 off and never happened before then i would expect a degree of faith from your management.

If you have been there over 2 years and this is a 1 off incident i would request HR's involvement, purely on principle. But then i am stubborn.

How was the temporary pass issued to you? Is there some log of that?

I'd turn it on their heads - what is being done to ensure that the next person with a temporary pass doesn't find themselves in the same position?
But I would provide the printed and heavily redacted bank statement to push that the issue is not me it is the system.

The date a transaction happened and the date that it clears on a statement are not necessarily the same. I've just checked my online banking and a transaction I did on 22nd showed on 23rd. A screen grab would make it appear as if it happened on 22nd, but the full statement would presumably show that it happened on 23rd as the date effected would be listed on the transaction narrative.

It would be very easy to show something misleading via a screen shot.

I love this. I haven't heard it before, is it an actual saying?

I have been reading some of the replies with an open mouth. Of course she can redact the info. That's not the bloody point of what she's saying.

😂😂😂this made me snort

Obviously not. But it sounds like a large enough company to have a separate payroll department, who should be able to securely keep her personal bank details private with only a few people able to access them on a need-to-know basis.

Have you really worked anywhere that you're happy for all employees to potentially have access to your bank details, rather than just the authorised few who need them - or to not be able to keep your private financial details secure from hackers or any other unauthorised access?

Agree with this.

I imagine OP hasn’t included the date which is exactly why they are asking for a fuller statement.

Things OP won’t do to show she was in

• show the money she spend on the day she was in the office
• refer them to the log book/ iPad whatever used to create the temporary pass
• ask the colleague who was also in

It just seems very, very easy for OP to prove she’s in the right and the resistance to do any of those things make me think it’s because she wasn’t there.