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.

I think regardless of how you/she/they feel about either party being or not unreasonable, it could be easily sorted for everyone sake. No need to add stress in a life thats already stressful.

• print bk statement and hide irrelevant transactions
• get the log book for temp pass
• ask colleague to confirm

once you ce proved it, i would thank my boss for a lack of trust, and if my boss had form i may raise a complaint;

or she indeed wasnt there.

very very simple.

Once transactions are fully through a screen grab from digital banking would appear exactly the same as on a statement, for fairly obvious reasons.

I am not comfortable using systems to redact my statement (which is paperless), my DP works in a cyber type role and has told me these programs are not fool proof. Frankly, there’s enough of a ‘big brother’ culture in this country, worse since the pandemic and going along with this sort of nonsense plays right into it.

I have asked re. a record of my temporary pass and been told no record is kept - I have my employer number and they viewed my photo on the system to verify and handed the pass over without recording anything.

I was given the highest possible award for my performance review in April so definitely not a managing out attempt, but an employer who have lost touch with reality.

Yes, it's very easily sorted by her manager requesting security/ the front desk for details from the temporary pass being issued.

When you can get information you need in non-intrusive way, that should always be the course of action rather than asking someone to provide completely unnecessary personal information.

To the people who are accusing OP of lying when they believe that she wasn't there in the first place... what would actually be the point in her starting this thread? Why would it make any difference to her if strangers on the Internet do or don't believe that she's telling the truth? What would she have to gain by lying to us on here?

While, as others have said, I think you can provide them with a bank statement without giving them all the other information - are they definitely going to settle for that? If they're being this petty about it, then won't they just point out that it doesn't show you were there all day? Or is that not part of the requirement?

A different excuse/ reason to provide at the work meeting she has stated she’s worried about.

They are being absolutely mental! I would be tempted to point out them that the bigger issue is that they clearly don’t trust you!

I think it's pretty obvious - you need to either show a redacted copy of your bank statement, or suck it up and work an extra day in the office.

😂I really wish they would bring back the laughing reaction. The comments on this post are killing me

No but providing a pdf showing name, first line of the address, the restaurant transaction and blanking out other info is not going to have hackers frothing with excitement.

Personally, the jobsworth chasing this needs to prove OP wasn't in, shes already provided proof of the transaction. If the jobsworth needs the proof, then can get on to reception who assigned the temp pass, get on security for cctv, photocopying access reports or whatever.

Okay, OP: CCTV. Don't tell me they don't have CCTV in the entrance to your building or car park. Ask them to review it for the date you say you were there and they say you weren't. Won't be difficult, you know what time you arrived and what time you left.

No, I just checked.

On the first screen on my app, it just lists the transaction clearing date plus the retailer. (e.g 23rd June WHSmiths.) If I click through onto the transaction it then lists the details - inc the date effected.

Looking at full bank statements that detail is listed in the narrative.
e.g

23rd June - WHSmiths London1234 22nd June

Essentially the first page on the app is a summary - the full information is in the details and would be listed in the statement narrative.

I've literally just checked.

Presumably they have CCTV at your offices which would show you arriving / leaving on that day?

I again demand the return of the laughing emoji!

Just thought, as I got out trouble with my DH using this for a yellow box fine!!

@HanExplorer do you have location switched on on your phone? If so, you may be able to go to Google maps, track history and show you were in the office.

I used it to prove that it wasn't me who did the school run that particular morning! I know about that particular yellow box as it has caught me out before so I knew it was dh and not me 🤣🤣

I think you need to decide what is more important to you here :

Avoiding providing proof (redact all other info)

Avoiding an extra journey / shift at work.

Print the statement, redact it with a black marker, send them a photo of the statement?

I am not comfortable using systems to redact my statement (which is paperless), my DP works in a cyber type role and has told me these programs are not fool proof. Frankly, there’s enough of a ‘big brother’ culture in this country, worse since the pandemic and going along with this sort of nonsense plays right into it.

You work the extra day then.

I do wonder why you think your manager would be so determined to see how you spend your money though - they don't care, they just want to be able to tick the box to say they know you were in that day. It's a bit of a ridiculous system they've got though, and you'd hope they'd take a trusted employees word for it. But presumably there are pisstakers who'd also swear they were in - so they'll be taking the same approach for everyone

Who issues temporary cards? Presumably these have to returned so are signed in and out. She should ask that person, get the card number and use the details from that.

The final transaction details will be the same, whether you have to "click through" it or not.

OP has provided the information they requested, just as a screengrab. The company has said she needs to provide that on paper, for.... reasons.

People are entirely missing the point. It’s not that it isn’t easy to fix. It is. It is the principle.

OP has principles. She has given them proof and they have said they don’t believe her. OP has said they are a good employee and have been attending 2 days per week.

Yes OP could give her bank statement but she has totally legitimate reasons not to.

If the employer are really that desperate then they can trawl through their cctv and go and ask colleagues if they saw her. OP has done enough.

Am also quite shocked at how many people think the employer is being reasonable. And am saying this as a former HR professional. If a manager came to me and gave me this scenario I’d tell them to jog on and focus on people who are genuinely abusing the hybrid system, usually you can tell who they are as their performance is rubbish and things don’t get done

I agree with you OP that this is fucking ridiculous and it is laughable that they don’t keep record of temp passes, we have to sign them in and out but it seems your options here are either show a redacted bank statement or do the extra day. I would show the statement personally.

This. It’s a pain, but just go and do an extra day at the office if you don’t want to share bank details.

Hackers and scammers can easily exploit little bits of info her and there, and put them together to build a picture of a potential victim.

Even knowing the name of a person who lives at an address (which is easily findable once you know the first line) and which bank they use can be valuable to them.

If they then know that you used a workplace restaurant, it's very likely that you work there and live within a reasonable radius of there. Then they can find other people who work there too and look for contacts, links, openings and other info across social media.

You really can't be too cautious about protecting your personal info these days.