Angry my manager has taken away WFH perk?

[ZaHaK]

Am I unreasonable to be angry that my manager has taken away my wfh perk whilst I’m on maternity?

I have put in a proposed flexible work plan.

I used to do Tuesday - Thursday on site and Friday morning at home.

I requested to do less hours so I can drop the kids off to school and pick them up and keep my wfh Friday morning hours.

He’s rejected it and basically cornered me into just doing Tuesday- Thursday on site but I don’t want to reduce my hours too much so I’ve had to add an hour in the morning which means rushing my kids to breakfast club and nursery.

I am annoyed because on my last maternity 6 years ago, I applied for another job in another department which guaranteed wfh and my manager promised me more flexibility and wfh when I able to to keep me in his team.

But I feel like he’s used this maternity as an excuse to take it away from me. It’s not in my contract, it was an agreement between me and him.

What would you do? I feel like emailing him to say I am disappointed in him. Not many of our team like him but I used to rate him quite highly on the surveys etc because he always let me be. But I am really disappointed. I should have gone to the other team.

You’ve answered your own question - it was a perk. It was not in your contract.

You've had the perk for six years so your children are now older and able to cope with breakfast club.

Look out for another job in the flexible department.

But the perk would have still been there if it wasn’t for my maternity. I feel like I’m being punished for having a baby.

one kid will be in breakfast club, the other in nursery

Depends how indispensable you are. My daughter stood her ground with a new boss who wanted four days in the office instead of three following maternity leave so they wouldn't have to go in. Got to the wire , two days before she finished her contract COVID lockdown. Boss begged her to stay because of the anticipated shit show. Turned out no-one was allowed in the office. Post COVID new boss didn't try to push it again.

So @ZaHaK do you feel lucky?

Nope nope nope, YANBU.

I would love to know what his thought process is for unilaterally changing an employee’s longstanding working arrangements while she’s off on maternity, and if he took advice from HR before he responded to you. Especially as it could be interpreted that it’s been done in retaliation to your flexible working request.

What’s his view on the rest of the team and their working from home? Has he pulled this “perk” for everyone, or just you?

Is there a local HR rep/ team? If you could maybe approach them and tactfully ask for a copy of your employer’s flexible working policy/ family friendly policies and let them know the content of your conversation with your manager in a “can I just run something past you…?” kind of way. I work in HR and I’d have my head in my hands if an employee contacted me with this.

So sorry OP you are going through this.

Corporate life is still not on board with working mothers. even in 2025 FFS!

He CC’ed HR into the emails replies from himself when I only approached him so they are aware and he’s covered his back.

I am the only person with this perk - rest of team don’t have this perk even when they have requested.

I am not sure what HR can do when it’s an agreement -between me and him and it’s not in my contract.

If I was another member of your team and saw that you got a perk that was routinely denied to the rest of us, and that it was never in your contract but just a deal between you and your boss I would be beyond upset and would go to HR.

Yes really. Perhaps someone else has complained. You're not the only employee to have a baby and you won't be the last employee to have a baby.

If they do it for you, they have to do it for everyone, perhaps somebody has complained. They can either give everyone arrangements like you or they can take your arrangement away.

It's not really got anything to do with your maternity.
Even with maternity, thw perk would still be there if you hadn't requested to reduce your hours.

I wouldn’t take it for granted that HR are fully involved in the decision making process. He’s cc’d them in, but he could have told them any old shit to justify his response.

If I were them I’d be very concerned about the potential for a constructive dismissal claim- although your WFH arrangement isn’t contractual, it’s longstanding and has presumably (?) been working well up until you took a period of protected leave at which point your manager has decided to revoke it. I wouldn’t fancy standing at a tribunal and trying to justify that.

Please consider taking professional advice from a space where you can give them the full facts of your situation- ACAS or Pregnant Then Screwed are both very good resources.

Honestly, baby or not it wouldn't matter. Childfree employees also have just as much right to request it and equal rights to receive it. OP shot herself in the foot by not making it official.

I think @ZaHaK you have submitted a flexible working request to reduce your hours. The wfh was previously just for a half day on a Friday.

I'm not entirely clear what you wanted your working pattern to be but think it may have been for a later start so you could drop your dc to school.

Presumably if you hadn't submitted the flex working request, your morehouse arrangements would not have changed.

Your employer is allowed to refuse yiur flexible working request or aspects of it if there are significant business reasons to do so.

Agree with this.
Speak to HR.

I'd remind him of his promise and ask him what's changed.

I would never give up my wfh 'perk'. My role needs me available in the evenings as I work in a global team so wfh during the day gives me the flexibility to be available in the evenings.

I don’t think you’ve got anything to be disappointed in him about. He’s given your favourable working conditions for 6 years. That’s a long time, it’s not like he’s changed it 6 months after you turned down the opportunity to work on the other team.

Honestly, without knowing the details of what your role is and the impact on the team from his perspective, I don’t think it’s easy to give advice. You will obviously say that the Friday morning wfh work perfectly, your output is brilliant and there is no negative impact on the organisation or rest of the team but he might say different and have valid reasons for not wanting you to do it anymore.

My organisation is strictly against wfh apart from a few roles. There is good reason for this. Covid saw a lot of working from home and then there was resentment when this reverted back. Some staff left to jobs with more wfh, they were happy, they were replaced by people happy to work in the building, we were happy. Maybe time to look for another job.

What reason did he give?

What is the change you wanted to make?

I wouldn't ever assume an arrangement like that was permanent unless it's in the contract. All kinds of things can change that mean wfh isn't something the manager wants to continue.

I would get legal advice, as this has been going on for 6 years, it could be covered by 'custom and practice'. This means 'Custom and practice" refers to unwritten workplace rules, benefits, or arrangements that, through consistent and long-standing application, become legally binding implied terms of an employment contract. These established norms, not found in written contracts, must be long-standing, consistent, known and accepted by both employer and employee, and understood as a legal obligation to be enforceable in an employment tribunal.' (Google search)

I think you should contact pregnant then screwed. I'm not 100% sure but I read somewhere that if you have been doing something for a long time even if it's not stated in your contract it becomes a contract term.

Yes, doing something for a long time can mean it becomes part of your contract, but OP is the one who wants to change her contract terms.

Agreed, I’m not sure previous posters have picked up on this. Had the OP not requested a change in hours the WFH ‘perk’ (now I suspect effectively contractual after such a long time) would still be in place.

However because the OP has requested to do fewer hours the employer has said, yes you can but you can’t have the same WFH hours on reduced hours. A few posters have confidently said that would be discrimination because of maternity leave, but I wouldn’t be so confident about that based on the facts posted.

Can you give him a list of reasons how you wfh benefits the company?
Be as precise as possible - so "I'm more productive" would be too vague. Is it possible to say something like "I do 20% more work per hour at home due to lack of interruption." Or whatever.

So this perk is written in your contract?

You’re getting some bad advice on here.

He’s not taken anything away from you.
you requested to reduce your hours. He agreed to this but the only day he can accommodate is the Friday where you WFH. He clearly needs you on site Tuesday-Thursday. You can try to demonstrate how your role can be (if it can) done from home on one of those days but he can reject this if he can demonstrate it cannot.

What's you companies flexible working policy?