5 days in the office - rant!!!

[DonnyDoris]

My company mandated 5 days in the office a couple of months ago, which in principle I have no issues with. However, my commute is just over an hour on motorways that have long term roadworks, so massively tedious and today I have no meetings so absolutely no reason to be here other than presenteeism. Could have got so much more done and also all my housework if I could've worked from home 😖Just needed to get that off my chest!!!!

Bitter because I don't work in an office and so have different responsibilities? No

Bitter because people who WFH think it's a pass to do the bare minimum. Yes

I mean, that’s completely off topic. Yes there’s still jobs out there that aren’t office based. What’s your point in relation to forcing people in an office job 5 days a week?

Haha every where I’ve worked no one gives a shit about socially acceptable and only what is corporately acceptable and you’d get a short shrift phoning in sick “healthy but contagious” and it would result in people needing higher levels of sick leave (i reckon I’d need to take at least another 10 days a year for colds that people very commonly work through) but maybe in your company they don’t care whether the work gets done or not.

I saw a consultant surgeon this morning who was sniffing and coughing away. I Wonder what would happen if he’d phoned in and said “i could do all these consulates today but I do have a cold someone might catch so I’ll stay at home for the week” 🤨

That's actually the only real answer, OP. I'd be out of there immediately, if only to make a stance - even if that means compromising on a new job.

People in power forget that if we don't do their bidding, they don't hold the power anymore.

How odd to be bitter about something that doesn’t affect you in any way. Some people don’t have to work at all - just spend their days shopping and doing hobbies. I’m not bitter about that because it has no effect on me in any way. Sounds like you need to calm down a bit.

What a pain in the arse OP, you have my sympathy.

But are you actually less productive because you can overhear people talking about Netflix? There is a difference between finding it annoying and your reduction genuinely reducing because of it.

If you read my message you would see I had a WFH role for years, then a retail role and now a WFH role end of career.

What am I bitter about? As I mentioned I have seen and heard it all, managed a employee who was running a side business when they were meant to be working (employee was dismissed but I had to hand over the case to a Director and HR) and also worked with a number of people in wider teams you could never get hold of if there was an emergency client call. Normally during school runs, the ‘dentist’ appointment if they were backed into a corner about not being around or claiming to be unwell and went for a lie down. It got the rest of the team down because they had to cover and this wasn’t a large team.

This was before Covid. It will be much much worse now. And quite honestly I blame the employees who have spoilt it for the rest.

So - definitely not bitter and twisted.

Yes I am actually less productive.

So if you worked for me and said that then I would ask you to demonstrate- with data- your reduced productivity, and explain why you can’t deal with background noise the way other employees are expected to and if it was a convincing, data led case then I’d agree flexible working for you to wfh ft. It’s always available in special circumstances if agreed

More entitlement from the WFH people yawn

I do a bit of housework in my lunch hour and in the extra two hours each side of the day when I would be commuting. I also (shock horror!) wash up a cup or put the washing machine on when I'm waiting for a doc to be ready for review.

Like the majority of people, I care about the quality of my work and don't need someone to micromanage my time.

As I mentioned in my previous post, our flexibility means we are able to employ people with disabilities and various health conditions so the potential for limits on the ability to commute may be higher.
I don't take it upon myself to tell adults who tell me they are able to work that they should rest. They know there is no culture of pressure and we pay sick pay.
I do take it upon myself to monitor performance so would not be unaware of anyone 'half working' or not working at all due to sickness.

I'm guessing that if someone works in an office, then in addition to their paid time they also have 60-90 mins of unpaid breaks and probably an average of 2 x 60 mins travel.

If they're at home, then the 120 mins of travel time can be spent on housework, and possibly a little bit of the break time can too.

It’s entitled to want a better work/life balance?!

Agreed! I do house work 07:00-09:00 and hang laundry during lunch break, or will begin dinner prep in my lunch break.

it frees up evenings and weekends and makes such a difference. I feel very grateful to be able to WFH

"maybe in your company they don’t care whether the work gets done or not."

Work did get done...? By employees who were working either at home or in the office.

In 2025 this is rare and unnecessary
yes we all used to do it but it’s different times

im a recruiter and since the pandemic have only worked on one full time on site position. Guess which was the hardest to recruit to by far

vote with your feet and get either a more flexible or closer to home job. I couldn’t be dealing with 10 hours commuting each week.

I mean, I find it rather wasteful you asking someone to build a case with data about how people answering phone calls and chatting about Netflix shows right next to me whilst I try to work (funnily enough my line of work is data…) is distracting me.

As a manager myself I use common sense with my own staff to understand that it does have an impact.

A lunch break is a legal entitlement. Working from home is a perk, at the discretion of the employer.

Completely agree. Discussing one’s financial information with someone clearly sitting in their kitchen (as has happened to me) isn’t acceptable.

Check out https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working (and the other things linked from there).

"All employees have the legal right to request flexible working" and "Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’."

A blanket refusal to even consider requests from anyone without caring responsibilities is unlikely to be dealing with requests in a reasonable manner.

Having said that, employers who go in for needless presenteeism are unlikely to be good employers in other ways. So I'd be looking elsewhere.

I would absolutely find a new job if they took away home working where I work, I'm 100% wfh with around once a month attending a meeting/conference etc. I just wouldn't entertain a 100% office job with a commute, been there, done that wasting 3 hours of my day commuting, it just wouldnt be possible now I have children besides.

I'd start looking now.

But that is what it is,a right to request. An employer is not obligated to grant it.

i feel your pain, i spent years and years commuting 3, 4 hours per day (according to trains and/or roadworks) and the opportunity to wfh for at least one or two days makes the other 3 more bearable.

But. Meh. Companies aren't there to make our lives comfortable, and in the current job market the best option is to suck it up while looking for something else.