Hybrid Working Policy help needed

[jamcorrosion]

Hi - my job has a policy as above, states to be in the office for 3 days a week, with an option to submit a form for unforeseen circumstances. The policy states that the focus is on days not hours spent in the office per day but the expectation is that majority of the day is spent in office when there. There’s no definition of ‘majority’ so I’ve assumed it means more than 50%. This policy has been in place a year. Recently received an email from a senior member of staff to the whole team stating that when in the office we are expected to be there for a full day.

Since this policy was introduced - I arranged my childcare around it. My son is in nursery 7.30-5.30 daily (I’m a single parent) I chose these hours so I could get to the office early. Usually around 8.15/30, I stay until lunchtime which is four hours and then head home. I do this as I thought it was better to travel home on my unpaid hour than later in the afternoon on works time.

Since receiving the email I have reached out and explained my usual routine and asked for clarification if this is no longer ok. I have been told it is no longer ok and I cannot leave at lunchtime consistently only occasionally for appointments etc. Apparently this was clarified with HR before I was given a response. Where do I stand here as the policy doesn’t state full days? I have offered to stay till later in the afternoon and explained why I chose lunchtime. Also explained that I can’t stay till later than 4pm really due to traffic and nursery pick up.

I’m just not sure where I stand or how to handle? As the policy is not specific at all. Can the goalposts be changed like this?

IABU - Suck it up
IANBU - This isnt ok to just change it

7.5 hours a day - yes I wfh when I get back

Its over 50% - I checked all this when I first started and its always been fine until now

I find this quite confusing. Do you work at home in the afternoon after you have done the morning in the office? I would have thought three days in the office meant three full days so 8am to 4pm or 9am to 5pm.

I think you are looking at it very mathematically whereas work will be looking at it more pragmatically. 51% is technically a majority but it’s unlikely to be in the spirit of the flexibility they offer. I would assume in this case that majority means most of the day, which to me means about 80+% of the working day.

How has everyone else interpreted it?

Traffic is pretty awful - leaving at 4.30 I wouldn’t get there in time. Could push it a bit though

I think it’ll be hard to argue based on your interpretation vs what the company is now asking you to do.

If I was you, I’d be putting in a flexible working agreement asking for specific start and end times, shorter break (by law they must give you a break if you work over 6h. It may mean you give them an extra day in the office as a trade off (shorten your days so that the total amount of hours in the office is equivalent to 3 full days) and then work longer hours at home to make up whatever your FT hours are. Unfortunately if you are contracted to do 38/40h, you can’t expect for the company to be ok with you taking shorter days on paper. Unless of course you drop your hours as part of that flexible working request, but you would also be taking a pay cut.

Yes I work at home in the afternoon. Yes I originally thought that until I read the policy where it states the focus is on days attended not hours spent there

@jamcorrosion majority of a 7.5 hour day would surely be the upper quartile, so at least 5.5 to 6 hours. To say anything over half is disingenuous. Personally, I would view this as being 6.5 hours of a 7.5 hour day.

Regardless, your contract trumps everything else. Doesn't really matter what any ad hoc policy says.

Yes it can be interpreted differently which I think js the problem - it’s too ambiguous.

Everyone does different things - I don’t see many do a full day and the person who sent the email never arrives till at least 11am

Are you logging off on pick up or do you log back in when your dc is in bed to make up the hours?

Ok so you are 15 minutes over exactly half a day?
I think you are taking the P if you push that as your reasoning and I expect your employer does too, hence them questioning it.
There are other options available to balance childcare. Plenty of your colleagues will have the same issue so find a way to comply with company policy that works for you.

Yeah I think you’re taking the piss a bit here by going at lunch time. I would not think just over half applies to ‘The majority of a working day’ in this instance.
just stay till 4-4.30pm or put in an official flex request

Come on OP I think you know that's probably not what they meant by that. You've deliberately been quite literal when I think you probably know they mean most of the day eg if someone is leaving 20min early on an office day to make the childcare pick up they'll turn a blind eye.... Not half days. It's a day in the office? Not a half day.

This is why taking advantage isn't a good idea.

If you had been working in the office until 3, then left I doubt anyone would care or argue that wasn't a majority of your day. Working half days every single time youre in the office is a piss take and has resulted in the 'full day' policy. The only person to blame here is yourself.

I think staying until 3pm is a good compromise?

I get what you mean there OP but I don't think 50% is calculated in hours, it's calculated by days? Unless I am missing something?

Also, I’m making a huge assumption here on what OP does for a living, but most places (whether you’re dealing with clients, or internal teams) will view the most unproductive hours to be in the morning. So you’re leaving work just as things start ramping up. And what I mean by unproductive is the most meetings / tasks landing will be between 10 and 4:30. OP is leaving 3h in to a productive part of the day…

Yes so now they've clarified it and said you need to be in the full day, so you need to do that.
Its pretty obvious you are looking for a way to argue that because you've been doing it for a while it's an established pattern and you want to keep doing it.

People doing what you've been doing are exactly why wfh is being rolled back from all of us - it's taking the piss and attending the office when it suits you rather than recognising you are paid for a full time job and if your employer says they want you in all day, you go in all day.
Stop trying to fight it and pick holes and bloody attend the office the full day - otherwise before you know it the company will say now it's 4 days a week.... To try and get people like you attending the office properly.

You say you've been doing it for a year and there hasn't been a problem...except that there must have been a reason why they've had to clarify the rules. Maybe it isnt you, but someone has been taking the piss which means you're all going to suffer. Unfortunately they do have the power clarify what they meant. Yes you can argue that you interpreted it differently, but they'll just say you've interpreted it wrong or state they are rectifying the confusion.
I don't think you can argue your way out of this

I would imagine that the intent of the ‘days not hours’ is to accommodate people having a standard ‘works time’ each day. So they do slightly longer days on their wfh days and slightly shorter days on their office day and have roughly the same start / finish ‘work stuff’ each day. Some days that start time is the starting time for the commute and sometimes it’s the starting time for work.

Rather than what you’re doing which is essentially an ever so slightly extended half day.

To put it another way. If you needed the time Youre in the office off for some reason, would you expect to have to book it as a half day leave or a whole day leave? On your logic, it’s the majority of a day, so it would be a full days leave.

Framed like that, you can maybe see your employers point.

A lot of work from home arrangements are being tightened up on, because people are being noticed to stretch beyond Whats intended. If it’s a non contractual variation then tread carefully. If it becomes too much hassle they’ll pull the wfh option entirely.

I’d suggest seeing how late you can take your lunch break. Many employers dont mind when it’s taken during the day.

Could you eat at your desk while you work and then take your official lunch break later while you travel home? Or split the time with a short lunch break and travel time?

No this wouldn't be allowed in any office I've worked in.. people work and office day and a wfh day but not coming in at 8.15 and leaving at lunch. You will need to stay later on office day..if your pick up is 5.30 then just stay until 4.15. That is loads of time..most places insist you take your lunch not work around it. If you leave at 3 how can you do more wfh and get your child on time as well as your commute.

Could you do the 8.15 - 1 every days and then you would be doing about the equivalent of three full office days?

At my work it’s 60% of time rather than being measured in days. One guy at my work does this - gets in very early every day, goes home at lunchtime (so by that time at least 60% of his working day is gone), walks his dog, and then works his remaining 3 hours (or whatever he has left) from home. Probably means a slightly long lunchtime, albeit he’s quite local, but he’s doing the requisite amount of time.

Other people work two very long office days, adding up to 60% of their time, and three short WFH days, because they have a long and expensive commute and only want to do it twice a week.

There’s ways of making it work!

I would not argue about the policy clarification - there’s nothing you can do if they choose to interpret “majority of the day” as 80% of the day.

Why don’t you reply HR and manager “thank you for the clarification. I propose to work in the office from 8.30 to 4pm which is majority of the day, and I will take a short lunch break of 30 mins which means I will achieve my working hours on my office days.”

@jamcorrosion
I get it....
I have a dh on the scene but its a long commute and we are both hybrid
I cant imagine how tough it is for you.

I get it in the sense here that they want you available for f2f meetings for more than 3 hours in the AM... which is fair...

I'd be upfront and say you have to do pick up at 5.30 and you are a single person so would they find it reasonable for you to work in office until 4.30 then do work on train and maybe an hour the evening / over the weekend.

I think its the perceived disappearing at lunch thats the problem