to stop extra flexibility after my manager imposed office hours?

[LouuLou]

I work in a small office team of five people. I’m the only full-time member of staff, everyone else is part time. We had a new manager start last year and honestly, up until now, things have been really good. We get on well, I like his management style and he has always said he cared more about people getting the work done than clock-watching.

I work very hard. I consistently hit targets, usually go beyond what is expected, and I won an achievement award last month. I also work very flexibly. I regularly start work at 7am, answer emails early, and will often still be available after 6pm. I usually work through lunch too. That flexibility has suited both the organisation and me because it means things get done quickly and I can also fit other parts of life around work. It is one of the things I am regularly complimented on - how quick I get tasks done.

Out of nowhere, he has now announced that I have to be physically in the office 9–5 three days a week. No actual problem has been identified, no concerns raised about my performance, no suggestion that work isn’t getting done. The explanation was basically that he “wants to try something different”.

Fine. He is the manager and he is entitled to set office hours if he wants to. I’m not arguing with that part.

But my feeling is that if he now wants strict contracted hours and presenteeism, then that is exactly what he will get. I no longer see the point in starting at 7am, replying to messages before work, being available into the evening or working through lunch. I’m planning to work my contracted hours, take a proper hour lunch break and log off at the end of the day.

I know this will reduce the amount I actually get done overall. But another part of me thinks flexibility works both ways. If management removes trust and autonomy, they can’t really expect staff to continue giving unpaid goodwill on top.

The whole operation falls apart!

op are you gonna tell us you sign in from holiday?

It’s also possible manager is trying to show that the team is under resourced and needs more funding for the extra staffing that is currently provided by you, unpaid. If the team and workload relies on someone doing an unpaid day every week (sometimes more) then the team has no resilience if you were to leave or go on maternity, long term sickness, etc.

Agree with the poster that said

"play stupid games win stupid prizes"

So much management that wants to swan about the office playing king of the castle 🤮

Yes I did wonder if OP takes leave.

Or if the extra work is vital and gets covered/is left uncovered and causes issues.

Or she takes leave and it’s all just fine.

Sorry you are going through this.

Sometimes people respect you more when you do less. I need to do less myself.

This makes a lot of sense. I think I am kind of glad this has happened even though I was annoyed initially. I've ended up missing out on the sunny weather on so many busy days. Will stick to my hours from now on.

OP Did you post about this already?

There was a very similar post with remarkably similar details not so long ago. The OP got a fair bit of backlash and then finished the thread, a little too tidily to be honest, saying that she had a meeting with her manager and it was decided she could continue doing whatever hours she wanted. It didn't ring quite true at the time.

If you do a search, you'll find it.

The manager has to pick up the work. He tries to get the other staff to do it but they are much slower and then things inevitably go wrong and he has to fix it or I fix it when I return.

I have not posted about this previously.

Given you are so much better than everyone else at the job the it sounds like you need to be in the office to show them how it’s done.

Yes, it's not always useful to have emails answered at 7am, and can put a bit of pressure on other staff if they think "fast" is the best metric.

Are other people praised for other qualities? Do the 7am replies NEED to happen at 7am?

That said, I'm not a fan of a fixed office mandate for no specified reason. If I were the manager, I'd have spoken to individuals about how their work was impacting others, not dicked about a productive employee.

When I was in charge of this, I mandated two days a fortnight for office attendance, with all team and project planning meetings on these days. We stacked up meetings from 9am with a 15m gap between each planning session, then when we ran out of catch ups, we'd go home. People came in when it suited them for catch up in-between, all off the back of the main plans every fortnight.

That will work so well when I am the only one sat there all day.

7am works well in certain time zones. All the other staff apart from the manager are part time so they are not doing things fast because they work a lot less hours and also that expectation is not there of them. They also don't work in different time zones.

How do you know they are being made to go to the office too. Maybe you were told first so you could choose which days and the others will be made to follow

Because I talk to them and they have not been asked to come to the office for set hours.

I'd guess someone on your team has been taking the piss and messed it up for everyone as a result. Or could be company policy.

This is what I do. On the days I'm in the office I do my set working hours. On the days I wfh I spread my hours to fit around other things I want to get done for work life balance and still do my contracted hours plus extra if needed.

They haven’t been asked yet

Thank you manager. See you on Monday!

YWere BU to do extra work, and YANBU to not continue. He's said he wants to try something different, and you say you've got on with him before, so I think giving him the benefit of the doubt here and taking him at his word that he wants to see if things change is the right thing to do.

I wouldn't be going above and beyond, but then I never do.

You're very defensive @LouuLou

If your manager wants you working 9-5 then that's what he wants. As a manager it's really disruptive when staff set their own hours and are out for chunks in the working day. I need to work with my staff in working hours not at 7am. I need them to support me "now" not when they return to their desk after a random two hour break. My experience is people grossly underestimate how long those breaks are.

From what you are saying, you're responsive outside of standard hours ie deal with things that come in. This isn't necessarily fast. There are issues with responding outside of work hours including creating expectations that things will always be done outside of work hours. This isn't healthy for staff and a good manager would want to stop that.

When I started my current role people would have a day off but take their work computer with them to eg the hairdresser, lunch, doctors etc so they were contactable. I quickly stopped that as it is not healthy. A day off is a day off and if we can't survive without you for a day, there is something fundamentally wrong.

How am I defensive? I agreed to his new different way. It is less work for me and more for him. I will do what I usually do on my office day. Get all the work done super fast and then sit and catch up on my own.

I don't disappear for two hours a day. Yes I pop out to do the odd thing sometimes but I have started at 7am most days especially because of working with people in different time zones. He can handle those from now on. I will miss the window of contacting them by the time I start at 9am.

From what you are saying, you're responsive outside of standard hours ie deal with things that come in. This isn't necessarily fast.

The manager has said it fast. Is he wrong?

@LouuLou I agree with you 100%. My current employer is now extremely flexible. I am now rarely in the office and I have almost complete freedom to take time during the working day for personal appointments (in practice usually school events) but I also work at least part of most evenings and weekends, and during my holidays, so outputs are always delivered on time and the quality is fantastic. If I had to work in the office 9-5 not only would less work be done, but there is no way I would be putting in all the extra hours to make sure deadlines are met and I would not be picking up the phone when my boss calls at 9pm or on weekends.

But I would be clear to communicate this response in terms of your own flexibility to your manager very clearly as it may be some time before he notices your drop in productivity and may put it down to your lack of efficiency rather than a reaction to his own management decision.

So why was she working at 7am (for the international time zone calls)? Any sane manager would say “you’re working at 7 to cover international time calls so you can offset that time later and leave earlier”. He hasn’t done that. OP says the part timers are slower. He needs better part timers or another full timer.

My best friend used to start at 7am when wfh as that’s when work needed to be done. However when she was back in the office she was made to stay late. Shes now left after 13 years.

I don't see a problem at all.

You have agreed to try the new way for three days per week.
Perfectly fair that manager wishes to change things.

Work within the new system for a year then let us know, as to whether you liked the new arrangement. And, as to whether manager preferred the new way.

Will you still win work place challenges and competitions?
That will be determined.

Lets see how the manager gets on with picking up the early morning communications and problem solving that will now land on him. His manager never nominates him I have noticed!