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.

There is 100% a reason for the change. It may or may not have something to do with you. It may be someone moaning about you. It may be a business decision you are unaware of. It may be a part time colleague who needs managing but needs to show fairness. The manger may not have agreed with how things worked in the past but did not want to be seen as new manager rocking the boat.

Is there a formal or informal guideline about being in the office? I.e. full time x days and part time pro rata? Do part time staff need to be in the office now? If not, that does not seem fair unless they have an agreed flexible agreement.

i understand how you feel that your goodwill has gone unnoticed and you must be doing something right to get award. However, for some reason this is rightly or wrongly is not important to management. By focusing on this it unlikely to be good for you. This has comes from someone who struggles not to dwell on things and rehash them. It is only through experience I realise it is no good.

A natural consequence of the set hours is that work will not be done outside these and things may take longer. If it was me I would work strict 9 to 5 all week. Taking proper breaks and no non work tasks between these. I wouldn’t log on earlier even to work ‘early’ and delay sending. This is likely to show efficiency office v home. If you get less work done as boss etc catching up with you so be it. If you are commuting you are likely to be at work earlier. If I travelled by car I wait there or sit in break room to have a calm start to day.

Not easy but try to embrace the change. May be they want you kick back and look like a difficult employee. Don’t give them the satisfaction. If they ask why x and y is taking longer calmly explain why. It may dawn on them the value of the old way. If they say that client x did not have a reply after 5 or there are lots of emails at the start of the day, something like, yes I noticed that.

Please keep us updated.

This is good balanced advice thank you.

The guidelines to being in the office are at the manager's discretion. So he has agreed in the past that 1-2 times office presence a week is fine. Mostly it has been once a week.

Nothing is changing for the part time staff. They can mostly work from home and don't need to have an office presence. I rarely see them.

I do drive to work and will sit in the car until it is time to start from now on. I will also take proper lunch breaks instead of working through.

I am not going to complain or show any dissatisfaction. Rather things will slow down naturally as a result of the change and I will explain if asked.

What other things are you out doing in the day because you worked late the night before? You are now saying you are at home working all day, but your early posts implied you worked very 'flexibly' and logged in early so you could 'fit other life things' in during the day...

It sounds to me like you are spreading your 8 hours working out over the day to suit yourself (and selling it that this benefits the company hugely), while your boss wants you to work consistently from 9-5. Somone must have noticed something/something must have happened for you to be asked to work fully in the office when no one else is, so I would work as hard as you can, as weaponised incompetence may cause you problems

Absolutely @LouuLou!

Think your plan is good.. and if he asks you ehh you aren’t working in the same way, jsut reply that you’re ’trying something different’

He can choose to change your working arrangement but can’t expect this not to have an impact. If there’s and actual problem, he needs to communicate more effectively.

I agree, probably time to move on because there doesn't seem to be any valid reason for his changes.

My DD is in a similar position, she worked from home most of the time, picked up requests and dealt with them out of hours if she could, but has recently been asked to go in four days a week. She's won awards for her work at the company and been commended in the past. Her employer has been making redundancies in other areas and several of her team have already decided to find new jobs and leave.

DD is actively looking for new work, but failed to get one job because though she was told that she was the best candidate she wasn't immediately available - she can't afford to give up her current post before she has a new one.

OP be sure to communicate with your manager how the additional work came due to the flexibility so they don’t use it as an excuse to complain about lack of productivity once you’ve changed to office based. If they have the assumption you’ll do the same amount of work within the office time you need to be honest with them that your additional work was repayment for the flexibility. Obviously it needs to be put more professionally than that but saying nothing and working to rule might backfire on you.

I agree with you. Why do new managers come in, disrupt things that are working… realise they have annoyed the staff and then turn it back to how it was anyway.

id do my job, nothing more nothing less :)

You need to talk him. Just say it is ok but that’s your wfh working pattern that you won’t be able to follow anymore so it will result in less productivity. If he is happy with that then it’s ok.
it would be interesting to understand what he wants to achieve with this new policy - maybe he thinks that the other workers could benefit from working next to you? Are there people who are less productive and he hopes by all working physically in the same office you could set the pace?
whatever is reasoning he should share it with you if he sees you are hesitant

If you have a good relationship with him then I would have a frank conversation. Working from home meant that you did your hours flexibly and could nip out as needed but you were very productive and it suited both of you. Make it clear that now you are in the office you cant step away from your desk as easily to go to an appointment or whatever so you will have to adjust your working style and will have to stick to office hours.

Are they making other workers come in to the office those days too? If so is it for peer learning? Just a question as you seem to be on top of things and maybe other members of staff are struggling more so they want you there to show them how to manage things. Although it sounds like you have been given more than necessary anyway as this should highlight to you the loyalty doesn’t work both ways! Start looking after you xx

Yes. Plenty do.

This

Expecting someone to attend their place of work for part of the week is not stupid. It is not realistic in most jobs to just go to the office 1 day a week, that is not sustainable for businesses - the 3 days in office and 2 days at home is a great compromise

In the past your manager has agreed to 1-2 days a week in the office and you’ve said that most of the time it’s been once a week so you’ve done the bare minimum requested here.

you only really have yourself to blame by not really doing what was agreed.

OP you do need to be aware that your boss can’t ask you to work the extra hours for free even if you are wfh. So going to only working your paid hours will highlight that you aren’t more efficient, just you worked longer hours, you got the same amount done as the “less efficient” employees in your hours, it’s looked like you are more efficient because you did extra overtime.

You need to be ready for your boss’ solution is to hire another member of staff /change your work hours, not go back to wfh with an expectation of unpaid overtime.

I thought OP meant she was more efficient because she was more flexible and responsive outside the 9-5 workday.

Working from home, I've done the same as OP. Worked over a 10- or 12-hour period but used time during the day for non-work activities.

Because he said just come in once a week.

There will not be another member of staff as the finances do not allow it. To change my work hours will mean changing my contract which is also unlikely. I will do not be doing extra hours anymore.

I left my last workplace over this issue. Same thing - I did over and above my workload. I now have a much more flexible job, plus the satisfaction of knowing my old place had to pay for two people (both young, single men) to replace me, as one alone couldn’t replicate all the work I used to do.

You said 1-2 days a week was agreed. What that means is occasionally once a week is ok but most weeks you should be there twice a week. Going mostly once a week is not enough under a 1-2 day a week arrangement. Maybe this was a misunderstanding between the two of you.

He specifically said after March I only need to come in once a week.

Only since Covid and in middle class MN Eutopia it’s akin to slave labour to expect you to work in an office anymore.

OP is not refusing to do it. She is just refusing to do any extra like she did previously.

The “stupid” comment was in relation to him losing the unpaid overtime OP was willing to perform because he insists she is in the office.

It could just as easily mean 1 day per week mostly, and 2 days per week occasionally if needed.

Many of us have had managers who think presenteeism is the answer to more productivity, not thinking that inflexibility on their part can lead to the same from us. In some cases it's because it's how they would work, in other's it can be because they assume that lower grades don't have the same work ethic as their managers. In some it can even be just that they like throwing their weight around and think treating staff like naughty school children is fine.

Working for more hours than you’re paid for is a different issue from flexibility. If you want to be supportive of OP maybe focus on that instead of starting off by tell her she’s wrong about something she isn’t wrong about.