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.

Yes he should keep an me despite nominating me for an achievement award last month which I won.

I will do things his 'new different way' as he requested but bang goes all the extra stuff I did out of hours.

Was it extra stuff though? You haven't really answered whether you were exceeding your hours overall while having time off during the day. If you put the hours in 9 to 5 without "picking up emails" out of hours, you'll probably clear more work overall.
It's not unreasonable to stick to your hours but it is unreasonable to deliberately go slow.

So either; hes stupid enough to think you will carry this on whilst also being physically in the office 9-5 or he would rather you be in the office 9-5 instead of early morning/evening flexibility. Be interesting to see which one!

Yes but that's as it should be. He'd be a pretty shitty manager if you working outside pre-contracted hours was part of his business plan.

You seem awfully reluctant to be in the office, what's that about?

Because I am mostly sat in the office on my own with nobody else there all day so don't see the point.

Perhaps your reasons actually align more than you think OP.

Maybe he wants set office hours BECAUSE as a manager he is responsible for ensuring you have a healthy work-life balance and if you're in the office 9-5 he can ensure that you're getting work done on works clock and therefore you aren't carrying work into your home life.

If he is a good manager he will care about this.

Yes I did extra stuff and did some of my manager's work as well.

Yes I was exceeding my hours.

I will be slower because I will not be dealing with tasks at 7am. I will wait until after 9. Usually when he starts work, I have cleared most stuff already. But that won't happen anymore.

Yes, I've never seen staff working early and late as a good thing, and homeworking can mean some staff never properly down tools. A good manager doesn't want that.

Wonder why he kept praising me then for being efficient and doing work out of hours since he started last year then?

I will do as he wants. It means he will pick up more and things will be slower but that is fine. He is the one who likes things done super fast.

Well, that's plain weird. He's 'trying something new' that only involves you?

How many hours extra do you work per week?

Perhaps your manager does not want you working 11 hour days.

How many hours do you actually work in a week ?

What number of hours do you get paid for?

On average about from 6, sometimes 10 hours

You may well be the first step in forcing others in to the office.

Make sure you are doing things properly now, no working before 9 or after 5 (or only a few minutes either side!), if you need time off for a medial appointment or dental appointment, don’t be tempted to feel you have to make up that time. Take your lunch break, physically go for a walk - no sandwich at desk!

you might find this is much better for you.

Do we? I work in manufacturing. All my managers have been a like it or you know where the door is. One department had a big payrise recently while we all had 2%, yet they were failing to provide for us and we were told you can always just go through there like there was jobs available or its none of our business, so pretty much a shut up.

So one of the part timers could have an extra days work.

I think it's entirely possible for him to enjoy your output from long hours and know it's his responsibility to stop it. It could even be that someone senior to him has told him he must, ditto ending homeworking.

informal flexi time can mean a disconnect between perception and reality.
Just an example, not saying the OP is doing this, but I’ve seen it happen, a single email answered at 7pm taking 5 mins (which no one asked anyone to be available to answer) does not equate to x2 blocks of half an hour per day unavailability around school pick ups.
This is where issues and bad feeling around flexibility arise from all parties, clarity is needed on working hours and times.

I did read your OP and saw that, and that's why I think it's worth having the conversation with your manager about what's at stake if they make this change.

Sorry OP I think you have it wrong here:

'If management removes trust and autonomy, they can’t really expect staff to continue giving unpaid goodwill on top.'

You are making this about you and it isn't. There may be a need to justify the office space, or overall productivity of the team is lower when not together etc.

They haven't said they don't trust you. They have asked you to work in your place of business during their working hours.

He might have really genuinely loved the benefits of you working all of this extra time has brought to the company, but simultaneously understood that it isn't sustainable.

This might be because of his conscience or even additional training he has taken in the past year.

It really isn't sustainable for businesses who want to prioritise staff retention to allow practices whereby the staff they want to keep are likely to or have already burnt themselves out, plus staff are also expensive to replace due to additional recruitment and training costs, so although he did really appreciate the work you put in, from a business standpoint he also has to recognise that in order to retain you, probably because you are very valued, some ground rules need to be put in place.

It can be hard to relay the reasoning to the staff these changes affect because a lot of people tie a lot of their identity to their availability to work and so these rules can feel like a personal attack when they're really not, it's the opposite.

Be careful though as it’s messy - you could be the one with the stupid prizes as the game is not clear to both

I think it’s better put in the open - have the discussion about how much more work you do how you are working now

So an extra day+ every week? That is insane I think your manager is doing you a favour by giving you a reason to stop.

Even without increased office attendance YWNBU to stop all the extra hours.

But it doesn’t sound like he’s ever asked you to work outside of your contracted hours - you’ve been doing that because it works for you.

He might not mind having the work when he starts the day, or having it done two hours later. You’re assuming he will but until you change your pattern, you won’t know. The fact he’s proactively asked you to work 9-5 suggests he thinks the pros with outweigh the cons. I’m assuming he’s not silly and will have thought the consequences through.

OP you remind me of someone in my team. I may be making unfair assumptions about you and if so, I apologise. But the person you remind me of would regularly log on earlier and finish later than her contracted hours, tell me when she was taking the time back (which was fine) but simultaneously complain that my other staff weren’t online at the same time as her and send me passive aggressive messages if she was working late in to an evening as if it was somehow my fault. In many of these instances, she was agreeing to do work for others outside of our team as she couldn’t bring herself to say no and then do the overtime and I would only find out when it was too late. She was basically being a martyr.
To be fair, I haven’t started making her go in to the office for it - but I have had to have words with her over this approach. As an aside, when I had shadowed her once or twice so I could help her with a project she was struggling with, I realised she also isn’t an efficient worker and I prefer it when people work smarter, not harder.
If you want to do the contracted hours then do them. But I think you’ll be disappointed when you learn this is probably what your boss wants you to do.