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Original poster

boss not willing to offer flexible working as agreed

61 replies

lollipoppy36 · 26/11/2018 23:20

I recently joined my current role and before I joined I made it clear that I will need to work from home from time to time.
However, after I have taken a day to work from home due to family emergency issue. I was told off by my manager afterwards, for taking a day to work from home because of family issue!
The company policy and contract clearly stated that it is allowed under such circumstances, actually my manager's manager was the one who wasn't happy.

I can still try to push to take days to work from home, but then management would not be happy with me. What should I do?

The other teams in our company do not have this problem at all, I think it is just a team leader preference thing and it is not possible for me to move team within my company short term.

Should I start looking for a new job externally after new years?Confused

OP posts:
AlexaAmbidextra · 27/11/2018 11:48

How do you work while dealing with a family issue though? I would be unhappy about this if I were your boss.

NicePieceOfPlaid · 27/11/2018 11:58

You can't work from home and deal with a family issue. How can you do both? You should have taken leave, surely.

windowWAG · 27/11/2018 12:03

OP I think you are confusing working from home with 'having a day off'

BishBoshBashBop · 27/11/2018 12:07

How do you work while dealing with a family issue though? I would be unhappy about this if I were your boss.

I agree.

Original poster
lollipoppy36 · 27/11/2018 12:10

when I say family issue it was literally just waiting for someone to fix our door at home. So apart from when I have my lunch break when the door was being fixed, I was working my normal hours and doing the same amount of work as I would have done in the office.
This is allowed in the company policy, so I dont understand why they are not happy.

OP posts:
BiddyPop · 27/11/2018 12:10

Did you get done what you would have (or more importantly, what your boss would have) expected to get done if you were in the office?

FusionChefGeoff · 27/11/2018 12:11

Depends what her role is really, to be fair. If very stand alone and can make up hours it could easily work around family emergency eg work 6am-9am, few hours to deal with emergency, work 3pm - 8pm??

Emergency may need her to be ready to attend a quick appointment but time tbc so she has to be at home waiting eg call from doctor?

Original poster
lollipoppy36 · 27/11/2018 12:12

erm, I am not, I was working as normal when I was at home, I dont understand why people get the impression when you work from home, you are not working.
People sometimes have to stay at home to deal with certain things, and I only dealt with the problem when I was having my lunch break, so I dont understand why this would have been a problem.

OP posts:
SillySallySingsSongs · 27/11/2018 12:12

when I say family issue it was literally just waiting for someone to fix our door at home.

I doubt many employers would see that as a family emergency.

Pumkinsoup · 27/11/2018 12:22

But surely, it's a perception issue. All the employer posters make comments that assume OP was not working properly, but dealing with other issues instead. Surely the point of flexibility is to be able to mix in certain circumstances. You work some, you answer the door for the workmen, you work some more and you see the workmen off before continuing working. What's wrong with that? Why this negative pressure?

If flexible working is in law and if it is in the employment contract surely employers must trust the employees and comply.

Caprisunorange · 27/11/2018 12:27

I really don’t think you should’ve sold a minor building job to them as a family emergency. As above, they were probably just thinking you can’t work and deal with an emergency at once

Grace212 · 27/11/2018 12:32

I'm guessing your front door was broken so it was a home emergency

as you've described it so oddly here, I wonder how you communicated it to them - could there have been a misunderstanding?

Grace212 · 27/11/2018 12:33

if you told them there was a family emergency, they would probably imagine you would be unable to work while dealing with it and ask you to take it from annual leave

Weepingwillows12 · 27/11/2018 12:33

So they told you up front that you could work at home sometimes but now don't like it? How much notice did you give them and did you miss anything you needed to be in for? In my job it would be fine to do this but the communication needs to be clear and booked in advance where needed. I would maybe sit down with the line manager and say working from home was allowed when you interviewed so have you not followed some internal protocol you should have etc. Just try and understand what has changed.

HollyBollyBooBoo · 27/11/2018 12:35

You need to talk to your manager, regardless of people's opinion on here, if it's in your contract and you've now been told off for it then you need to clarify what and when you can work from home for. What didn't they like about it?

I'm a bit confused about you saying you told them up front you need time at home - did you agree how much/days of week etc.

Also it doesn't sound like it was an emergency.

Just saying so you can be clear in your conversation with your boss.

Cherries101 · 27/11/2018 12:38

I would personally try to explore job opportunities in a different team where work from home isn’t a sin. Many companies have ‘fiefdoms’ where senior managers (usually men) like to organise their ‘own’ rules sometimes even contravening company policies. It’s clear that this team isn’t compatible with your work life so find another one before exploring external opportunities.

Original poster
lollipoppy36 · 27/11/2018 12:47

Hi,
When I described it to work, I gave them the actual details, just didnt want to put everything on the forum.So they know its someone coming over to work on the door, as I live on my own and cant lock the door.
I really wasnt sure what else could I have done instead.

OP posts:
Original poster
lollipoppy36 · 27/11/2018 12:48

When I spoke to my manager, I was told it was really a senior management not liking the idea of people wfh, more than anything else.

OP posts:
Cherries101 · 27/11/2018 12:49

@lollipoppy36 - sounds like a manager hiding behind senior management because he doesn’t like you working from home. Suggest asking him if you setting up a 1-2-1 with a senior manager (perhaps his manager) would help in getting your side of the story across and watch him crumple.

Smatergiesstratergies · 27/11/2018 12:52

Yanbu - waiting for door repair, plumber etc these are exactly what we wfh for. I’m not sure if there’s a more general reason they don’t trust you, but I would be looking for a new job where the employer actually stuck to their policies.

I would be talking to them about why you got told off when you are wfh per policy.

Ime, some managers and some companies hate wfh, and some are totally fine with it - a flexible employer is worth having.

TrippingTheVelvet · 27/11/2018 12:53

Was this pre-agreed or did you ring up in the morning and say you needed to work from home?

LMDC · 27/11/2018 13:05

YANBU to be annoyed that your workplace are not happy with you occasionally working from home despite it being agreed before you taking the job.

"When I spoke to my manager, I was told it was really a senior management not liking the idea of people wfh, more than anything else." Clearly their issue is you wfh rather than the amount of notice you gave or the reason for wfh. If you require the flexibility of wfh then you really need to have a proper discussion with your manager and/or the manager that has the issue and point out that wfh was agreed prior to starting your role. If nothing can be agreed then I would look for a more accommodating job in the new year whether internally or externally, so long as that is an option for you & wouldn't put you in a negative position (e.g. look bad on your CV).

Clearly there is some sort of management issue here if other departments wfh with no problems, and the issue of wfh being agreed and the begrudged sounds really disorganised.

IsobelKarev · 27/11/2018 13:18

How do you work while dealing with a family issue though? I would be unhappy about this if I were your boss.

This is irrelevant if it is part of her contract. If they didn't want to employ the OP on this basis they should have not offered the contract in the first place! Now it is in place she has every right to expect it to be followed.

OP, I'd follow this up with your HR department. It is in your contract and how you are being told it is unacceptable. It is their job to sort it out.

VanGoghsDog · 27/11/2018 14:20

So they know its someone coming over to work on the door, as I live on my own and cant lock the door.
I really wasnt sure what else could I have done instead.

Take a days leave, or unpaid, like people whose jobs cannot be done from home (probably the vast majority of jobs) have to?

Cherries101 · 27/11/2018 14:30

@VanGoghsDog - she doesn’t have to. Her workplace has a work from home policy to cover her in this exact scenario. It’s her manager who doesn’t want her to use it.