WFH permanently request

[norri]

Hello.

I have actually enjoyed wfh since March .
I feel like it fits in with my family life more . I'm more productive and lots more flexible with work patients etc .

I am planning on applying to wfh permanently soon .

Do work have to give a reason to refuse this and given I've already been wfh since March without difficulty , can they ?

I think if you are bloody good at your job - your employer will try to accommodate your wishes regardless of whether they need to legally or not because they will want to keep you. If your performance, on their judgement, has been average - they'll find a way to elbow you out. And work have to give a reason for refusing flexibility and you could fight it - do you really want to go down that route?

Yes work can refuse, but you won't know unless you apply.

They can yes. Any flexible working request will look at the needs of the business and how your working from home could affect that.

Just apply. If they say no them offer to come in a day or two a week or as and when its needed. If your willing to be flexible I'm sure they'll be fine x

From the perspective of a large public sector employer we would probably refuse a permanent request unless there were medical grounds as it impacts on your expenses and makes you less flexible in the future, however you would be able to pretty much wfh all the time on an informal basis. The only exception might be (very few) big team meetings, when things go back to normal although obviously that would be determined by your role to some extent. F2F meetings are more critical for some roles.

Yes they can refuse if it will have a detrimental effect on the business but it will have strengthened your case if you've done it successfully up to now.

The only thing I would say is that a lot of people seem to think wfh has worked well because they've enjoyed it, when the experience of their employers and customers has been somewhat different, but if it really has worked for your business they'll have no reason to decline. E.g I can wfh well in the short term, in that I will get all "my" work done, what I won't be doing though is contributing to the development of people coming through or noticing when others need support, as I would in the office. I've lost count of the number of businesses I've dealt with over the last few months where staff have apologised that response times are delayed because everyone's wfh.

You need to put the application in to find out.

@BecomeStronger

Yes they can refuse if it will have a detrimental effect on the business but it will have strengthened your case if you've done it successfully up to now.

The only thing I would say is that a lot of people seem to think wfh has worked well because they've enjoyed it, when the experience of their employers and customers has been somewhat different, but if it really has worked for your business they'll have no reason to decline. E.g I can wfh well in the short term, in that I will get all "my" work done, what I won't be doing though is contributing to the development of people coming through or noticing when others need support, as I would in the office. I've lost count of the number of businesses I've dealt with over the last few months where staff have apologised that response times are delayed because everyone's wfh.

You need to put the application in to find out.

That is so true - customer service from our some of our suppliers has been appalling and working from home is often their excuse - we will be moving away from these suppliers post Covid if things don’t improve.