Sorry - Another WFH one !

[NeverGoingBackOrAmI]

I’ve WFH for over 2 years. Job done 100% no issues.

Pre Covid I wfh for about 20% of my hours, the rest I’m across different sites - so effectively, each site only sees me face to face for a few hours a week (so same as if I was wfh).

At some point I know I’ll be asked to return to site 5 days a week. Not 2-3 because they’ll want me visiting all the sites, hence the full 5 days.

I am the Business Manager - their is no business need.
If a genuine business need arises, or course I’ll go in.

Can they ‘invent’ a business need if I submit a formal perm wfh request?

They can't invent a business need, but they might have identified needs that you haven't thought about. Put the request in and see what happens. If they refuse it and you think their reasons are spurious, then follow the normal grievance process.

So what did you do on the days you visited sites?

For example, if you were checking on the property team, or checking H&S standards were being followed, offering business support to a retail manager etc. These are all things than be done from home but if more people are back in the office then there may be more to check up on? Does that make sense?

Businesses may be worried that the pandemic has hidden all sorts of non compliance, poor accounting etc. so it's quite likely you will be asked to get back in the field. Can you proactively do so on terms that you like now and set a new working practice of fortnightly for example.

I would sit in a room on my own working on my laptop. I would rarely venture beyond that office. I’d have similar conversations to what I have not over email & phone, but instead they would be face to face. Very often I would only see the Site Managers in passing, sometimes not at all.
All H&S, procurement, building maintenance, etc would be done the same way. It’s only really staffing issues, interviews, etc that would always be better face to face to that sort of thing I would always be present for.”, the same for any ‘new’ business need that needs to be face to face.

It’s the going in for no reason, to sit on my own that I’m not looking forward to.

No they can’t invent a business need but they can state genuine business needs you may not have thought of/be aware of.

Put in a formal request for flexible working, personally I would offer to visit one or two sites each week, but it’s your decision. As part of your application go through the reasons an employer can reject your application and address them from the businesses perspective. .

Employers can reject an application for any of the following reasons:

extra costs that will damage the business
the work cannot be reorganised among other staff
people cannot be recruited to do the work
flexible working will affect quality and performance
the business will not be able to meet customer demand
there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
the business is planning changes to the workforce

HTH

Put in a formal flexible request and take it from there