Receptionists demanding to work from home

[Chickenleggs]

We have three receptionists where I work who were all immediately sent to work from home at the start of the pandemic. They couldn't wait to return when it was announced that the office would re-open mid last year. They came back to the office under flexible working conditions as the occupancy levels were pretty low and there weren't many face to face meetings, however, we have seen an increase in people coming back to the office but the receptionists are demanding to still work from home. They come into the office on a rota basis but they're not willing to cover each other in certain situations which means we are sometimes left without anyone manning reception. We have two other offices and their receptionists are back in full time but it's a struggle to get ours to return and there is not enough work for them to do at home. How do we approach getting them to return without it causing uproar?

I think other posters are absolutely right, but just to clutch at straws: is it there some element of admin that they're doing that could be done from home? And is there enough of it to be meaningful when share three ways? I can see that, if they spent (say) the equivalent of a morning each week doing admin, then perhaps you could say that they'll each now get a morning working from home on a three-week basis. TBH I would think that's a perk when you're doing a job where the whole point is to be on site.

There has also been times where they are not willing to support with events as "it's not their scheduled day to be in the office" leaving me no choice but to ask my other colleagues to lend a hand with setting up meeting rooms, organising lunches etc which is just not acceptable

Well the receptionists might have a point on this. Is there anything in their contract that states they must be available for other days upon request?

If not then they have every right to say no.

They are obliged to work under the terms of the contract. Rather than what you or the company think is helpful.

Sorry ignore my above post. I have now noticed that you said day in the office for some reason I read that as day contracted to work. Back to bed for me.

Well the receptionists might have a point on this. Is there anything in their contract that states they must be available for other days upon request?

Given that their contract says they are office based full time, I would argue they ought to be in the office when the business needs them to be, at a minimum.

Yup, basically taking the piss. You can't be a receptionist and WFH (if part of their job is "admin assistant", they could do that bit on rotation, but it sounds as if it is one day a week at absolute most). Sounds as if someone in management needs to hold them to their contract. Our reception staff were in as soon as things opened and furloughed (though we paid, not govt money) when wfh was required and office was shut - they wanted to be back in and to keep their jobs going asap. Sounds as if yours have an amazing deal!!

I work in an admin role that can be done partly from home and part of the reason we are expected to be in the office for the majority of the time is so that the receptionists don't feel hard done by. We also had a similar issue when one job told was deemed to not to be appropriate for working from home, with one member of staff promptly going off sick for three months and one handing in her notice. If they don't like it, they know what they can do. I'm staggered that it's been able to continue for this long, our receptionists have worked throughout!

The clue is in the name receptionists need to be at reception. If they want to continue to wfh they get different jobs.
If your chat with their manager is not productive I suggest you start logging every single instance where someone is pulled out of their own duties to do reception activities.

Every single day they aren't in the office, is surely an 'absence' then?
That must trigger HR getting involved.

Management seem to be as poor as the receptionists! How on earth has this been allowed so far?

I'm really not sure what has been agreed between the Receptionists and their Manager but I agree it shouldn't have been allowed to get to this point. They are supposed to be having a meeting next week but I've heard through the grapevine that the Receptionists are incredibly unhappy and feel hard done by because they are always at the bottom of the food chain and never listened to. They are getting prepared for next week and thinking of some strong reasons why they shouldn't have to come back to the office when everyone else can do as they please.

They are getting prepared for next week and thinking of some strong reasons why they shouldn't have to come back to the office when everyone else can do as they please.

If they can show how it would work for the business, as you'd have to show for a flexible working request, then good for them, and if it works, fair enough. But if currently there are times when reception isn't covered, and there are three receptionists, then it's not currently working, so they'd need a different configuration. But if they can come up with a workable solution, at least they should feel listened to.

But surely they understand some roles only exist because they are on site? And that includes receptionists, cleaners, security...

Actually it really seems like the manager is a limp lettuce.

If they were contacted every time somebody had to order sandwiches and set up a meeting room and there was no receptionist available to do it, then I'm sure they'd sort it quickly.

If they're only in one at a time and there's not much to do at home, why do you need 3 of them?
Reception is literally the welcome committee and can't be done at home.
Put all 3 roles at risk, redo job description to be clear it's office based and see if they decide to come in or not.
Otherwise if the business needs them in, they come in or leave.

They are totally taking the piss and it doesn't sound like you need three receptionists

Receptionist should man reception, surely there needs to be more than one available at any one time for stuff like lunch cover. Doesn't sound like you need three though so I would get rid of one of them through redeployment or redundancy.

If they can show how it would work for the business, as you'd have to show for a flexible working request, then good for them, and if it works, fair enough. But if currently there are times when reception isn't covered, and there are three receptionists, then it's not currently working, so they'd need a different configuration. But if they can come up with a workable solution, at least they should feel listened to

Agree with this. If they can suggest a workable solution that would enable them to work from home some of the time (taking on new tasks for the business in addition to their current role if needed) and cover the reception desk at all times then it should at least be considered, surely.

You tell them to come in and if they feel they’ve a case to work flexibly still they submit a flexible working application. The process for this is laid down in law so there are a list of reasons you can refuse the request citing. Which you should be easily able to do.

It is not a question of having reasons … the thing that is important is their contract. If the manager decides they need to be in the office, they need to be in the office.

if there is an office policy around wfh, the policy wording needs to be changed now that Covid is over so that the policy excepts roles that are deemed by management to require all or part of the working week to be spent in the office during core working hours.

unless there is some new disability which needs an adjustment but nevertheless if the work is office based then they need a different role or to be in the office with reasonable adjusments.

Management need to tell the lazy fuckers to get their backsides into work or else they will be fired! End of!

Sounds like they are going to end up demonstrating that the company doesn't actually need 3 of them!

Well clearly you don’t need three of them. Talk to HR and begin a formal restructuring process; stating what the roles are, what jobs they need to complete and where they need to be completed. You will end up with two succinct roles with some overlap for A/L, illness etc. with both those roles needing to be carried out in reception where the receptionist works! the other role will become redundant. I suspect they will suddenly capitulate and sort themselves out.

this whole debacle is a result of piss poor management

If they want to go with that argument don’t they have to make a flexible working request? Then management have the right to reject it, and they’ll know where they stand.

We had a few people who didn’t want to come back in
Could have told you exactly who they would be
We said back me X date or we would start disciplinary action
All apart from 1 came back
She resigned,which was fine by us
Half expected a claim but time for that has now passed