Being pressured into coming in on my day off

[Moonface31]

I'm a departmental manager in a 7 day a week industry (think hotel) as a result my team and I have our days off at random over all days of the week. This is not true of the GM and other upper management who do strictly Monday to Friday. I've had a full on week this week and done almost 60 hours over 6 days. I'm off Monday and Tuesday next week. After I'd already issued my rota, we were told there will be an undisclosed 'event' on Monday held over 2 sessions, 2.5 hours each session. Attendance at one of these sessions is 'mandatory' whether you are on the rota that day or not. They have not confirmed whether they will pay people to attend these sessions. I've told my team I will not be attending and it is up to them whether they attend if it's their day off, I would be a hypocrite to insist upon it (which is what I've been encouraged to do). I have a 45 minute commute and I'm not going to spend 4 hours of my 'day off' driving there and back and attending when they refuse to even give us any details. I'm annoyed with work for various reasons at the moment, so I guess I'm looking for outside opinions, is what they're doing fair and can they insist upon me coming in? My line manager has already called it 'disappointing' when I explained my reasons for not wanting to go.

Stick to your guns. You do your hours and that's all they can ask!

On my day off? nope. After a 60 hour week and you don't even know what it's for and if you'll be paid/have time off in lieu? nopeity nope.

Thank you for the replies. I literally feel like I'm almost being gaslighted such is their insistence that I attend... Hence why I needed outside opinions

If its that important they'd 1) pay you (2) give you decent notice to make arrangements (3) tell you what these mysterious sessions are in the first place. What a load of nonsense. And possibly not compatible with working hours law for the staff that don't have a long enough break between shifts or clear day off. You sound like a good manager and your boss sounds silly

What comeback is there likely to be? because on the face of it that all sounds massively unreasonable, esp as your managers don't work the same rota or hours. if it was really that important for me to be there at a push I'd ask if I can dial in via Teams or Zoom, but it would have to be very important - as in 'we have been bought by a competitor' or 'the business is no longer viable' important.

It is being pushed as a positive thing - there's a superhero theme and the CEO and COO will be there. Getting vibes of a 'thank you for your service' kind of dealio. They can thank me for my service by letting me have 2 entire days off... I'm honestly not sure what the repercussions of not going could be, partly why I started the thread. Could they legally try and discipline me for not going?

Oh Gawd, one of those ra ra motivational 'yes we've had a rough couple of years and thank you for your resilience sorry there's no money in the pot for rises but we'll all pull together because we love the company so much and here's a ten quid voucher as a thank you' chats.

Yes I'm cynical.

If its a positive thing to celebrate your work they should have the respect to plan it properly, pay you and respect that it's a social occasion you can decide not to go to. Sounds like torture.

Just tell them you have plans and it's too short notice. None of their business if its plans to binge watch Netflix from bed with a family size bag of crisps.

The only time I was involved in anything it was a mass zoom call about future plans which turned out to be putting us all at risk of redundancy! Although I presume this wouldn't be superhero themed. That would be a little messed up!

Think I'd start job hunting after this

If its a positive thing to celebrate your work they should have the respect to plan it properly, pay you and respect that it's a social occasion you can decide not to go to.

Precisely. And what if you were going to be away? It’s your time off, you’re the only one who gets to decide how you use it. Twats.

I would be looking for another job OP, seriously.
I work in NHS and everyone knows it's a 7 day a week service but staff don't work 7 days a week!
It's accepted that staff have their days off at different times across the week. Things like you're talking about are organised well in advance and it's accepted not everyone can attend as someone has to "mind the shop"
Your organisation does not value their staff. They are continually eating into your family/home time with little regard for your needs. They are going to face staff burnout.
Find another job where you are valued as a whole person, not just an employee

I would send a clear email today giving your reasons so that they can't reframe your non-attendance after the event as you 'not bothering to turn up'.

If I have to attend meetings or training on my day off I do so on teams at home. I never go in.

With my cynical 'have worked in corporate for years' hat on, these things are always 'mandatory even though it's your day off and we can't tell you what it is' because they want a big turnout - relying on everyone's curiosity to find out the big surprise.

I'm betting that some people won't turn up, they know some people won't turn up and whatever it is will be posted on the company intranet post event. Such a shame you have committed yourself elsewhere on the day and can't change it to attend because of the short notice. 😉

Your organisation does not value their staff. They are continually eating into your family/home time with little regard for your needs. They are going to face staff burnout.
Find another job where you are valued as a whole person, not just an employee

And this.