Asking permission to leave my desk

[Seasonofthewitch83]

I work in a small admin company and this week my manager has decided that every single time we need to leave our desks, we have to tell him where we are going. He says he needs to know where we are at all times for 'safety reasons.'

I have digestive issues as well as heavy periods (which has been documented with occupational health who said I need to take frequent bathroom breaks) and I am finding having to ask permission every single time as well as tell him what I need to do totally humiliating, especially in front of colleagues. If he is on the phone or in a meeting, we are told to stay at our desks until he is available.

There is no reason anyone needs to know if we leave our desks, it does not impact our work or other people.

My breaks are not excessive or long.

What is the best course of action here?

Buy your own toilet paper - no idea sorry.

Mid 2020 paid 16 to 17k often brought own loo roll as the company directors couldn’t be bothered and no not furloughed! Far from it !

mid 2023 paid 25k - I would ask someone to use toilet and when to go when it involves nearly 10k difference in salary; sorry.

@Spinewars23

not sure you've been replying to the thread you think you're on

Look for another job.
Get the rest of the staff together and revolt.

Please do this 😂

Yes purely to bring back the insult 'Nobber'!!

This 🤣🤣🤣

Do you have an HR dept? Is this company policy? If it's just your team, could you ask for it to be logged as sex discrimination, as you're a team of women being forced into this by a man? If other teams don't have to do this, you don't have to comply.

As you're all fairly new, is there someone you can get onside with you?

I'd be tempted to 'develop' cystitis for a few days, then a dodgy stomach, and then a week or so of perimenopausal flooding. If he challenges you, leave proof on his desk.

Look for another job, but first use his applying behaviour to your advantage and go for a compromise agreement with a little payoff

Appalling not applying

We let our boss know if we are likely to need more toilet trips but only as a "I don't feel well, might need to go more often" because we have a code to put our phone in when we leave our desk
That's monitored so if you were regularly taking 15-20 mins away from your desk per day they would be asking why

I had a manager who implemented a you must tell me where you are going if you leave your desk rule.

Soon stopped after the first one someone announced "I am going for a shit".

Your manager is being completely ridiculous, controlling and unreasonable, I would totally ignore it and see what he does next.