Moving the goalposts on wfh

[Hospitalshmospital]

Advice needed on this situation. I've always been able to wfh on a flexible basis. After a period of serious illness & being in hospital I've been wfh more often, usually about 3 days per week. This was agreed with my manger. We have a monthly one to one meeting & now my manager has said the wfh agreement needs to be more structured ie. set days. This is difficult for me due to my illness. Some days I'm fine & other days not but there's no real pattern. Not sure if I should ask for a meeting with HR or how to proceed. Any advice appreciated.

Write in and request a formal flexible working arrangement. They will have to meet with you to discuss your proposals and can only reject it on certain grounds such as unreasonable cost to the business, job not able to be done remotely etc. They can’t refuse it simply because they don’t like it.

If you’ve already working to the proposed arrangements for a while and can prove it doesn’t cause unreasonable disruption to the business then that will also help your case.

Thank you, that's good advice

I'm pretty sure most employers can tell you to work set days or their core hours. It's a fairly standard expectation. You sound very unreasonable to want to work as and when you feel like it.

You sound very unreasonable to want to work as and when you feel like it.

She's not deciding whether or not to work on certain days.

Agree that a flexible working request is the way forward.

That's a but unfair. I work the same hours whether I'm in the office or at home. My job can be done the same in either place. I'm entitled to workplace adjustments due to my illness but didn't really want to go down that route. Maybe I'll have to though.

If your illness is longterm it may count as a disability so you are legally entitled to reasonable adjustments.

This isn't AIBU and the op is talking about the location of her work, not chopping and changing whether she works at all.

No they can’t you have an illness which means you cannot work the same pattern as other workers. This is covered by the equalities act, new legislation means you don’t have to be considered “disabled” it’s a much broader definition now. So no they can’t impose this rule on you. Talk to HR and detail the limitations of your illness. They need to they it. You could have a fixed pattern of 5 days of WFH. If they really want a fixed pattern!

I agree that it would be worth making a formal flexible working application and including in it that you are making the application due to a disability. If your employer has their own form there might be a box for that.

Flexible working request is one way forward.

You could also ask for a referral to occupational health. That would get you medical back up for what you are and are not able to do.

This is incorrect.

How and when do you currently communicate where you'll be working each day? Do you ever cancel meetings or appointments at the last minute because you've decided to WFH?

If that's part of the issue, then think about what could be done differently to address the concerns and suggest it. Eg different ways of communicating your location that would meet your employer's/manager's/colleagues' needs better.

The issue here is the word “reasonable”. So OP doesn’t legally have to have anything. If the employer wants everyone in on a certain day for certain activities they don’t have to agree for it to be altered for anyone.

As PP - occupation health referral so that reasonable adjustments can be agreed. It may be that these are time limited but at least you can fully recover without the worry.

I’m one of those employers (well I’m a team lead). One of my employees wasn’t making the days in the office that were requested by contract and was taking sick days off. When enquired she said : I’m sorry because of my illness some days I’m not feeling ok. If I wfh I can hide it by taking longer breaks etc , accommodating when feeling worse. If in the office I can’t do this. Whilst I told her that if she was ill she was ill she shouldn’t work I could understand that some illnesses just need a break and this can’t be acommodates when in the office. This person has been moved to more flexible than others and doesn’t have to come to the office as much as others

op is the same. She can’t choose when her illness is going to affect her more. She can work but with some changes which the wfh policy allows her. Probably (and this is my assumption) her sickness numbers would increase if she was asked to go to the office on set days and if she felt unwell and couldn’t make it.

if something Covid taught us is that you don’t have to be in an office to do your job.

I message my manager on teams if I'm not able to be in the office. I've never cancelled a meeting I just join them via teams. There's really nothing I can do in the office that I can't do at home.

You need to seek advice from Occupational Health which should be accessed by your employer.

Your manager is right.

This isn't sustainable. You have a right to be assessed under OH, and suitable adjustments made. However ad hoc choosing when you are in the office / WFH isn't good practice & is hard to manage.

It's not ad hoc choosing, it's according to what I can physically manage. It's either that or more sick days. I know which I would prefer.

But that is ad hoc!

I'm not saying it's not valid - but that's why OH exists. To evaluate your needs and make a clear recommendation of reasonable adjustments.

It's really hard managing a team when someone decides on a daily basis where they'll be based! (I'm a manager).

It may be that OH make a similar recommendation - then the manager has to accept this.

But that's exactly why OH exists.

I should add, the other point of OH is that it will make clear what your capacity is.

It's very awkward if an employee is not well enough to be on-site but WFH - it's not fully clear what they can be expected to do.

Ok but as I've said it makes no difference where I am as I can do everything remotely so my work still gets done

It does make a difference. Your company has a hybrid working policy. Some days in the office, some at home.

Being present in person is different.

In your case, you have a legitimate reason for needing special accommodation / adjustments. So go via OH & get it documented, then everyone is clear & there can be regular reviews.

My work likes a bit more structure, with some flex, the days people are in as they want us seeing each other face to face. For example, there is no point me going in on a Monday as noone else in my team is in so it defeats the purpose.

Personally I'd love the flexibility to come and go as I please, and I think I can work from home just as well (if not better) but I am being a grown up and I understand their reasoning.

You have the added complexity of your disabilty, that is probably something you need to take formally down the reasonable adjustments route with OH.

On what basis are you claiming that anyone has the "right" to be assessed by OH?

Because starting with that easily proven falsehood rather undermines everything else you've said since.