Mums forced into office by big UK company?

[MM90]

I work for a big, well-known company. The bosses are considering plans to force all colleagues to come to the office 3 days a week. They are thinking about checking our turnstile data individually and disciplining anyone who doesn’t come in for 3 days every week, whether they need to be there or not. I thought this was the 21st century where working women have the chance to create a sensible work / life balance so long as they perform in their job. My line manager gave me a great performance rating during Covid. I have two children under 5 and no family nearby. Any thoughts on this?

It is discriminatory to make concessions for mums but not other employees

That's fair enough but not if the job is not getting done. As a PP stated I've had to call people and put up with noise of kids crying/arguing/interrupting while trying to discuss things ( and I struggle to hear on phone anyway) or even in one case a large dog barking it's head off

Remote working is bad for print media, for obvious reasons. Circulations plummeted during lockdown because so many people used to buy a paper for the commute. This means they've an obvious self interest in more commuting.

Then also, the Tories made a lot of noises about getting people back to the office. It was always more nuanced than they liked to make out, because under their austerity programme they obliged a lot of public sector desk workers to go hybrid in the 2010s. Saved on premises costs (which is, incidentally, a big reason why the attempt to get them in the office more hasn't been fully implemented). But they did try and politicise the issue in their last couple of years of office. And you probably know that Murdoch is famously right wing?

I'm NHS, and we clock in and out every day using a biometric finger scan. Very normal to have some sort of time keeping system.

Time to "force" them all back into offices, not just "mums".
The customer services (which were shit
when I moved here from another country 20 years ago) have suffered even more, it's beyond a joke.

But what's WFH got to do with good or bad customer service? I have the same phone and computer whether I'm at my desk or at home, I can be contacted in exactly the same way, and surely whether I'm efficient or not is down to ME, not down to where I'm sitting? I think people confuse the 2. A lot of places have reduced staff numbers so that's what causes poor customer services, they are simply stretched to thin, rather like HMRC.

Women really can't win can we?

This thread is all for bunging the kids in nursery for 11 hours a day to accommodate long commutes and unnecessary days in the office, but on a different thread you'd get a barrage of 'why have kids if you're going to get someone else to look after them all the time?'

Exactly. Surely if you are in a good relationship with your partner then you both agree to share the childcare burden?

Appreciate not everyone is, but yes, to me equality begins at home and DH does half the housework and half the childcare and our careers have equal priority

I have never heard someone use abusive parents as a reason to not be able to be in an entire country before.

If this ones so shit feel free to pick any of the 193 other ones in the world though.

Fuck society then.

I found a partner who values my career as much as his. We’ve earned the same since pretty early in our relationship and have both climbed different ladders since. One factor in deciding to have DD was that I wouldn’t be going part time or being the default parent once breastfeeding was finished. DH worked away for the first 18 months and then decided he wouldn’t take any contracts requiring him to be away from home consistently.

I’ve worked on site or away from home for part of each week for about 7 years. He does all the parenting while I’m away. He did all the homeschooling during Covid.

Most men could be more engaged than they are. Women make it far too easy for them to carry on as they were without much responsibility. Women don’t have to do that.

See above.

You wouldn't make it for mums though, the policy should be for parents and carers, it may benefit mums more as they tend to be primary caregivers though. Having said that of the 3 flex work requests I've handled in the past year, 1 was for a woman who had to handle childcare and 2 have been for men for the same reason which would have been unusual even as little as 10 years ago, some dads do seem to be stepping up more 🤷‍♀️

A ‘work-life balance’ doesn’t necessarily meaning working from home full time.

No, something I was quite oblivious about until I had children. It’s so frustrating to see some of the responses on here though, so many still don’t get it.

I don’t know what I think really. I work in a school and have done for years so have never worked from home. I kind of think that if you worked in an office pre covid, then you are lucky if you have managed to keep wfh. But then I do see the argument that if the job can be done wfh, then why make people go to the office.

I think it should be performance related. If you don’t quite work hard enough, get back in the office (until you improve or are sacked if it’s too bad). Don’t punish those who do manage to get the work done.

My DD is going to a different holiday club every week before she is on holiday for a week.

In theory she doesn't have to go in the middle of the week but 4 days often costs the same as 5 so there is no point. In addition 2 of the clubs are music and dance so she will miss out.

The attitudes on parenting need challenging. My friend's husband works in the same NHS organisation as me. He had a band 7 office job and as a family they fall over themselves to make sure he can work his hours and never has to take time off if the kids are sick etc. I have told my friend that his colleagues take carers leave and have flexible working so they can drop off at school etc (he doesn't even need this as the school drop off is done before the working day starts, I do exactly the same drop off myself) but as he's the man they fall over protecting his working hours. The women in the family (his wife and mother in law) make sure he doesn't get inconvenienced at all.

It must be happening all over the place and it's bloody depressing.

This is a very privileged take. It's particularly interesting that you've not even considered women who don't have a partner at all, as if single mothers don't even exist. Maybe you think they can just opt out of societal sexism too. And you talk of careers, as if that covers all jobs.

Fwiw, my own DH went part time for years when our DC were little. Even got passed over for promotion as a consequence. But extrapolating from one's own privileged experience to tell women as a whole they can simply good choice their way out of the consequences of the wider sexist structure is never going to lead you to a sensible conclusion.

Of course, sorry. 😂
I want their apartment.
And the other 190 countries are not of my interest.

I’d be looking for a new job.

We have 3 days in the office, one set day for the whole team. Last week, others who share the office were on teams calls and complained I was speaking to individuals in my team at their desks, chatting through their work informally, and asked me to use teams chat function and sit at my desk… I can do that from home. It’s like they’ve forgotten how to work in an office!!!

So many women give up their names and jobs and everything else to bend over backwards for men. There are relatively few women having children without partners and the ones I know rely heavily on family and childcare to make things work. When relationships break down it shouldn’t be so easy for men to walk away and hardly see their children meaning mum can’t work while they maintain all of their freedoms and advantages.

we need a female uprising where women know their worth. We need to create villages around women who are truly doing it alone. But in the main choosing a partner that commits to sharing domestic responsibilities is key. Whatever early Disney films suggest.

If a company employed you for a hybrid role, and didnt specify the number of days in the office, then I dont see how they are to blame that you didn't consider future child care needs. Whilst WFH is convenient for you, they obviously have a minimum amount they want their employees in for. If you disagree you'd probably be best looking for a new role before it becomes mandatory. As others have said- you can always apply for consideration for more WFH time, but childcare may not be something they see as a good reason.

OP hasn't been back 🙄

I've been a mum in an abusive relationship and a single mum.

That's all the more reason why I believe equality at home is so important. It enables women to have financial independence and it also ensures that single parents are not hugely disadvantaged in their careers because men are just as likely to be doing a school run.

DH has still climbed the career ladder rapidly despite doing as many school runs as me.

This is a battle to fight on a household level too.

Journalist? Hence the "mums".

Column about mums having to go back into the office /Moaning about going into the office coming to you soon!