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?

Some of the time I agree. Not just three days a week for the sake of it.

What an inane comment.

"If you didn't have a job that you could do from home, you wouldn't be able to do it from home"

No shit Sherlock.... but OP does have a job she can do from home 🙄

The OP has disappeared....

Draw your own conclusions.

The OP doesn't appear genuine, but it's an interesting topic of discussion anyway. Especially now, with the recent government change.

There are plenty of employers in London who are happy to pay large enough salaries to cover commuting costs and London property/rental prices. In certain sectors the difference between London and regional pay is exponential. Believe it or not, lots of young, talented people want to live in London because it’s a fun place to be. Older talented people with families buy houses further out near stations and factor in the cost of the commute. The congestion charge has been in operation for 20 years and even back then it made zero difference to the way people got to work in London- nobody ever drove.

WFH isn’t a right and you shouldn’t be working without childcare in place anyway. Seeing as plenty of mothers work in schools and hospitals and shops and manage perfectly fine, I can’t manage to find any sympathy for people who want to look after their children and do school runs in their working hours.

Your thread and what you are indicating is exactly why employers want everyone back into the office. The threads where people try and justify that they are working better at home whilst have under 10’s and a dog…yeah right.

I worked for a very large company and honestly some of the women (I am afraid it was women) were never around until 0915. Calls refused after 1530 or if they really needed to be on the call it was clear what they were trying to juggle in the background.Refused to go on video for all sorts of rubbish reasons. Our managers didn’t stay in place for long and they were often scared of seeming to pick on these people so they got away with it.

@Username1010 yes it did turn out to be a pointless post as the OP never came back.
It was me just being a bit "so what....most people have to GO to work" 😂
@pinacollateral this is a response to you to 😂

Oh yes, those awkward women... it's always women isn't it? Who have to juggle families and childcare with careers? Presumably because their husbands are expected to prioritise their jobs...

Saying that London doesn’t pay the right salaries is complete nonsense. My 20 something son works in the City. He loves it and is well paid. Funny how people without children don’t seem to have issues going into the office.

Well those women could take up that conversation with their husbands/partners

There's no reason the majority of men can't do their share of school runs etc

So it was women who were doing this juggling. But that is up to them to discuss with their partners as to who does what.

If you could trust people to wfh then surely the employers wouldn’t be asking them to come back in,

I'm not sure why everyone is complaining that the OP "never came back". It's less than 5 hours since she posted. Maybe she has a life outside of mumsnet.

Surely you don't think it's only people with DC who want or need to work remotely?

Is it only ‘mums’ being forced back into the office? Or is it people in general?

Sure, in an ideal world. But the reality is it will be women who are forced out of the work force without wfh. That’s the society we live in.

@pinacollateral it's a bit silly to start a thread if you know you can't come back to it for a few hours.

I'm a single parent and work in the office 4 days a week. I have a Nanny to look after the children while I work. It would be lovely to be at home during the week more than I am now, but recognise being present is what this role needs, plus it pays the bills.

The business isn't really there to think about what's best for "the mums", it's to do what's best for the company. If flexible working helps to keep employees loyal they should offer it, but not to the detriment of the company. If the bosses are now mandating 3 days a week in the office, it probably means they can't trust those who have been working from home to work while they are at home (perhaps because somebody's doing childcare instead of working!).

"I have two children under 5 and no family nearby. Any thoughts on this?" Carry on using the paid for childcare you are currently using? Or is your implication that you don't currently use childcare? In which case find some. YOU are probably the reason that everyone has to go to the office, because you cannot be giving 100% to work while looking after two under 5s. Honestly during covid I found it difficult to work with my sensible 8 year old at home. For anything but an odd occasional hour, if your kids are at home and there is no other adult in the house work should not be paying you to work from home!

A few hours is no time at all. Lingering here all day waiting for comments is just sad.

Some people have shit to do. It is fine to start a thread and come back to it at a time that is convenient.

Or (shock horror) not to come back to respond at all and just read the responses. OP doesn't have to come back on and argue every point, she might just want to hear opinions, which, as always on this topic, are many and varied.

I can't get my head around people getting offended either way.

I met a lady who told me she worked for our local council and had to work from home because she bought a dog during lockdown and couldn’t leave him on his own.

@pinacollateral the point of threads though is to have a conversation.
Why start a conversation and then wander off for 5 hours.
Why not start it when you have time to actually be part of the conversation?

I have not read all the response, however, I think if you have disability or childcare, you may have more grounds to work from home.

I’m on the fence with this . I can see how it would be unfair to those without children and i understand that for some having children around could affect performance , but not always .

My old employment went to to 100% remote ( office was an option for those that wanted it ) during COVID . I had my children there through COVID , obviously , but then after that I had them there if they were not at school , or if I worked hours outside of school . Admittedly , they weren’t babies - my youngest was 7. They could be left to play in their room etc and I would do their lunch or dinner whilst working. This never impacted my performance and in fact I was the best performing of my team , consistently. I have applied for another hybrid role and I have no plans to get childcare.

I hate the divisiveness of this, and people turning on others. The UK's childcare is the most expensive in the developed world. People are just trying to get by.