Tricky situation with team member - any advice please?

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I manage a very tricky member of my team. She had previously been unwell for a while with a condition that’s treatable - she initially had a very long spell on sick leave then a very long phased return. Shes back FT now but has hung on to one day a week WFH. This was agreed with Occ Health and on the advice of HR we were told that this was considered a reasonable adjustment.

This condition seems to improve when it suits and when she thinks there’s a risk that the WFH will be revoked or there’s grumbling about it then it flares up again, despite it being a condition that once treated should be cured. She’s constantly pushing the GP and phoning up consultants but from what she’s saying they can’t find anything wrong with her now.

It should be noted that Shes got an ulterior motive to WFH one day a week which I won’t go into here as it could be outing.

We’d Like her back in the office FT - admittedly there’s not too much of an effect on the business but we know that it’s not being done to help her health, it’s being done for other reasons and quite frankly it’s not fair to the rest of the team who would probably all like a day at home.

HR are not being terribly helpful and are saying that we should take everything she says at face value and as it’s gone on for so long it could now be classed as a disability.

Theyve suggested that we call a meeting with her to try and get to the bottom of exactly what is the matter with her but they’re also advising that we tread carefully.

It doesn’t help that the woman is quite militant and seems to tho k she’s knows all the laws and what she’s entitled to.

If there are any HR professionals that could give an idea how best to proceed I’d be grateful.

I think you should vary which day she has at home on a regular basis. So she can’t plan personal stuff unrelated to work around it. Which is presumably what she is doing.

This “HR” would be referring that to the manager and asking them (with support) to make the decision.

He's a dinosaur because he's applying a blanket ban and by the sounds of it having his manager enforce it without any background. I get that he's "entitled because it's business" but if there are good reasons it's an easy win for him to explain why.

It really doesn't take a lot to make a workforce feel valued if it doesn't cost anything.

The workforce all appear to be fine apart from this one person.

One of the most successful companies I have worked for in the last four years is 60% wfh.
I am C-Suite and don't mind one bit if you want to wfh and save commuting. It's outdated and stops people having a life.

Business has moved on and if you don't allow wfh you will struggle to recruit. Gen Z won't do five days at a desk.
Office jobs suit men with the little woman at home. Outdated and environmentally inefficient.

From what OP has said, the problem is that the rest of the staff resent this staff member having a day WFH when they can’t.

Yes but it would be all done fairly according to processes etc and the rest of the team could stfu if it was approved

Your decision should lie within if the individual’s condition(s) could be considered a long term disability under the equality act. As this person seems of have had whatever it is for over 12 months then it probably is.

Working from home is a perfectly reasonable adjustment and as you’ve said you have very little business case against it.

Your personal opinions of this person’s condition is irrelevant along with whatever the rest of the team think!

I would approve the request for long term implementation.

Why? Why default to such spiteful behaviour? Perhaps all employees who work in the office should document that they went straight home from work and didn't stop at the gym, shops etc. Wouldn't want anyone to be able to arrange their life around a stable working pattern.

OP, your workplace sounds utterly toxic. Why are you fixated on removing a working arrangement that occupational health have recommended, which makes your employee's life better, and which doesn't impact the business? Are you putting the same amount of effort into stopping the grumbling about your disabled employee's working arrangements?

I'm confused.
You have referred it to HR.
HR want to accommodate it.
If owner doesn't, what aren't you telling him that you've done all you can and HR aren't budging.
The owner can take it up with HR of them want but you are fully covered.

By the sound of it there's zero issues with the work she's doing from home, it's one day a week, and the only reason you don't like it is because you think she's lying? Remind me never to work for a small family run business again, sounds crap!

Tbh compared to half of the colleagues in my team at work, she doesn’t sound too bad ! I’ve been there 18 months and there are at least 2 colleagues I’ve never met in person! We are all expected to come in at least 2 days a week, but they will argue they can’t be forced to come in as long as they are completing all their work sufficiently. I think more and more companies will become very flexible in order to hang on to people who want to work from home.
I personally hate wfh- just can’t concentrate properly, but I’m aware many people much prefer it to coming into an office.

If they want to hang on to good people then modernise - does anyone really think this is a good person?

I manage a team who have to do some days office and some days wfh.
I have a team member who wfh permanently due to health issues.
Some of my team question it but i tell them it's a medical exemption and it's mine and companies decision. OH have advised it as well.
It's not down to favouritism it's to support people with serious health issues be able to work.
I'd just concentrate on what you di not others

I don't think the replies here are quite fair.

Legally, yes, she can state she has an illness and there is nothing you can do. As Op stated, her hands are tied.

But yes, there are people who will use that for their own advantage, and it's not fair that the honest people effectively miss out. I think most people know people like this.

I used to work with someone who if any thing came up that she didn't want to do or someone actually had the courage to point out that she wasn't pulling her weight (which she didn't), then she'd say straight that if it wasn't changed/they withdrew what they'd said, she would tell the doctor to sign her off with stress. She was totally open about it and would tell people she'd done it and why.

On one occasion she was asked to join a project and didn't want to do it (I suspect because the manager of the project was known to be not afraid to say if he felt someone was underworking) and she immediately sent a message saying that she was off with stress and wouldn't be back until end of April (over 2 months later), which was when the project was due to finish. Her doctor would only give sick notes for two weeks, so she had to keep going back to get another one. On the day after the project was due to finish she arrived in work to "see how everyone was" oka check the project had finished.

Another time she announced she was having to go off on stress until mid September - she was about to go on 2 weeks annual leave, and then that was another 2 weeks after that. Turned out she had a holiday booked the 2nd week in September (booked beginning of August, the day before she announced she was going to be off with stress - we know because she was going with a group from a hobby, which happened to include one person's sil) and she'd run out of annual leave.

And despite making it as obvious as she could that it was entirely made up, there is still nothing HR could do as long as the doctor signed the notes. She even told one of the managers in her "return to work" meeting that she was fine and had just had "things she needed to do at home".

What happened ultimately was the rest of the workforce have mostly moved on, with a large number saying in a good part due to her behaviour (not just on this, but other things too), but she is still there doing very little work, and no one daring to pull her up because they know what will happen if they challenge her.

And people like that annoy me. Because not only do they get away with anything, leaving other people taking the slack. But it means that people who really do have medical issues that need support, people find it harder to believe them, or not resent them.