Wfh - they can dictate when surely?

[ahemfem]

I have a manger who I think has been a bit too forgiving of things and now has put their foot down.

They've said right, you're meant to come in the office 50% of the time and you aren't. (To everyone) so now they've said I want you all in on Monday and Friday and pick one other day a fortnight that you want to come in. I think that's really fair but there's other people kicking RIGHT OFF and complaining. Am I right in thinking that even if the policy just says 50% of time in the office the manager is still able to dictate when that is? They've given a month's notice too which seems more than fair.

I might not have explained it very well - but I don’t do extra work beyond my contracted hours but it does mean I’m able to commit to more hours because I don’t lose that time to a commute. Means I’m getting paid and the employer gets more from me than still spending X hours a day dedicated to work bur getting paid for two less and being productive for two less hours.

Yes and people do. You might not see the fuss because it isn’t an issue for you. But it makes a huge difference to me to WFH, but then I would just up and leave if a job doesn’t work for me because work is easy to come by in my sector.

Really? I thought there was a labor shortage in the UK as well.

Unless, they are looking to downsize without freaking out investers. I have seen that too. They want to fired people, but don't want to do it officially, so they make working there as uppealing as possible.

I think it's fair enough although the one-month notice would be quite tight to adjust for us due to childcare needing booking a term ahead.
(No, I do not take the piss when working from home).

Yeah will do. They were just so adamant it was unfair I wondered if I was doubting myself

The thing that's annoying is everyone gets treated the same.

You could have someone who has happily come in more than 50% of the time, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. And now you're ordering them in Mon & Fri.

Yeah, the manager probably does have that authority - but is it worth irritating a diligent worker.

Not the manager. 50% works for the teams I think personally.

Yeah I'm getting the impression the childcare might be a sticking point

DH works in recruitment. This week he had a candidate who could only work full remotely as she has a 9 month old baby at home. No childcare. She was planning to work and look after her baby.

😮

When people are kicking off, encourage them to go and have an adult conversation with your manager. Child care would be a reasonable adjustment here to the Monday/Friday especially if they weren’t taking the mick in the first place. If they’re cross because they want to recover from their hangover and have been caught out, then inwardly grin and ignore!

@Gall10

The WFH’ers will soon find out they’re expendable

Unlikely. My own workplace is fully remote - as are many others in my sector. Other workplaces have good hybrid policies.

Labour's employment bill will strengthen these rights. Good employers embrace it anyway.

Not all employers are dinosaurs

You'll always get people who take the piss. I'm surprised she was so open about it though. I imagine she's very much in a minority - most people, even if they didn't care about not being able to do much work, would recognise that a set up like that would be detrimental to their child. What's the plan - shut a toddler in another room whenever you have a call?

if you have enough desks for everyone - whatever the boss wants he gets. however. If you don't have enough desks, this is daft. And if people cold easily get other jobs, be prepared for people to jump ship. Can you replace them with this policy?

Good point about recruitment. More and more jobs are saying 3 days a week in the office, but I imagine a rule that it has to include Monday and Friday would put people off. Partly because of the days themselves, but partly because to me it would be a red flag that management implemented a universal policy clearly designed to be punitive, rather than just managing their low performing staff.

Take the piss and lose the privilege and people do take the piss. I loathe dealing with companies who are obviously WFH.

It doesn't matter about staff retention either. Bugger off somewhere else in that case, you'll be replaced.

Working in office can mean a lot of changes. I've worked my week and DHs week around my WFH day, what clubs my DDs do, being able to manage with 1 car between us etc.

But it sounds like it's just a shock to the system, people have got used to rarely being in and don't like the change understandably. But yes, they don't have a leg to stand on, they can put in a flexible working request if they want something different (we're supposed to be in twice a week, I've negotiated 1 due to my children with SEN).

Everyone talking about people buggering off early on a Friday and taking the piss being the people who have caused the problem and “you wouldn’t do this in an office” has failed to recognise that in many office based jobs there are periods of time where there is very little work to do. In the office you are forced to pretend to look busy until 5pm but I’m not going to keep refreshing my emails when wfh.

I WFH flexibly according to business need and much of my role is out and about in the community so I am rarely in an “office” as such, and when I am it is not always the same one. When WFH I usually start by 8am and rarely take a lunch break so absolutely I will log off at 3:45pm if I have completed all my tasks for the day.

There is value in in-person brainstorming sessions and going to the office to print/photocopy/post etc but beyond that I don’t do it. Return to office policies are just for managers to feel in control and like they have something to do imo.

Easy way to get shot of lazy people who want long weekends too.

This!

If you're able to do your job from home, somebody else is able to do it from the other side of the planet...for a fraction of the cost

Sick of hearing this old chestnut, usually spouted by someone who is bitter/resentful because they can't WFH. I've WFH for over 10 years. I'm an expensive resource for the company but the industry has tried to outsource before without success. My previous two employers tried and failed miserably. The industry has accepted it won't work. AI will probably suffer a similar fate.

Nobody is prepared to say what work they do.
Maybe it's all very niche.

Are the contractors in India on the same pay as those in uk?

They can dictate provided the contract allows but a month doesn't actually give more notice for organising care for children, other relatives or dogs. Plus I imagine these days have been specifically chosen as management have noticed that productivity is down on a Monday - as people have a relaxed start to the week - and a Friday - as people wind down for the weekend - which is going to cause upset as staff have realised they won't be able to get away with this.

If people have to limit wfh, I don't know what will happen to all those dogs.