Is this odd, or am I overreacting?

[chatterbox30]

Context: started a new job, where I was under the impression from interview, it was flexible working between office, visits, meetings and home, with varying start and finish times between 7am-7pm managing own diary etc. In corporate line of work.

I started a new job, Monday the first day was okay, everyone was chatty and asking about my background, where I worked before etc. As expected. I assumed for first couple of weeks I would be office based 9-5ish settling in. I got laptop, phone and was mostly left to plod on with setting it up.

My second day Tuesday, I came in about 8.45am to find everyone in, and I felt I was late, they were all rushing around and barely said good morning... Again left to plod on with online training rubbish, all the mandatory check list training.

Wednesday I got in for 8.15am and I was the only one there? When they all arrived in at 8.45am, again they barely said hello. I was under the impression I had to stay till everyone else left st 5.30pm, which meant I was in 'over time' / 'flexi'.... No mention of claiming this back? Again left to carry on boring training.

Towards the end of the week and this week, I have been shadowing a couple of colleagues, as expected, travelling with them to meetings in other buildings, when I attempted to make conversation about anything other than work, they have ignored me and sat in radio silence...
For Example, I mentioned whilst driving with one colleague, how I liked a singer playing on the radio, and they didn't reply! We just sat there in silence till I asked if they come this building for work often, they replied yes!!

They have all said they prefer coming into the office to work (all older in late 30-50, no kids/pets and live fairly close). I am 28, live 30mins away have 2 kids and if I can work from home, I'm going to jump at the chance!! I prefer the quietness at home and I can get loads done.

I had an induction meeting with my line manager, who went through a generic checklist, and ticked off flexible working, I queried the times and logging my hours, which was cleared up... I asked about wfh, and travel and was told the department expectation is 3 days in office, 2 wfh. He then proceeded to go on about other teams having to be present in the office 5 days.

Does this sounds odd or am I being dramatic? Debating if I should run for the hills or stick it out and hope I'll be left to my own devices. I'm just not getting a good energy, I'm in my 6 month probation period, and I doubt they'll find anything to stack me with, but I'm so uncertain and it's making me feel uncomfortable.

If WFH /flexible hours is important to you, (understandably) why on earth didn't you get it clarified in writing on your contract/job offer?
Have you checked If that 2 days wfh is a guarantee or could they change it to 100% office based if they felt like it?

I do t understand why you haven’t clearly asked and confirmed what time you go in and finish

from what you’ve said it will look to your colleagues you just please yourself

Yes, it’s very odd that you’re arriving at work at random times and that you didn’t clarify start and end times and working location with your manager before you started

My last place is like this!

My contract said 8.30-5 with 30 mins lunch and I still had colleagues showing up at 8 and 9. Some had 30 mins lunch and others had 60 mins. Some left at 4.30, 5 or 5.30

Nobody knew what they were doing or supposed to be doing. People didn’t like discussing it and it wasn’t in everyone’s contracts.

It was in mine so I just followed my contract. Is it in yours? As soon as I realised I mentioned it but was quickly hushed and felt like I couldn’t talk about it ever again.

So weird!

One lucky person rocked up at 9 left at 5 and had a full hour for lunch. I was a little envious in the end but just kept myself to myself

Flexible working was statee in advert and at interview and in the contract. I queried at interview as yes it is important and I wanted to know what they meant by flexible working, they said it was whatever was best for me, and left it quite open ended, following up with once I was settled in I could do what is best for me. My concern was about how my colleagues have behaved, particularly with me starting this new position.

The 2 days is not a guarantee, it was company expectation of 3 days in office, 2 days wfh offered and this then varies from department to department. And this was clarified by my line manager, but with the team preferring to work in the office, and being generally stand offish, I was wondering if I was overreacting to it all or not?

There aren't start aren't set start and finish times. The working hours are 7am - 7pm and you work flexibility between these times.

I did query the start and finish tikes on my 2nd day and I got the answer, everyone is different dependent on their diaries, some people prefer early, some prefer late.

This sounds a bit disorganised, but essentially that's what flexible working is all about.
If the job itself feels ok, I would give it some time to acclimatise. Try pushing a few boundaries, and see how it is received.
Ultimately, your value as an employee will direct your ability to be embraced as a flexible worker.
Give it a couple of months. Show them what you have to offer.

I work in a similar environment, and good people are difficult to find. We are highly flexible with those who are worthy of flexibility.

The culture sounds weird and unfriendly.
I wouldn't care about the hours other people do if you are following the ones in your own contract.
I would start looking for a place with a better culture TBH.

How do your colleagues seem with each other? Is there chatting and friendly behaviour between them, or is everything very work-focused?

My company is the same - expectation of 3 days in the office minimum but it’s not super strict so if in one week you need to be home 3 then it’s probably doable but if you try do 3 at home everyweek it will start getting noticed.

for flexi I think it’s pretty normal. It also sound like you don’t have strict start and end times so do what suits you but within reason

It sounds like there are 2 issues and you're mistakenly treating them as one. I'm not seeing the issue with the flex working, it's in the advert, contract and you clarified it throughout the process. The answer has consistently been to work the hours you want. Whatever the rest of the office choose to do and if they all like being in the office at the same time it's up to them. Just do what you want to. No-one seems to have said or done anything to make you feel you need to be in the office from what you've written. A particular manager may prefer their team members in 3 days a week but if that's not in the contract/policy or adopted in all departments, they can't enforce it.
The other issue is that your team are unfriendly and are excluding you. You've taken this to mean they have an issue with your working hours but it's more likely to be something else sitting behind it. You mention they're older and have probably worked together for years, they could feel threatened. You don't know what happened before you start, was a popular person let go and you've taken their place. Could be a million things, it'll come out in the wash eventually and you'll figure it out. 💐

My last job had similar: you could do any hours between 7-7, so long as you met core of 10-4. Younger childfree colleagues loved doing 7-4, I did 8.30-5.30 to fit around childcare, a few didn’t start till 10. Made scheduling meetings tricky as lots of meeting-free times were blocked out. And it was flexi when you went to the office so you couldn’t guarantee everyone there in person as they didn’t curate who did which days. So even office-based meetings had people Zooming in. But it was fine once you got used to it!

Civil service, isn't it. The 60/40 was on advert but it states it's non contractual agreement and dwpenda on business needs. Some roles are in more, some depart have less than 60.
You should have flexi sheet and log your times in so it can be balanced.
The team sounds bit odd though, have they all worked together really long time or are you instead of someone they all liked? It will break. Don't take things too personally, I have encountered many people who are very strict on not sharing ANYTHING personal.

3 at office 2 at home sounds perfectly reasonable to me

Also the first few months in a new role you should really be 100% office based learning the ropes and the way the company runs ,

Yes, this sounds very standard for flexible work.

It may be harder to fit into the office if you're not in five days and they all are. Can you do some time to establish yourself in five days a week?

This sounds like a mature environment where you're expected to be accountable for yourself. They want you in 3 days a week but you may be expected to vary your hours depending on work load and who you're working with globally. Doesn't matter what others in the office are doing.

Doubt they are clock watching really but this also means you don't get 'over time' back. If you don't like that, just make sure you stay within your hours. But I expect this is the sort of place where you also get flexibility if you have non work appointments like doctors appointments no one bats an eyelid as long as you tell your manager.

I think you just have to take accountability for yourself and worry about what your manager wants and where you're needed rather than what everyone else is doing.

Not really necessary for most jobs. In my sector most are based mainly from home although I chose to go in more in my first weeks to get to know people, not every day though.

@chatterbox30 the standoffishness seems a bit odd. Did you ask about company culture during the interviews?

She says corporate? I know there are "corporate" roles in the CS but I wouldn't describe as a "corporate line of work."

Flexible working often refers to a choice of schedule but not always to random working times so I think that may be the issue. Does HR have any policies?