Seeing red about how my colleague is working the system

[ProntoMum]

Need to vent. I work with three other women with same grade and job description as me. We all share the same manager.

Colleague 1 has been on sick leave due to a bad back for the last six months - no prospect of her returning in near future, if ever.

Colleague 2 works 3 days a week. Works from home one day a week, sometimes more. Has two young children - one at school. Cites expense of childcare costs as reason to work from home one day a week.

Colleague 3 (childless and in her twenties) works 5 days, but has just asked boss to work 3 of those days from home each week. Cites stress as the reason. She has hardly worked a full week in the past year, due to docs appointments and time off sick, so has a history of stress she can use to back up this request.

That leaves me. I work 5 days a week. I have three children (ages 15, 12 and 7). I don't work from home except on odd occasions for a few hours (once a month or so). I have taken 4 days off sick in the last year.

So, if my manager agrees to colleage 3 working from home, I will be the only other person in the office full time apart from my boss.

Out of all my colleagues, I have the heaviest workload of all my colleagues. My manager is not good at delegatin work to my colleagues when they work from home (or checking it). But as we work in the same small office, he can keep a very close eye on me and always ensure I have plenty of work to do! I never have a moment when the pace is slack.

I like my job, it is interesting, challenging and convenient. The organisation prides itself in flexible, life/work balance working patterns. So I suspect my boss will say 'yes' to colleague 3's request to work 3 days a week from home.

But every time I think of my colleagues, especially when I am alone in the office on a hot, sunny day ...... sorry but a red mist descends!!!! I cannot help it, even if I know for some of them, the reasons are genuine.

My manager knows I feel put upon. I have already talked to him and explained that although I like what I do, I feel very undervalued.

As I have recently taken on extra duties, I am seeking to get my post regraded. I would be happy with more money and with my present level of flexibility - I am not seeking to work a lot of hours from home.

I suspect my manager will pay lip service to this and will give me no real support. He has said my job description is a standard one for all four of us and therefore so is our grading (and salary). As my other colleagues are not applying for a regrading, I suspect I will get nowhere.

I have involved our union, but I feel so pessimistic. I know my colleagues are not even bothering to try and get a regrade as they think our manager is spineless and will not help fight for one. At least one of them has resorted to playing the system. I sincerely do not want to do this, but feel so unsupported and increasingly depressed by what is happening.

When i work at home I have to sit inside on a hot sunny day too I fear

Hi,

Don't know if you'll see this hope so. I am assuming you are working for a local authority, or not for profit? Have you looked at the flexible working policy, ours says that all staff have to be consulted in any team where flexible working may be implemented, this is, apparently, standard and it is clear your manager hasn't done this. If s/he hasn't HR need to know and all the arrangements would be reviewed, at least that's what would happen where i work (an LA).

emaskboo, that's a really useful message - big thanks! I will ask my union rep about the organisation's flexible working policy.

I certainly don't want to start a personal vendetta against my colleagues but it would be a useful bargaining tool when I talk to my manager, to know if he has followed procedure or not.

emskaboo I mean!

Hi prontomum

Just wanted to say that your situation sounds very unfair, I know how frustrating it is to feel like you are the only one not playing the system and not even getting any respect for it.

As others have said childcare issues is NOT a reason to work from home. I have asked my boss about flexible hours and she made it very clear that if I worked from home DS would have to be at nursery so I would not be saving on child care.

Where I work I am the only one with a young child and I work five days a week, get in at 9 work as late as I can (usually ten past five or so) and often work through lunch. Other staff take the p with lateness and number of sick days etc, I get very frustrated!

It sounds like you have some really valid points and a lot of frustration to boot. Try and separate out the valid points from the frustration and then present these to your boss.

for example:

I really value the flexible working policy that you have afforded me to date this has enhanced the work environment and value of my job. However, now that the number of staff office based has changed this has reduced this benefit to me and effectively changed my conditions of employment.
This restricts my flexibility to take lunch when I reach a convenient break in my work and means that office based and high supervision tasks fall to me.

If you can handle it direct with him and get him to understand its got to be better all round. Good luck

This is the downside of flexible working (I am doing a masters and the situation you describe is the subject of my research paper...).

What has happened to you in HR terms is that there has been a breach of the 'pyschological contract' between you and your employer. You feel resentful that they are taking advantage of you (and I would feel resentful too). You have a right to be treated 'fairly' and in your eyes (and I guess in the eyes of most reasonable people) you are being treated unjustly on both a procedural and distributative basis (ie, in terms of the fact that they are milking the system unfairly and that you are doing the lions share of work and not getting recognition/reward for this).

However there is very little that you can do about it. For your boss to pay you extra bonuses or to promote you because you are there full-time and pulling your weight, whilst they are sick/part-time (or whatever) could be seen as discrimination against your colleagues. So even though you are right in feeling aggrieved, I fear that the law is not on your side, and your boss is stuck between a rock and a hard place because of the restrictions imposed by employment law here. Whilst Employment Law is obviously invaluable, there are times when the dice fall very unfairly.

I would certainly ask for a regrading and keep the union involved, that is definately the approach to take, but you will need to accept that options for your extra efforts to be recognised may be limited and this has nothign to do with your abilities. Your boss, by the way, may secretly be as frustrated as you are about the situation (he would breach confidentiality though if he admitted this to you).

Not much help I guess.....

Glad it helped, I'm having my own flexible working senanigans at the mo' so I feel your pain! lots of luck, keep us posted

I wonder whether full health and safety and risk assessments have been carried out on the home workers? Because any employer certainly has a duty to consider this.

Also, does the Data Protection Act apply? Should they be working on sensitive data at home? Do they have adequate protection on their PCS etc?

I wonder whether you could also bring the above to your boss's attention in a kind of "I was reading about the above and I wondered whether it applied because I really wouldn't want you to get our company into trouble as a result of not following leglislation" - worth a go in a bureaucratic organisation (or any actually, the law applies whereever you work!)

Squiffy, I disagree to an extent: the boss is letting supposedly SICK people work at home rather than ensuring they take SICK leave and medical advice and get better, don't you think? And so although the OP has no legal gripe, the boss is being a total spineless arse and failing to deal with the lazy members of his team. IMO.

Are the HR department aware of this? Any allegation of 'stress' really should be brought to their attention and that of Occupational Health potentially if it's long term.

Interesting messages - thanks all! I too have wondered if our occupational health person should be involved - surely in a case of sickness, ultimately the person's fitness to work has to be assessed?

I am still waiting to see if my boss will officially agree to this colleague's working from home request and, if so, how exactly this wonderful news it will be presented to me . Until them I am venting my frustration on here!!

If I query the data protection/protection of home pcs/health and safety risks of home working then I may also risk also losing my chance to work from home occasionally, but I will definitely mention it to my boss if it does end up that two of our team are regularly working from home each week.

I have contacted the union about our company's flexible working consultation policies and am arranging another meeting with my rep.

Squiffy, our company has a procedure for paying a bonus to people who take on responsibilities above their grade. I have asked HR to give me details so I can see if I qualify. I can prove I have had a key role in one or two big projects that are outside my job description.

I know exactly what you are getting at though - the organisation is not obligated to reward me for basically doing my job well and being there, as that is the fundamental requirement of the job