I start a new job in two weeks, a small firm of 35. I'll be one of their seniors and i'll have one direct report. When i interviewed, their HR said they do hybrid working, and it says so on their Careers page online. They knew i had a young child and that i had previously done 4 days at my old job and would be moving to 5 for them.
When she offered the job, i checked and she said people do 'no more than 2 days' at home, the rest in office. Fine. Seems like a good balance.
But in the last week, i've had a few emails to say they're expecting me to be in office 5 days, and if I need to have Fridays at home, they'll have to 'consider' it and reshuffle projects.
Is it unreasonable of me to feel a teensy bit like the rug is getting pulled from beneath me? There was no suggestion, explicitly, when the interview process was happening that they expected 5 days in office. i checked. So why roll it back now?
Do i give them the benefit of a doubt and assume the MD just wants me there 5 days in the beginning for onboarding, or is this a bit of a flag? I know there are some other parents there too. I guess i don't know how to not feel a bit jittery now. If you have any tips on how to set boundaries in those early days without either looking tooootally inflexible/ obstinate but also ensuring i don't people-please let me know.
(sorry, my Caps i key isn't working; thanks to toddler mushing yoghurt into my laptop...)