My contract states that hybrid working is, currently, at the discretion of my head of service - and that's fine. I went for the job specifically because I want to wfh the majority of the time - I've been a freelancer for many years and a full-time 'in office' role is not for me.
Team supervisor says last week that 'everyone' needs now to do an extra day in the office because a member of the team who is neurodivergent and works full-time in the office ',,, doesn't like being on their own...'. This request doesn't appear to extend to the supervisor themselves, btw.
The entire, massive office building is a hybrid working environment so this person is NEVER on their own. They've also worked for the company for years, know everyone across all the different business functions and their job frequently requires them to visit other parts of the building for extended periods, interacting with lots of other people.
There's a lot of talk about the requirements of the employer when it comes to hybrid working but this situation seems unfair. I'm also aware that the reason there seems to be a requirement for two or more of us to be in the office with this particular person is because they can be somewhat overwhelming and extremely chatty - so it's almost as though the supervisor has identified that if only one other person is in the office working with them, they're going to find themselves regularly distracted by the flow of chat and interruptions coming from their neurodivergent colleague.
My initial reaction is to say that the request for me to be in the office for an additional day a week for non-operational purposes isn't reasonable. I feel the request is entirely skewed in favour of a single employee at inconvenience to the rest of the team - which doesn't seem very fair.
The collection of hybrid working desks I and my team use are where this colleague has a permanant desk - and are used every day by other workers from other functions so there's never a day when this particular colleague is on their own.
WWYD?