HR bods – my boss is declaring war on working from home

I’ve been doing this job for 5 months now, before that I was doing the same job as a contractor. As part of my discussions about taking the job permanently, I said working from home a day a week was important. The 100 mile round commute is a killer, but I cope – the one day wfh has been a saviour really in keeping me sane and giving me that little bit extra time at home.

I always make sure I plan wfh when I’ve no meetings in the office, and always state on Monday when I intend to take it that week. It’s generally always Friday or Wednesday anyway.

The team leader I agreed it with has retired. I was assured he’d ok’d it all with the manager. It’s not in the contact specifically, but company policy encourages flexible working where it can be made to work.

Anyway, he’s now pissed off that others in the team just take a day wfh at the drop of a hat, and as a result of his annoyance and response looks like its going to be a blanket ban unless you have a very good reason.

I can see his annoyance; a few members of the team simply don’t rock up at times, then send an email at 9ish saying they will be at home. I always aim to make it clear.

What can I do? Where do I stand? Wfh is well accepted across other teams on our floor – my manager is just a bit old school.

Not an HR specialist but is there not a case here where you WFH has become “custom and practice” therefore an accepted part of your job?

(a)If all the other managers can “manage” it, then point out to him that it’ll look bad for him if he can’t.

(b)Go above him to whoever is responsible for setting company policy.

oh – and
(c – STW response) think about a job nearer to home 🙂 Who wants to travel 100 miles each day? Think about what you are doing to the planet etc etc etc

If it was verbally agreed that you had one day a week when you went part time, then it is part of your terms of employment even if not in the written contract. If they get really stroppy you could just say that you wouldn’t have taken the role had you known this and will start looking to work elsewhere – that may well make them back down a bit (highly unlikely they’d get rid of someone over that). At our place, we have lots of people who only work 3-4 days in the office and 1-2 days at home.

cheers FF – just for the record, I didn’t go part time, i went from contractor to full employee.

I’ve just switched to WFH – we had to (between those of us doing WFH and our manager) draft a policy that was suitable for all of those doing it AND the company.

Two of the clauses were “each employee should aim to be in the office at least one day a week when not on holiday or other site” and “each employee will give AT LEAST one week’s notice of when they are intending to WFH”

Been doing it since Apr 2nd, loving it. Baildon – Barnsley & back now only once or twice a week instead of every day

I’m a Senior Analyst / Programmer working for a door manufacturing company with factories in 5 European countries, North, South & Central America, South Africa, Israel & India. Big corporate with a capital C.

I’ve been here since autumn 2000 & got sick of the commute – 24 miles – regularly taking over 2 hours on an evening, so I had been looking for jobs in Leeds/Bradford, even considering a paycut; having had 2 interviews over Xmas, this has come as a godsend

i went from contractor to full employee.

that’s where the problem lies 🙂

You need a learned response…when the manager calls you in and tells you he likes what you do and he’d like you to become a full time member of the team, don’t get into discussions about a staff role.

There is one word you need to say, and that word is ‘no’.

I’m another 100miler a day to get to my office. I count myself lucky that its a clear run nearly all on the motorway and I only lose about 50 minutes each way.

I do the odd WFH day on an ad hoc basis, but I travel to sites across the south west for probably 40-50% of my time. It breaks the monotony and going straight to site from home means that I can roll the travelling into ‘business time’ and thus get a half decent breakfast time with the kids.

I’m lucky I have a pretty decent and trusting boss though, because theres nothing about that kind of flexible working in my contract.

blanket ban unless you have a very good reason.

The 100 mile round commute would seem a very good reason to me!

(Lives 11 miles from office and even that often takes longer in the car than by bike!)

Have a quiet word with him, pointing out that you always inform and how you’ve sympathy that others don’t.

But, if they change the rules you’ve only really two choices, suck it up or go.

When I ran a big IT development team I brought in a rule that said any one WFH must email all the team first thing, with a phone number for contact. And then send an email for ending.

Seemed to work, but then I also had a habit of phoning folk out of the blue – not that I was checking up or anything 😉

Yes it meant lots of emails, but it helped with the discipline.

And I had a 100 mile round trip too, was always first in the office (when at that location), but usually gone by 4pm.

You have leverage now in the form of a mini pook do you not?

Submit a formal flexible working request to your hr department. As youve already demonstrated that you have the capability to wfh and an established wfh pattern already it should he a cake walk. They have to ‘seriously consider your request’ if they reject it they have to give you a valid reason and you have the right to appeal. From speaking to my hr dept that’s such a massive ball ache they can never be bothered to reject a half reasonable one.

I now officially wfh Thursdays and Fridays as my other half generally travels with work then and its a plain dropping the little in off at the clildminder.

i do yes – cheers scaled

Submit a formal flexible working request to your hr department. As youve already demonstrated that you have the capability to wfh and an established wfh pattern already it should he a cake walk. They have to ‘seriously consider your request’ if they reject it they have to give you a valid reason and you have the right to appeal. From speaking to my hr dept that’s such a massive ball ache they can never be bothered to reject a half reasonable one.

I did this with no problems, although my current boss didn’t mind working from home at all, it was primarily a defensive measure as one person I was doing work under and potentially going to do more work for had a huff about working from home.

I can recommend going 80% time too, what a brilliant fun thing it is to have a day a week looking after your kid!

This happened with flexi time and my boss

He sent the mail out to the team saying working hours are 8.30 -5

Then those of us not abusing the system were taken asside and told what we were doing was fine but cerain folk were abusing the system constantly.

Speak to your boss, hes probably perfectly reasonable but doesnt want to be seen to be picking on folk in a tracable format.

Yep sounds like the others are messing it up, offer to draft a WFP policy for the team as an attempt to bring the situation round, I’d suggest the way you have been working seems reasonable.

Could just be that your boss is jealous that you all get to work from home and he doesn’t – worst outcome

Can you have a chat to him and say “look Dave I know everyone else is taking the piss but you know I’m not and working from home is a big deal for me. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water can I draft you some procedure that will stop the chancers abusing it and will give you the oversight and control you need?”

good advice, have a one on one conversation. I know its out of vogue to actually talk to people but it is a really effective form of communication 😉

If it wasnt in your contract or writting (always verbal?) then it was always a Managers discretion. Unless in a contract WFH cant be demanded. The best that you can hope for is ad hoc as a bargaining tool. Sadly others ruined it with ‘not sure what days they are in’. Imagining the boss being asked by another manager then oh hes not in actually…how bad that looks.
Dont make it a huge issue the others will resent you and you’ll be ‘watched’. Sorry paranoia bit.

If you cant get wfh. Ask for flexi hours. Ive always started at 7am. It’ll help massively with the commute depending on your route?

Remember you chose where you live not your Manager 😉

hora, I start at 7.30 am and leave at 3 so I’m flexing my hours already. It’s ok as we’re a global company and hours all align somewhere – mainly when I’m working with Germany and the far east.

I am not moving to Derby.

NZCol – how do you think I found out he was about to declare war? In our last 1:1 I laid the foundations of my argument having heard on the grapevine he was grumbling.

As mentioned it seems to an agreement rather than a set contract. I’d have a meeting with your boss, plus someone to sit in who with you and ask about working from home. Offer to give a months notice of which days you’d like to work from home, explain that it’s to help with your childcare Explain this is what interested you in taking the job rather than contract work to give you stability with the flexible working they offered you when enquiring. You have a better chance with that then travelling issue as you took the job knowing where it was based. Also offer to be flexible back that you could work longer hours when in the office if needed.

Don’t go over his head that’s terrible advice, they hate that, and his manager will just kick it back down to him, and hate you. Another vote for speaking to him and offering to draft a reasonable policy he can take forward to senior management.

And yes, your living arrangements are your problem not the companies.

I’d followed scaled’s advice. Put a formal request in, discuss it with your boss, get it in writing. Use your previous good conduct in this area to show you can be trusted. If it’s rejected you know exactly where you stand.

I’ve always let my guys WFH when they ask as long as they don’t take the mickey, about once a month for each of them is the norm. Good people get way more work done at home than they do in the office. My boss isn’t so understanding so I end up doing it less.

If it wasnt in your contract or writting (always verbal?) then it was always a Managers discretion. Unless in a contract WFH cant be demanded.

Do you actually know anything about this? If he took the job based on assurances that he could work from home on a regular basis, then just because it isn’t in the written contract doesn’t mean it isn’t in his contract. A contract includes oral statements made by the employer and accepted by the employee. Which obviously you can’t always evidence, although the fact they’ve been letting you do it for months is a bit of evidence I would guess.

http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/8/6/Varying-a-contract-of-employment-accessible-version.pdf

They can change your contract, but it has to be clear that this is a change of contract, and they do have to do it right, they probably have to involve HR, particularly if some employees (ie. you) don’t agree. It isn’t just about one manager sending an email around.

Assuming you’re a good employee and they will still want you, I’d be emailing him* saying, “I’m assuming this doesn’t apply to me, as discussed with Mr X [previous manager] on his offering me the job, working from home once a week was part of my package for this job.” They obviously want you if they’ve done the contractor to permanent thing, replacing you would cost a bomb, and be tons of hassle for them, and from the sound of it, you working from home doesn’t cause any problems.

If they cause any hassle, then it’s time to start looking for a new job. You’re obviously good enough to get moved from contract to permanent, so you should be able to find one. And make it clear that this change in contract terms is why you are looking. The only way bad managers will learn about unilaterally messing around with people’s employment contracts is when it hits their performance figures.

Joe

*do things in writing, then at least you know where you stand. And in future send an email after discussions like ‘am I okay to work from home’ even with a friendly boss, just to make sure it is in writing.

And yes, your living arrangements are your problem not the companies.

As I said in my OP;

the one day wfh has been a saviour really in keeping me sane and giving me that little bit extra time at home.

and

The team leader I agreed it with has retired.

It’s the change in what I had agreed with the previous team leader that I’m pissed off about, not the commute. I knew full well what I was taking on when I took a job in Derby 3 years ago at the same company (I’ve been royally messed about in that time incidentally).

And yes, your living arrangements are your problem not the companies.

When they’ve offered you a job on the basis that you be allowed to work from home based, then it is kind of their problem too. Although this thread is clearly highlighting that if you don’t get it in writing, it is a pain to evidence (although if they really claimed they didn’t allow it, 5 months of allowing it means it is hard to believe they just didn’t notice!).

Friend was in same situation at a former workplace and HR sided with him.

It’s become part of your conditions of employment.

That is “a very good reason”.

Ask your boss for a chat and put that point of view to him. Let us know what happens.

Seriously, angle for 3 days wfh with a flexible working request and negotiate down from there to Wednesday and Fridays. Save yourself a load of cash in diesel and spend more time with your family!

https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/making-a-statutory-application

Cynical hat on here (sorry!) – is Pook junior also in the house when you WFH?

If so are you really concentrating on work as you would in the office? (I said cynical!). I can wfh- I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t trust myself with distractions and I’d be bored having to sit inside the house all day. I’d be too tempted to go out/shopping/riding/eating/drinking.

My point was more generally aimed. I wsh you well. Nobody deserves to live in Derby…

If you have got to the stage where people are abusing the system it becomes a nightmare to manage, if you single out one or two people they will claim they are being treated unfairly hence why the manager has gone for a blanket ban.

Basically those few have damaged the trust the rest of you have built up. Rather than let the manager try to deal with it on his own the rest of you who are being put in a worse position should have a word with your colleagues who are abusing the system as well…

I know technology has come on massively for remote collaborative working but there really is no substitute for being in the same room. If you’ve got a big dept. with lots of people taking random days wfh at short notice it would be difficult to manage….

Have sympathy for your situation, but also the managers….as advised above I would have a convo with the manager, especially if you can prove you are more productive at home (less interruptions etc… ) and show the benefits to him for you working from home

On the child care thing…..I know of a few people who have arranged their child car around wfh, in that they are looking after junior whilst wfh, this in my opinion is an abuse, would you bring your child into work all day and sit them by your desk?

If you have got to the stage where people are abusing the system it becomes a nightmare to manage, if you single out one or two people they will claim they are being treated unfairly hence why the manager has gone for a blanket ban.

They’re a weak Manager to let it get to this. Any abuse needs to be stamped on at the first sign, or to quote an ex-FD of mine faced with a similar issue:

“Its FIFO time”
“That’s fit in or **** off”

But, if they change the rules you’ve only really two choices, suck it up or go.

I don’t agree. Every time we hear that an employee is or has gone for interviews elsewhere the company bends over backwards to keep them eg changing roles, adjusting hours, allowing WFH etc. Once staff are up to speed and fully productive, there is a huge cost associated with replacing them, so no sensible company would willingly lose someone.

imo this

I can see his annoyance; a few members of the team simply don’t rock up at times, then send an email at 9ish saying they will be at home.

is evidently where his problem lies – were I in his position, I’d be hacked off, too – got to be honest <cynical mode> it does rather suggest a ‘CBA getting up today’ approach as opposed to a ‘boss, got a big project, need to get a clear run at it, can I WFH on ‘x”
Sounds like he’s also new to the role / your team = he’ll be wanting to be seen to be doing his thing..

It might be a good start to see what the rules are in the other teams and go from there?
Also, (if it works with how the business works) maybe offer to let him know your WFH days two weeks or more in advance – he’s got notice of who’s going to be where, you can plan you diary / childcare etc?

childcare is not, nor will ever be an issue. MiniPook is cared for by my wife and does not affect my ability to WFH. Nor is he a distraction. We’re both being very disciplined with that. I haven’t see him this morning since I left for work i.e. came downstairs 3 hours ago.

manager is not new, but he did have the now retired team leader in Derby. He’s based in the south west.

I don’t agree. Every time we hear that an employee is or has gone for interviews elsewhere the company bends over backwards to keep them eg changing roles, adjusting hours, allowing WFH etc. Once staff are up to speed and fully productive, there is a huge cost associated with replacing them, so no sensible company would willingly lose someone.

Maybe my English wasn’t clear enough, who said anything about the company? I was talking about the OP.

He’s clearly got your number….

😀

I’ve got to agree with b r. 🙁

My experience is quite different, once an employee has been seen as interviewing or suggesting they will hand their notice in, the reaction is something akin to ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’. Kind of a bit like not paying hostage money….even if it means more pain and cost in the short term. I’ve only worked in corporate/public sector so maybe smaller companies are more willing to be flexible.

And for the weak management I agree 100%. Sometimes you inherit these situations though and if the abuse has been going on some time it is very difficult to untangle, especially when wfh is seen as a right rather than a benefit.

there was no abuse before.