Working From Home

it does seem rather rash to move to another country

I totally agree, but I think Cossy and Doodledog have summed up how I feel about it, and have given good advice.
It isn’t unreasonable for an employer to expect an employee to go into work at least once a week.
Try to ‘fight’ it as Cossy suggests, but be prepared to lose because actually it’s unreasonable to expect to never go into the workplace.

Farmor15

Summerfly
Carmen hasn’t responded to any of the questions that have been asked. Bit odd to ask for opinions and not come back.
She only posted 4 hours ago! People often wait a lot longer before coming back.

Just saying!

True.

But can be time differences.

The people I know who wanted to or do "wfh" in other countries, the time difference is substantial.

Haven’t really understood this.

Is the OP’s job in Wales, for example, and she lives over the border in England?

Or is she ‘abroad’?

We dont know yet.

fwiw to people who are saying things, the op posts quite a bit on GN. So I am assuming she will come back.

I agree with Doodledog as well, it is not unreasonable of an employer to expect you to be in the office one day a week Carmen54. Maybe you could talk to the relevant people in your department to see if you can get some help with managing this. I hope you are getting some support with your mental health issues as well.

When I worked, I often commuted to France and it was common for people to be employed either in France or England and commute via the tunnel. Many worked in London, commuting from France. For example I visited the channel tunnel HQ at Coquelle whose head of accounts was English although the CEO was French, and Societe General in London, whose employees were a complete mixture of French and English. So I would guess covid saw many of them working at home.

Commuting between counties is so common so I very much doubt it is that.

The OP mentioned that she worked for a LA - and I suspect that they are trying to bring people back into the office. I think that she needs to see her line manager and get talking. I hope she has a sympathetic line manager! If she is in France then I guess that the LA is KCC in Maidstone. Doable as a commute I would have thought if she gets her ducks in order.

Are you living in Spain and working for a UK authority Carmen ?
I think it’s not unreasonable at all to expect you to be local for some periods of time but it really depends on your original job description or if it was just being done as a favour to you because of your mental health or whether you were originally hired with the understanding that it’s a job that can be done anywhere in the world
So clarity is needed before judgement or help given

If the work isn't involving others - and let's face it, the OP has obviously been doing it for some time, I honestly don't think it matters where she lives.

If her work is of acceptable quality, surely a decent employer would consider letting her stay where she is where her stress is managed well - as that would seem to me to be a "reasonable adjustment".

It is a shame, however I dont think a tribunal would think asking you to attend the office once a week is unreasonable. Why would going to the office once a week entail you moving out, how far away are you living now and do they know where you live. You are obviously a competent administrator and getting another job these days should not be too difficult, that does sound the best long term plan, jobs are not for life these days.

So many questions, but no answers.

No, they aren't David - but good and dedicated staff are hard to find.
A sympathetic and supportive employer will always be valued by an employee and that employee will be loyal.

Many people now have working from home expectations. If you aren't actually adding anything by going in - why waste a successful employee.

As an aside, my son and my son-in-law are both working from home mainly. My son goes in once a week as he thinks it's helpful but says he won't go in more unless to meet with his own clients and has made that clear at work. They value him and want him to stay.

My son-in-law was going in only for irregular meetings until recently. New bosses (American) wanted him in one day a week which he reluctantly agreed to. It is specialised work and he is now looking for another job - as they want to up this to full time...

He says he gets more done at home and can use a video service (can't remember which) to discuss things with his team.

He is insistent that this is an idea that stems from ignorance and bias and will ultimately lead to poorer outcomes. It has caused a lot of resentment and has destroyed good will.

I think the idea that all jobs need you to be in one place is ridiculous.

It’s very difficult to respond when the OP doesn’t return to address queries raised.

Unfortunately many of us have experienced problems with LA and civil service staff wfh who don’t have everything to hand as they would in the office, so can’t deliver the service they are paid to deliver. I can’t imagine that never going into the office can be satisfactory. Many people now have a successful mix of some days wfh and some in the office. In my experience it’s vital to keep in touch with colleagues and developments and that can’t be done satisfactorily by never attending the office.

GSM you are right about most jobs - definitely. I do think it very much depends on what you are doing.

I agree GSM.
Not an LA, but we were dealing with a company whilst selling my mother’s sheltered apartment after her death. One query we made elicited the response I could tell you that if I was working in the office, but I’m working from home today and so I can’t tell you that. I’ll be in the office on Tuesday though.
It was Friday!

That’s awful. If an organisation which delivers a service to the public allows employees to wfh it’s vital that they invest in an IT system which will enable the service to be delivered remotely. If all correspondence and documents are routinely scanned and filed digitally then an employee wfh should have access to all they need. I was doing that with no problems over a decade ago.

It's usually LA roles and similar that have that sort of set up. I very rarely go into work (I don't have my own office any more) as I can access everything from home, or wherever I happen to be, and I speak to students on Zoom.

I would go in if necessary, but haven't done so more than a few times since lockdown. I have colleagues doing a similar thing to me who live miles away - it's just not necessary to be present in the role I have now. So much depends on the nature of the role.

My issue would be (if I were managing the OP) that this is the sort of thing that people get upset about if rules are not applied to everyone. If the OP is allowed to WFH every day it would be very difficult to insist that other people had to come in, and if there are operational reasons why this is a good idea it really has to be all or nothing.

Calendargirl

Haven’t really understood this.

Is the OP’s job in Wales, for example, and she lives over the border in England?

Or is she ‘abroad’?

That's a hop, skip and a jump.
It could take all of two minutes in which case, no problem.

People can get more done WFH, I know, but surely anyone would want to 'touch base' once a week?

Germanshepherdsmum

Unfortunately many of us have experienced problems with LA and civil service staff wfh who don’t have everything to hand as they would in the office, so can’t deliver the service they are paid to deliver. I can’t imagine that never going into the office can be satisfactory. Many people now have a successful mix of some days wfh and some in the office. In my experience it’s vital to keep in touch with colleagues and developments and that can’t be done satisfactorily by never attending the office.

Yes, I had a pension query. The civil servant I spoke to tried to be helpful, knew the forms I wanted but couldn't access them until he next went into the office.
Three weeks later I received a letter (from another person) clarifying my query.

I don’t think the poster is anywhere near her workplace possibly in another European country but unless she/he come back we ll never know and be guessing amongst ourselves

It will mean leaving where I am --were I am surrounded by loving family--which is why I came here ----and going back to live alone and depressed again--as I was prior to being able to work from home

Unless you're thousands of miles away, surely one day a week won't mean you have to live near the office permanently?

Germanshepherdsmum

Unfortunately many of us have experienced problems with LA and civil service staff wfh who don’t have everything to hand as they would in the office, so can’t deliver the service they are paid to deliver. I can’t imagine that never going into the office can be satisfactory. Many people now have a successful mix of some days wfh and some in the office. In my experience it’s vital to keep in touch with colleagues and developments and that can’t be done satisfactorily by never attending the office.

How true. My close friend/ next door neighbour wfh in the first lockdown. She works in what they refer to as the Coal Face end of housing: housing very vulnerable people.
So much of the information they need is shared by other housing officers, it’s not all online/ held in a file. It’s information that all these people have accumulated over the years re these vulnerable people.
As my friend said: a lot of problems were sorted out at the coffee machine.

Doodledog

It's usually LA roles and similar that have that sort of set up. I very rarely go into work (I don't have my own office any more) as I can access everything from home, or wherever I happen to be, and I speak to students on Zoom.

I would go in if necessary, but haven't done so more than a few times since lockdown. I have colleagues doing a similar thing to me who live miles away - it's just not necessary to be present in the role I have now. So much depends on the nature of the role.

My issue would be (if I were managing the OP) that this is the sort of thing that people get upset about if rules are not applied to everyone. If the OP is allowed to WFH every day it would be very difficult to insist that other people had to come in, and if there are operational reasons why this is a good idea it really has to be all or nothing.

I agree. I worked from home for 18 months in my last role at DWP, but as I worked for a national team, there was no one else based in my local area who worked in my team nor department, yet at the insistence of senior leaders we were all ordered into the office, a local DWP office closest to our homes, for two days (of our choice) per week. I booked a desk in a local office and three times I duly went in, booked parking, took my headset, laptop and a load of other stuff, only to find I was the only person in that office, so from that point onwards I returned home and worked 100% from home.

We had a daily Team meeting via Microsoft Teams for 15 mins, a weekly two hour long team meeting and a once a month whole dept meeting and we all worked very well, very hard and met all our objectives. I did much longer hours and was more productive.

Cossy really knows...that is the experience of many..its not worth going in, most systems like hers are set up for remote working and it works well. Anyone who has been remote working since the pandemic knows.