Not getting same opportunity at work....

[SirDuff]

Same at my workplace - different managers (well, directors) interpret the rules and/or apply the rules about remote working differently.

 

[Jsoenning]

Concur with HR isn’t on your side post so not sure I would approach them.

There are governmental ways you could pursue as companies shouldn’t be allowed to treat employees doing similar work differently. However my guess is the company would then say as a response to any external government finding 100% in office for everyone.

 

[tony67]

It's just an old way of thinking. The world has changed.

I 100% agree with that.

Remote work is the future no doubt, but the other side of that coin is if the job can be done remotely than can it be done from country X where the pay is 20% of what it is here? Yes without a doubt. There are issues with that, I've seen it first hand, but even if you have to hire two people to get the job done its still far less than what you might pay someone here.
But the numbers etc... not so much. Number can be manipulated to show what people want to show. Statistics.
My experience is nothing like that - it may depend on the industry.

Personally, although I am not really trying hard to find a job, the people that are trying are not getting much at all.
The job market is very odd right now.

The unemployment numbers are also a bit sketchy as well - they always have been - so that is nothing new.

 

[Christine]

I understand it seems unfair that others can stay remote and you can't, but unfortunately it seems to be up to your manager. This seems very common to me in most work places.

I work part time for a large company with many different departments. Each department head decides for their team how often the need to come in. Some teams are totally remote, others have to come in 1-2 days per week and some teams go in 5 days a week. Does not matter what another team is doing, you do what your boss says.

If I were in your position, I would start going in one day a week. You can always ask to go back to being remote when they see there is no pressing need for you to physically be in the office. I would not take it up with HR just yet, not worth it for one day. I would give it time and ask again in a few months.

I think this is a good idea @Snowflakey. I would start going in to the office and use that time to get into a good person-to-person vibe with your manager. At some point during some banter, ask the manager why there are differences and why some people didn't have to fill out an exception form but you did. Maybe after you win some points with your manager, you can have a good, honest discussion about it. But only you know your manager and if that's even possible.

 

[leebee]

You are right, it doesn't sound fair, but it also doesn't sound like you have any options about this. Would you go to HR over it? What would be the repercussions? Is it worth the aggravation? How will your manager/company look at you if you pursue this? Is this a hill you want to die on? That would be my thought process.
(As an aside... I would have gone back in a day or two a week without question. I've been back at work full-time since Jan. 2021, though. It seems weird to me that people still get to work from home as part of the pandemic aftermath.)

 

[tony67]

Same at my workplace - different managers (well, directors) interpret the rules and/or apply the rules about remote working differently.

Yeah this is pretty normal actually.

The view is that the manager knows what the team needs...even when they don't.

One example is companies with unlimited PTO - it is up to the manager.
Unlimited PTO sounds great in theory - but in practice it can be a total scam and we found that people took less time off overall. So much so that I had to tell people to take a day off or we declared company holidays on random Fridays.
The only reason companies do this is so they don't have to keep PTO on the books.

If you have a good manager its not an issue - but a bad manager it can be a nightmare.
It is always up to the needs of the team and the direct manager.
I only had one rule and that only one person on the team could be off at a time, even then I almost always violated that rule and let people take time off.
There were other managers who tracked it and rejected requests almost by default because we had a deadline. Well there is always a deadline.

 

[Snowflakey]

I understand it seems unfair that others can stay remote and you can't, but unfortunately it seems to be up to your manager. This seems very common to me in most work places.

I work part time for a large company with many different departments. Each department head decides for their team how often the need to come in. Some teams are totally remote, others have to come in 1-2 days per week and some teams go in 5 days a week. Does not matter what another team is doing, you do what your boss says.

If I were in your position, I would start going in one day a week. You can always ask to go back to being remote when they see there is no pressing need for you to physically be in the office. I would not take it up with HR just yet, not worth it for one day. I would give it time and ask again in a few months.

Thanks for your reply!

I am going in one day and never thought to take this up with HR. Love the idea of asking again in the future to be remote. As I stated, my job is totally independent. No one ever knows I'm even there! Ha ha

 

[Snowflakey]

I think this is a good idea @Snowflakey. I would start going in to the office and use that time to get into a good person-to-person vibe with your manager. At some point during some banter, ask the manager why there are differences and why some people didn't have to fill out an exception form but you did. Maybe after you win some points with your manager, you can have a good, honest discussion about it. But only you know your manager and if that's even possible.

My manager doesn't go in.......

 

[Christine]

My manager doesn't go in.......

Well, that's just downright bizarre.

 

[Snowflakey]

Well, that's just downright bizarre.

Exactly my point in creating this post!!

 

[tony67]

My manager doesn't go in.......

If the manager does not go in then this is completely ridiculous IMO

I would never ask my team to do something I would not do myself, but I am ex military so that is ingrained in me as a leader.

 

[jo-jo]

I’ve never been in anything close to your situation, so this is just gut feelings.

Is there reason you need to be home? Perhaps the managers see the one with kids need to be home and you can be more flexible. I could see that as not fair, they could see that as meeting the needs of employees.

I’d be unhappy to if I was in your situation. I’d be thrilled to save the time and money from going into office, but some things you have to decide which is more important.

 

[ronandannette]

Different managers, different management styles.

Doesn't feel fair, but watcha gonna do?

I'm also one who can not work remotely.

But dh has had a manager like this and dh just rolled with it. He's not looking to impress anyone or rock the boat. He just wants to keep his job until he can retire in 10 years.

Well, in a relatively open environment, you could simply ask for clarity. “I’m aware so-and-so has gotten an exemption that I’ve been denied and I’d like to know if there are any factors that could have changed my outcome.”

At our workplace, protocol would be for an individual to talk it over with their direct supervisor and any question is fair ball. This does take a little courage, I guess, to be honest yet respectful in your enquire, but it’s better than just stewing.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I 100% agree with that.

Remote work is the future no doubt, but the other side of that coin is if the job can be done remotely than can it be done from country X where the pay is 20% of what it is here? Yes without a doubt. There are issues with that, I've seen it first hand, but even if you have to hire two people to get the job done its still far less than what you might pay someone here.
But the numbers etc... not so much. Number can be manipulated to show what people want to show. Statistics.
My experience is nothing like that - it may depend on the industry.

Personally, although I am not really trying hard to find a job, the people that are trying are not getting much at all.
The job market is very odd right now.

The unemployment numbers are also a bit sketchy as well - they always have been - so that is nothing new.

The outsourcing you're referring to is really nothing new. We've experienced that first hand as well when my husband's previous company began to hire lots of new engineers working in India. It had nothing to do with remote workers here vs. there....they were just replacing engineers who worked in an office here....with those that worked in an office there.
I believe AI is going to have more of an effect on jobs being lost in the next decade...without question.

My husband has been a remote worker since 2005...began with a start-up that he sold with his two partners, and then he worked remotely for that company. That company was purchased by another company, and then another. The last company was the one that started down the "outsourcing" road, and he left when his previous boss went to another company and recruited him. But he's been a remote worker now for 2/3 of his career and is incredibly productive.

As for what one believes with respect to statistics....just google "productivity US economy" and you'll find a plethora of articles about it. Some of it has to do with the burgeoning AI boom, some with remote work...etc. But it's happening, and it's one of the reasons that the United States has fared far better than the rest of the western economies coming out of the pandemic.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Life isn’t fair. And/or they’re better at office politics than you are.

However, you might be being saved from yourself here. I wouldn’t want to be among the last people in an office to be working remote- they make the easiest targets for layoffs.

 

[SteveH]

For me I hated working remote as did all of the people in our office, we were more then happy to go back.

My oldest kiddo worked 100% remote during Covid - they worked for a national laboratory, then about a year ago they began changing to 1 day a week in office, and then this fall it was everyone had to come in a minimum of 3 days and the two days from home could not be Monday or Friday. What irritated my kiddo was if you worked 50 miles from the office, no requirement to come in - so basically if you were local you got the shaft. So they did the right thing for them; they left. Got a 40% pay raise in the process and 100% work from home too.

 

[_19disnA]

It is hard for us to draw a conclusion since we only have your explanation of what all is going on. We don't have an opportunity to hear from management to understand their thought process. Since you still work from home and are not actually speaking to other co-workers in the office, you might be getting a lot of second-hand information more along the line of the office 'grapevine'. If the 'core' workers are being encouraged to come to work, perhaps your role is now considered part of that.

Covid tended to increase the number working from home and companies had to make do to keep the business running. But depending on the type of job you do, now that covid is largely behind us, many jobs still require various people to interact with co-workers. The exact nature of your job as well as how the company chooses to operate makes a difference. Emailing or talking on the phone is suitable for some types of jobs, but I don't see it ever totally replacing live interaction in an office setting for many types of jobs.

How you measure 'productivity' is very subjective, so I would want to see more details about how any study tried to quantify the results of working from home vs. in an office setting.

 

[dioxide45]

Since I work in a secure facility and at no time was able to work from home for other one day every two weeks, I have no sympathy for folks that complain about having to come into the office 2 or 3 days a week. This is the way it was before COVID and things should return to that way.

You sound like Elon Musk and his opinion that work from home is morally wrong. His reasoning for people having to return to the office was because food, factory and construction workers couldn't work from home, so why should everyone else.

 

[tony67]

The outsourcing you're referring to is really nothing new. We've experienced that first hand as well when my husband's previous company began to hire lots of new engineers working in India. It had nothing to do with remote workers here vs. there....they were just replacing engineers who worked in an office here....with those that worked in an office there.
I believe AI is going to have more of an effect on jobs being lost in the next decade...without question.

My husband has been a remote worker since 2005...began with a start-up that he sold with his two partners, and then he worked remotely for that company. That company was purchased by another company, and then another. The last company was the one that started down the "outsourcing" road, and he left when his previous boss went to another company and recruited him. But he's been a remote worker now for 2/3 of his career and is incredibly productive.

As for what one believes with respect to statistics....just google "productivity US economy" and you'll find a plethora of articles about it. Some of it has to do with the burgeoning AI boom, some with remote work...etc. But it's happening, and it's one of the reasons that the United States has fared far better than the rest of the western economies coming out of the pandemic.

I've worked remote or hybrid since 97 - and I've seen all the outsourcing over the years that you talk about.
I've been employee 1 at several startups and I've seen a lot - this feels very different.

AI will be a factor no doubt - totally agree there.

As for what the articles and numbers say I take it with a grain of salt.
One set of numbers is touted and another comes and and shows that they are not what they say they are.
Again numbers can be played with - oh and they are often revised down months later on page 72.

In the end I will go be what I am seeing and actually experiencing over what I read in an article with an agenda.

 

[robinb]

You’re right, it’s not fair. I’m not sure if rocking the boat and pointing out the inequalities is in your best interest. Your manager may make your life even harder or upper management may insist that the others also come in and you will be the cause.