Can I be told to come in early?

SummerSunshine2

I don’t work in a culture where people work beyond their 7:15 a day. People set down their tools so they leave right on the dot.

And no I’m not being bullied into coming into work outside my agreeded times.

Zero customers will be able to call us for 2 hours, I don’t have any work to do and I don’t need to come in early just so it suits my boss.

SummerSunshine2

I can’t pick and choose what time I go to work for all of the other work days, so why do I care about Xmas eve. Lol. No.

Barny1979

SummerSunshine2 wrote: »

I can’t pick and choose what time I go to work for all of the other work days, so why do I care about Xmas eve. Lol. No.

If I was you, I'd be settling down to bed, ready for that early start tomorrow..........

jobbingmusician

And so you asked for advice on this forum why?

Barny1979

Barny1979 wrote: »

Jobsworth, out of interest how old are you and how long have you worked there?

OP - care to answer my two questions? Also are you part of a Union?

Nicki

It comes across loud and clear that you are unhappy at work OP. If you enjoyed the job and liked your colleagues, this would be a non issue.

Assuming you work full time you spend 37.5 hours a week at work and life is really too short to be so unhappy that it makes you this bitter and aggressive towards others. If you can’t get comfortable enough where you are to be able to accommodate requests like this without blinking an eye, for your own mental health and happiness you really should find a new job. You can’t spend your whole working life and career feeling and behaving like this!

Les79

Elinore wrote: »

We have just had a team reshuffle and there is a 'timeserved gent' he does the absolute bare minimum under the guise of having put in the hours over the years.




He has a aggressively negative attitude and an active detractor

Not keen when people use powerful language like you have here. It injects a bit of your own opinion into what COULD otherwise be a factual comment.


No harm in simply saying "he has a negative attitude and doesn't get involved with others".

- a very recent example - we had a fantastically successful take your pet to work day during system overhaul day - so no work hours lost because all systems were down. He complained that he was petrified of dogs refused to 'work from home' or on another site they even booked out a meeting room so he could have a enclosed space for the day - but he refused because 'why should he' and then had a meltdown on the day stating that he was placed in an unsafe work environment and he was taking the matter further.

I would be curious to know whether:


- Appropriate risk assessments were carried out (people can have allergies towards pets and some people may well be sufficiently distressed)


- His alternative arrangements were proposed in good time or at the last minute (ie were issues anticipated or was it reactionary). Also whether there could be a possible breach of contract (either by way of denying him AL in a contract, which may differ from yours, specifying so OR by making a significant change to his working hours/location with insufficient notice). Probably not a breach to be fair, but would love to know if anyone checked or not...


- An anonymous survey was carried out prior to the event, so as to gauge the general consensus (you'll occasionally find quieter employees mirror this gent's views but don't want to "paint a target on their back" so to speak).


- There is an element of bullying here in that you use some very powerful language, have pigeonholed him and his options were pretty much either *go to another site* or *work on your own somewhere* - Not very inclusive to be fair.


- Anyone cares about the meltdown and the wellbeing of this bloke?


I admire your employer acknowledging "work life balance" as a reason for giving out the bonus. However, in the bit when you said that the other lads don't work over their contracted hours it does seem a bit incongruent.


Anyway, your work and not really any of my business. But what I do know is that, for some people, their LIFE is more important than their WORK and having an element of respect towards that fact really does wonders in engaging with said employee. Also, people come in different "flavours", and it is almost inevitable that you'd run into at least 1x employee who takes exception to a pet day (And, by extension, people with various attitudes and years of service); the sign of a GOOD manager is one who anticipates that possibility IN ADVANCE and makes it inclusive for all, as well as re-engaging potentially disillusioned employees (or, in cases where they are too far gone, using the disciplinary process to whatever extent is needed to correct the undesired behaviours). Oh and limiting the powerful language and divisive viewpoint.

miriamac

Les79 wrote: »

Not keen when people use powerful language like you have here. It injects a bit of your own opinion into what COULD otherwise be a factual comment.

No harm in simply saying "he has a negative attitude and doesn't get involved with others".

I would be curious to know whether:

- Appropriate risk assessments were carried out (people can have allergies towards pets and some people may well be sufficiently distressed)

- His alternative arrangements were proposed in good time or at the last minute (ie were issues anticipated or was it reactionary). Also whether there could be a possible breach of contract (either by way of denying him AL in a contract, which may differ from yours, specifying so OR by making a significant change to his working hours/location with insufficient notice). Probably not a breach to be fair, but would love to know if anyone checked or not...

- An anonymous survey was carried out prior to the event, so as to gauge the general consensus (you'll occasionally find quieter employees mirror this gent's views but don't want to "paint a target on their back" so to speak).

- There is an element of bullying here in that you use some very powerful language, have pigeonholed him and his options were pretty much either *go to another site* or *work on your own somewhere* - Not very inclusive to be fair.

- Anyone cares about the meltdown and the wellbeing of this bloke?

I admire your employer acknowledging "work life balance" as a reason for giving out the bonus. However, in the bit when you said that the other lads don't work over their contracted hours it does seem a bit incongruent.

Anyway, your work and not really any of my business. But what I do know is that, for some people, their LIFE is more important than their WORK and having an element of respect towards that fact really does wonders in engaging with said employee. Also, people come in different "flavours", and it is almost inevitable that you'd run into at least 1x employee who takes exception to a pet day (And, by extension, people with various attitudes and years of service); the sign of a GOOD manager is one who anticipates that possibility IN ADVANCE and makes it inclusive for all, as well as re-engaging potentially disillusioned employees (or, in cases where they are too far gone, using the disciplinary process to whatever extent is needed to correct the undesired behaviours). Oh and limiting the powerful language and divisive viewpoint.

I have to agree - between phobias and allergies, a 'bring your pet to work day' would be my idea of hell! Being told that this would then exclude me from the social aspect of the day wouldn't send a very positive message either.

SummerSunshine2

@nicki yes you are 90% correct but a change in work hours so I have to be at work earlier will always pose an issue. I prefer routines and I do have trouble sleeping and becoming overly tired etc.

Had I been able to pre-empt that I would have been asked to come in earlier i felt I could have prepared an argument. He literally said “oh by the way you need to come in as early as possible on Monday” on Friday afternoon.

Barny1979

SummerSunshine2 wrote: »

@nicki yes you are 90% correct but a change in work hours so I have to be at work earlier will always pose an issue. I prefer routines and I do have trouble sleeping and becoming overly tired etc.

Had I been able to pre-empt that I would have been asked to come in earlier i felt I could have prepared an argument. He literally said “oh by the way you need to come in as early as possible on Monday” on Friday afternoon.

You really strike me as one of the Snowflake Generation. A manager asks you before the weekend and in the day and age of the internet, you cannot look or prepare for alternative arrangements, if you had children, I could understand, but I assume you are single and have no commitments.