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Hi all,
Normally more of an observer than poster, an interesting situation has arisen this week at work and I wondered if I might get your opinions on it.
Like a great many of us, when the pandemic struck everyone at the company I work for decamped to home. I'm a software developer, so really, provided I have decent internet access, I can work from almost anywhere. We were working exclusively from home until September last year (2022) when it was suggested we return to office working a couple of days a week. This was accepted, because in reality there are certain functions that are just easier accomplished when you're able to see and talk to someone.
When we returned to office working a few days a week, we also moved office, from a nice large airy space into a small, cramped, windowless room, because there was no sense in the business paying out lots of money for an office only rarely used. We were given the option of where to move and it was mutually agreed that we'd be prepared to move here provided it was a few days a week. I'm sure you can see where this is going...
Fast forward to last week and the boss has decreed that we're to return to full time office working, but we're staying in the tiny windowless box room.
I guess my question boils down to this: having never been issued with an updated contract specifying a revised normal place of work, yet having worked mostly at home for several years now, is there a point at which working from home becomes an implied term of contract?
At the end of the day I'm not someone who's going to rock the boat, I'm lucky to have a job, I just wondered where things like this stood. It must be something that's affecting quite a lot of people.
Normally more of an observer than poster, an interesting situation has arisen this week at work and I wondered if I might get your opinions on it.
Like a great many of us, when the pandemic struck everyone at the company I work for decamped to home. I'm a software developer, so really, provided I have decent internet access, I can work from almost anywhere. We were working exclusively from home until September last year (2022) when it was suggested we return to office working a couple of days a week. This was accepted, because in reality there are certain functions that are just easier accomplished when you're able to see and talk to someone.
When we returned to office working a few days a week, we also moved office, from a nice large airy space into a small, cramped, windowless room, because there was no sense in the business paying out lots of money for an office only rarely used. We were given the option of where to move and it was mutually agreed that we'd be prepared to move here provided it was a few days a week. I'm sure you can see where this is going...
Fast forward to last week and the boss has decreed that we're to return to full time office working, but we're staying in the tiny windowless box room.
I guess my question boils down to this: having never been issued with an updated contract specifying a revised normal place of work, yet having worked mostly at home for several years now, is there a point at which working from home becomes an implied term of contract?
At the end of the day I'm not someone who's going to rock the boat, I'm lucky to have a job, I just wondered where things like this stood. It must be something that's affecting quite a lot of people.
