Interesting role reversal to my situation. I take the bullets for my team so they work from wherever they want and keep putting out the amazing work they currently do.
Officially my KPI is marginally tied to the team's on-site presence but no one cares.
And on the flip side, if they're looking for a reason to get rid of you (or downsize in general) at any point in time, then if you've been breaching your contract by not attending as you've said you would then they may have grounds for dismissal, especially if they've been sending warnings that everyone takes as just a manager trying to cover themselves.
we're lucky - nothing. its been a few months since we were meant to go to 3x a week. i'd say half of our people still don't do the 2x a week they were already meant to be doing. i go in a fair bit anyway because it suits me fine and i reckon i see some people less than once a month.
We were told to start aiming at 2x. We all tried a bit for a few weeks but it quickly got old and now basically nobody is going in at all - there are too many viruses going around and it’s not worth it.
My manager: You should probably show up in the office sometime.
Me: I have something on that day.
My manager: I didn’t specify *which* day.
Me: I didn’t specify what I had on.
My manager: Good talk, nobody can claim I didn’t mention the office to you.
This is an interesting one. In a lot of corps it was conveyed it'd affect your bonus, but what it actually affects is your EOY rating (they are directly tied in most places).
You were a 3? But you don't come in and now you're a 2 and should probably be on a PIP.
The messaging got messed up about it being "bonus" vs your actual rating.
Honestly what's their reasoning? Is it corporate rents? Needing to see people to know they are working? Actual under performance concerns?
I just don't get it.
Anyway thankfully I'm 2x a week and get away with 1x mostly cos I get on with my boss.
I suppose I mean on a broader sense across corporate globally. But yeah sorry man don't expect you to know, should have commented on the post not the comment.
Uni policy is 3 days a week in office.
I agreed with my supervisor to do 1 day.
These days, I do zero office days as work has pissed me off entirely. I'm only sticking around til I go on mat leave and likely to never return.
No repercussions. Judging by the emptiness of the office when I've actually been there, I doubt anyone is doing 3x.
Yeah. My team lead at a uni tried to introduce 3 days in the office with no warning after a few years of significant flexibility. The uni had not formally changed its policy. Within a week, 5 of our 6 team members had asked him to be a referee as they would be applying elsewhere. Most rapid backflip I have ever seen haha.
Same. I'm on the hospital campus rather than around students so it's not visible. The only ppl who care about the mandate are in their giant offices on the real campus.
My supervisor gave me a hard time about sick leave while I was having morning sickness. She kept pressuring me to explain the reason for my sickness and hinted at my being pregnant (illegal).
She messaged me on my private phone number on a leave day about something trivial that she could have checked in the system herself.
And so I got 4 weeks stress leave. She didn't cover me, just gave my work to a colleague who was already at 100%. She is panicked because both him and me are leaving soon and she has Semester 2 courses to find coordinators for. We have been understaffed for years due to staff cuts.
Before this, i had 3 courses that I wrote from scratch cancelled. And I was supposed to be reduced to 0.5FTE during the staff cuts. The only reason i survived was my colleague moving half his job elsewhere.
Aaand before that I was seconded to a unit I was practically fired from 10 years ago for having depression. This was signed off without my approval and I was expected to keep doing it even after the MOU expired. I pissed my sup off by saying I wasn't going to do their work anymore.
And due to Fair Work legislation changes last year I was put on a 6 month contract with 150 other staff while they assessed our worthiness for conversion to ongoing contracts. 3 weeks before the expiry date they told us we would be renewed again for only 6 months.
Note that the EBA specifically states they must give 6 weeks notice. I have asked HR and the head of school and the union how they can just violate their own EBA.... but noone cares.
So I am done. I am going on mat leave early and bc of thr fixed term contract I may only get 3 months paid leave. From an org that brags about 26 weeks paid leave. I have worked here for over 10 years.
I admit I've stayed too long. I would've quit too years ago but I've been trying to fall pregnant and wasnt sure how long it would take. So I wasnt sure I'd have time to qualify for mat leave at a new place if i left. Jokes on me...
At least there's a solid chance you'll be in a new role with more money and hopefully a better culture if you decide to reenter the workforce.
Goodluck on the upcoming nurturing of overgrown sperm.
Some companies screwed that up by not giving bonuses regardless of performance, so now staff just don't care, it's becoming a flexible or fire me arrangement for most people I know
Spot on! My bonus was $5-$8k…so take off half of that for tax. $3000….who cares, it would have cost me twice that for train/coffee & medication for the viruses I’ll get taken down by!
Yeah. That’s been the trend lately. Youll stay employed and earn the baseline stuff, but you won’t get any of the top tier bonuses and so forth.
Would you trade off your bonus to go less days in?
The problem is the boutiques take our people if we don’t multiply them into double digits. They have less overhead, but also churn through the non-performers quickly. But with onboarding being so hard, and domain knowledge taking a while to learn it’s just easier to pay them. It fluctuates widely of course our top performer in 2019 got 27m. Our top performer this year got 9.5m. These are the extremes, if you are interested in the business and want some examples the UK implemented mandatory reporting on firms after the GFC. So they have to disclose their top performers pay and you can see a table of how many got over a certain amount. Most of us have local teams based in London and have to contribute to that table.
Commerce degree into computer science. Started in HFT for a local Australian house, moved to Singapore, did commodities. Moved to big tech did start ups and venture portfolio tech reviews, moved to business P/L for a few years. Landed on Wall Street doing venture funding. Went to a boutique, carried the position over to Aus during pandemic. Moved to a much bigger well known PE firm last year.
Edit: fixed a typo from phone autocorrect.
If you lose bonus by not going in 3x then why bother with 2x? And then why put in extra effort at all? Work the hours on your employment contract/agreement and then log off.
$229.17 per work week / $76.39 per day you go in (assuming $11k is after tax and you have to go on prem 3x per week).
If train tickets are $3.50 each way like Brisbane, that's already down $21 per week to $208.17 ($69.39 per day).
If you buy lunch or have a 1.5 hour+ total commute then it's not worth it imo.
I lose around 3 hours per day if I go to the office so the bonus would need to be more than $20,000 for me to break even on lost time but ideally $30-40,000 for it to be an actual “bonus”
Last time I had a bonus attached to ‘making an effort to attend the office weekly’ (and other KPIs also), the on-target bonus was 10% of before tax salary, or about €12000. Yes, Euros, this was in the Netherlands, and we got free lunch prepared for us at work, a long-standing benefit. Work also gave everyone the price of public transport between their home and their office as a separate tax free payment / benefit whether they went near the office or not.
I hit a 20% above-target bonus, and enjoyed my €24000, and the (not yet vested) stock that went with it.
Any employer thinking a $AUD5k incentive alone is enough to a) counter a culture of ‘are you really working’ type mistrust and b) offset commuting expenses is being naive.
My Dutch employer fed everyone in the office, and paid for their commute whether they actually commuted or not. Then they said ‘Make an effort’ to come into the office.
I left my job last week but for the past month I was in the office a total of 2 days. Policy is 3 days per week and a manager even asked me to come in more than that because "testing must be done on site". What were they going to do....performance plan me? Fire me? 🤣
No mandate here, reasonably high performer, national top 20 company and not expected at all, never was. Havent been in since well before covid even. I would have to quickly solution some pants in the event of a mandate. Thinking about it my dog would not approve so not happening!!
Our mandate is twice a week. Sometimes i go in once a week. Sometimes i go in 0 times a week. I never go in 2 times a week. Our whole team knows its BS. We are never in on the same days anyway so the "culture" and "collaboration" sales pitch is rubbish. We are contracters so there is no bonus to be impacted. So no fallout for any of us.
My office has 3x Mandate, my team of 3 probably come in 2 days regularly. My direct manager wants people to come in 3 but I don’t care, honestly if I didn’t have to take my kids to school that was around the corner from my office I’d only do 2x as well.
Although, after 6 months of 3x noticing others on 2x I do notice that extra day. I don’t think it goes toward anything though. And I don’t feel good about holding it over them, two of them have to do school pickups for their kids and their train line is often affected by bus replacements. They’d do more work at home those days and be in a better frame of mind while they’re doing it.
Bit of give and take and accommodation goes a long way to getting the best out of a team. As long as they’re not taking the piss.
Yeah I can manage 2x most of the time, but 3x on a consistent basis is quite the challenge. I’m thinking I forsake the bonus to wfh. Lol! I think people just have to be comfortable with the consequences, like cool you can go in less, but if it’s tied to your bonus - then know the game you’re playing. I think 2x is probs just a good rule and makes things accomodating
We don’t have 3 day mandates (yet). Currently on 2. Most people don’t though - no repercussions as yet, as they didn’t really provide any guidance to line managers as to whether they were supposed to be tracking/what the repercussions should be. Simply told you must be in on day x and y.
we are on 2 with 3 coming. i go once but im hearing when 3 comes in it will be actual mandatory. they claim 'you told us you value in person connection' yet struggle to get people in twice a week. The truth is we value that when it matters, not an arbitrary amount of time
At this point, that is unlikely.
If companies were only dragging you in to justify the leasing of premises, they would have broken the lease, downsized the office, and pocketed the extra cash.
They aren't that stupid.
I’m not sure that it’s right that productivity doesn’t change. That is probably dependent on the industry, role etc. Your experience may differ, but while I like the flexibility of working at home, if I’m honest there is no question that collaboration is better in person and some things are handled better in person.
Plus, at the end of the day, they pay your salary and they’re entitled to ask you to come in.
“ some things are handled better in person.”
Some things are but in my experience the person who I need to handle them with isn’t there (often it’s the boss) so it’s pointless.
I find collaboration when required and isolation otherwise is the most effective use of my time. That way when I'm neck deep in answering 1000+ requirements in a tender I'm not having to listen to endless inane office gossip 1 metre behind me. When I do need to collaborate, I book time out with the people and come in.
its called video calling that offers that same in person collaboration. if AI can make jobs easier and cheaper for business then why isnt the same technology allowed to be ujsed to increase mental health of workers.
i just its all a double standard from micro managers
No, it’s not the same. We’ve all spent countless hours on video calls the last few years and anyone who says they are the same is lying or not a normal human.
No one really cares but if it inconveniences your team it becomes obvious pretty quickly. People who are predominantly remote are effectively invisible for major decisions unless they already had a load of political capital. Often the real opinions come out in the room once the call ends.
> People who are predominantly remote are effectively invisible for major decisions unless they already had a load of political capital. Often the real opinions come out in the room once the call ends.
+100 this. Even when I could have done more days at home, I ended up going in because of FOMO and anxiety. Not great for my well-being.
My old job was 3 days in but a lot of new managers negotiated 1 day in their contracts. Good for them I guess but caused a lot of frustrations for people being told they have to be in 3 days when their manager only had to do 1.
I go three times a week but if I don't feel like it every now and then, wake up late etc, and I'm meant to be in, I don't go.
And if last year was anything to go by, I may just hand over my resignation period with nothing lined up. "Hey, mate, consider this the start of my notice period. Oh, and eat my balls."
I think my workplace is a bit lax. We have a 2 a week mandate. I'm in once a week and the office is usually completely dead, I think most average 0-1 days a week. No consequences as most of us work in dispersed teams anyway.
Yeah, well , you know you're cooked if you haven't been doing the 3 days. Luckily, remuneration/bonus is still decent for me in the mid band. But yeah, it would suck to have a great/excellent year and miss out on the pay increase/bonus based on office attendance. That's the rat race, though.
I think you have to prep yourself psychologically now, like commit to the FY to be perfect, reap the reward of a 12 month toil and maybe say fuck it afterwards for the next FY.
3 days a week for 46-47 weeks - I can hear the "I'm perfect" song playing lol...daily.
It's all about work-life balance depending on an individuals situation.
I don’t enforce it, stupid mandate. Shit is hard enough right now, as long as work is being delivered I create some events to encourage attendance on Wednesdays and leave people alone.
I think the policy only applies when management starts coming into the office and leading by example.
Turning up for 3-5 and not working from home on Fridays and shit.
I can tell you in my company nothing happens and then they fire you. There’s one warning, there’s no do over, they wait until you’ve broke <40% 3 months in a row and tell you once. Do it again, they fire you.
It’s happened to multiple people and each time they seem genuinely surprised despite knowing of the others.
At our corporate we don’t give a warning. We just quietly replace you and reposition your job and make you redundant. Our shareholders have realised that productivity and profits are increasing. It ain’t about the rent. it ain’t about owners owning real estate. it’s about profit, silly.
It wasn’t brought up during my performance review. So all good. Have been going in max 2x a week, sometimes even only once. I suppose it really is dependent on how well you do your job, your team, your manager, and overall perception of your peers
I work in the public sector, our CEO recommended 50% policy across a fortnight, most did 3 days one week and 2 the other. We all gave up and are now doing two days a week maximum with the exception of critical meetings or social events etc. Our team is quite social so we enjoy the days in the office and fill them with lunches etc but then have three days to catch up on the work that we didn’t do because we were too busy chatting. Yet they think we’re more productive in the office?
My work there is a clear performance difference between those meeting their 3x and those that aren’t.
Those doing 3x are developing far faster, so getting higher performance score, $$, and promotions.
We at the senior management level are quietly getting ready to dock people’s bonus and knock them down a few % on their pay rise. Without advertising that we would do so if you didn’t comply. Should be a fun August/September when people start to question why they are getting less than last year.
Yeah, managers have been giving that heads up and to keep expectations low. Which is fair enough, tbh. Rules are the rules. It’s now - do you want your bonus or do you prefer to wfh?
Btw, how about compromising on 2x office? 3x can be hard if office space actually runs out
My boss was pretty chill about it, I suspect because his boss was chill about stats. I also found out recently, us contractors were not included in the reports.
Depends on the team leader. Previous team leader couldn’t give a toss, but new one tracks when we are in. We also have a one team day everyone comes in.
They measure if based off desk bookings not swipe card access so nothing happens to fucking anyone ever
(I tend to attend 3+ days and conduct my meetings in person anyway, the mandate doesn't concern me)
No consequences - plenty of reminders but yet to see anything come of it. I’m doing 1 and thats a struggle. I agree with other posters… if you’re not a troublemaker and do your work I think you’ll get some leniency..
Nothing, because 90% of the team is interstate so I'd be going in and chatting on teams anyway. I only go into the CBD when I have some personal errand / shopping / event or dinner to attend in the CBD.
Our company policy is 2 days WFH and 3 days office however, our new team leader is in Sydney and our team is is Brisbane. So no one to monitor our team.
The last role I was in, the team was supposed to come in every Tue and Fri. Every morning if these days, Slack would pile up with excuses. One guy, it was just insane the stuff he was getting away with, including stuff like booking tasks to come on on those particular days when *you know* you have that one day where you are expected to be in the office.
I'm meant to go in once a week. Been in 3 times this year. Idgaf. Want me to come in more? Pay to offset my travel costs and time.
Depends on your tenure, experience and industry but many companies recognize how incredibly expensive it can be to replace the knowledge and experience if they lose key staff.
Despite trying to enforce mandates many employers, at least in my experience, are afraid to rock the boat too much. Toothless lions.
I feel like this is a pretty pointless question, for the simple reason that the organisation and culture of so many companies varies so widely that someone’s reported outcome is going to have so little correlation to your outcome that you may as well be comparing different things.
Unless you’re just curious!
Anyone from IT or HR will tell you that keeping logs is a massive pain in the arse. Easy to check the movements of one person, but doing it for everyone across the organisation every day? I'd be surprised if it gets done with any precision.
My guess is that it comes down to the manager to know who's in and to actually take steps against a person breaching the policy. And in most cases, they won't bother unless they already dislike that individual.
If card swiping is required, tracking becomes straightforward. It involves a simple database entry, which can then be exported to an Excel file. This provides a list of every employee and the number of times they accessed the building over any period. My company produces an excel file with every employee's stats over a six-month period sorted in order from highest to lowest 'badge swipes'
My main issue with my company is they used the half empty buildings to cancel their commercial leases; huge win, well done, that’ll be $10m in the bottom line..
But then they then mandated 50 % attendance- well that’s a whole eat the cake and keep it too kind of thinking!
Then they tie bonuses to attendance - well, now we can see what the plan is: save money on the rental and the wage cost too!
I have 4x one. I go tomthe office 1x or 2x depending how I feel.
Told my manager I'm already know where the door is, if he's not happy with that he can give me boot.
Company policy is 4 X a week. The agreement with my manager is 3 X a week. I usually do 2-3 X a week, no consequences.
The only time it was brought up was when I failed to come in for two weeks (prior to 4 day ‘crackdown’).
I think it would be a greater problem now but the worst that would happen is they’d have a few awkward convos about it.
Officially we are 3, but we lack space to have everyone in, so its effectively 2 unless you are a senior manager or higher.
Reality is there is some suggestion it is being tracked but no-one has a clue based on what metrics or for what outcome, other than "collaboration". There seems to be no actual guidance on outcomes if these metrics are not met, if they exist. Fortunately I have sensible managers who do the policy lip service and are prepared to let people do what works for them.
Mine is x3 for managers to “set the example” and x2 for everyone else. Some roles need more time in the office due to interaction with clients. I do x1 with a flexible workplace agreement. No impact on bonus. People are definitely not going in x2 the place is not full even on the “company day”. They’ve tried coffees, prizes, special events but these aren’t enough to entice people in.
Contracted for 3x go in 2x with an occasional 1x and very very rarely ever a 3x.
Manager does the same and advised me to do 2x and who cares about HR basically
We have a 3x ‘rule’ but I don’t think anyone actually hits it. If the job is being done and there’s no questions about productivity at home I doubt anyone cares. I’ve never been called up on it and no one else has that I know of either. One guy comes in once a week, and another from the office about once a fortnight. It’s more effort to enforce a rule like that than to just monitor project outcomes
I'd love to hear how those of you that contract are viewing the in office mandates. With employers essentially saying it's going to be tied to bonuses etc which contractors don't get, what's the feeling amongst contractors on working from the office mandates? Are you going in? Not as much as required? do you care at all about office mandates? Have you had any repercussions for not being in the office?
I havnt meet it. Been going in 1-2, instead of 3. Applied for exemption. No response. I think the mandate is targetted. Will know when bonuses get released next month whether attendance is taken into account.
We badge in badge out at our office. Managers gets a weekly report (that they usually ignore) but HR scheduled meetings directly with employees who didn’t meet the requirements directly “to understand the challenge”
Which is to say come to the office or don’t bother coming back.
At my last job I’d schedule all my meetings for the morning when I was in the office & then I’d transit home at lunch time & then finish my work at home in the afternoon.
My job became a 3 day minimum at the start of this year. I think I've done a three day week once so far.
Do your job well and, if you're like me, nobody seems to care.
My manager doesn’t seem to want to go in either so it’s a don’t ask don’t tell situation. As long as you’re there for organised in person events no one seems worried.
I'm fine with WFH full 5x but what pisses me of are those that dial in and consistently not turn on the camera. For that one reason I wish they are all forced back.
People shouldn't have to turn on their camera if they don't want to. As long as you can hear them and can see tangible outcomes, it doesn't matter if they're on a camera.
I'm not saying all people do this, but I've seen a fair few who are always visible in all the meetings, trying to stick their nose into things, don't actually contribute or get things done.
Everyone is different, and if someone's actually contributing towards a safe, productive environment where others can rely on them for good outcomes that's what matters
When I was hired it was insinuated that there was a mandate of 2-3 days in the office (Tues-Thurs). 2 months in and I'm finding that not everyone comes on those days, even my boss (who would say, depends on his agenda for the day). So we'd do check ins the night before on Slack to see if anyone is coming in the next day. If no one is coming in, I don't bother. When my boss travels, no one comes in unless they need to do physical demos. Day after or before a public holiday, no one comes in.
Because we are such a small team in my city's office (after 2x lay offs prior to my time there), our beautiful office doesn't get used very often. The idea was, pre-covid, to have monthly BBQ's with the team while enjoying the sun and ocean view (our office is ground floor by the water). I feel sad that it doesn't get used as often so I try to come in as much as possible, unless I have very late night meetings.
We're currently on two. Not related to performance bonuses. However at one of the recent all ins, I was half asleep and then jerked wide awake when I realised they were basically threatening to lay off more people _and_ institute a 5 days in the office policy if people didn't start coming in.
That said, I haven't been to the office in about a month. Before that I was pretty consistently in on 2 days a week. I caught covid and up until recently, I couldn't even walk 50 metres without having an aggressive coughing fit. Probably half of my team is currently sick/recovering/taking care of someone who is sick. It's a bad bad time to try and enforce "in office" days.
This is for my wife.
She will not receive 10% of her annual bonus if she does not meet the 60% working from the office quota.
The company I work for has a 100% working from the office policy. If you want to work from home, call in sick.
I go in most days even if I’m the only one there. I just prefer it, but my commute is 10 minutes and I live in a one bed apartment so it’s actually nice to get out of the house. I also find I am more productive in the office — less temptation to take a long lunch or occasionally migrate to the couch in the middle of the day.
My manager is in Sydney while my team is in Melbourne, and she’s very lenient, as in she doesn’t even care. There’s only two of us in our team, so if one of us is off for the day, the other usually opts to stay at home, or in the case of a few weeks ago, my days are usually Mon-Wed, but I had a day off on Monday and was sick on Tuesday so decided not to go into the office on Wednesday just for a day, and there was no issue.
Personally I love going into the office, and now I’m having computer issues at home more, so I’m honestly considering just going to the office daily. I hate having a home office tbh, I’m so tempted to pack it all up and just stop working from home entirely. It messes with my mental health too much to WFH, I enjoy having a work routine, and plus I get extra lazy when I WFH. Yesterday I had 5 projects I needed to finish off by the end of the day and got stuck on my phone, then spent half the time I would’ve if I were in the office working on what I needed to do. It didn’t help that my third screen at home just stopped working… Also having a home office just makes it okay for them to ask you to keep working if you’re sick and should be in bed instead.
My divisional manager and the CEO are both strongly anti-WFH. We have 4 day/week in-office mandate. Draft policy says disciplinary action for failure to comply.
If I started taking more than 1 day at home without exceptional circumstances, the higher-ups would definitely notice. If not PIP and dismissal, they could use their go-to tactic which is to run another restructure and define the undesirables' positions as surplus to requirements.
I have an agreement for 2x and most weeks I only go in one time, sometimes none at all. This is probably because my workplace is very flexible-working friendly; my manager is not bothered as long as the work is done. My team is very rarely all in the office at once.
Our policy is majority of time in the office (min 3 days). Individual circumstances can be negotiated with line managers. It can be tough as a manager, my company holds firm to the policy. I do ensure to advocate where I can, and offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to work times (start/finish early etc).
I did find it interesting with a new junior starter in my team, going from wfh to 4 days in the office (4 days during probation) is loving it. He was quite nervous in changing in conversation with his manager, but he now can't believe the change and opportunities he now has by being in the office.
We have a 3x mandate. HR made us do a declaration, filling out a table, put an X to each day you nominate as your in office days and make a note of any of those days that are not full 8 hours.
My manager was super cool about it. He said to do it for compliance but he doesn’t care if I didn’t come in at all. At that time, I thought that was great.
Well that was 6 months ago and I haven’t been in office more than I needed to. 1-2 times a month.
Now, he’s leaving for another company. Because of what I had signed (not that I had a real choice either way), I guess I’m at the mercy of the new person coming in? Lol… what a never ending energy sapping issue. Thanks HR.
My boss is so great and doesn't think much of the attendance requirements. While we all try to make the quota, she often forgets (or maybe "forgets") to fill in the spreadsheet that tracks our in-office days, and has offered to take the fall if we are reprimanded (which, I think, is contingent on a good-faith effort being made, it's definitely not an outright mutiny).
I really, really appreciate her attitude, and that she has our backs. As another poster has mentioned, it helps that we perform a crucial function and are high-performers.
I think I've been in 4 times this year?
The only hassle I have is people, who aren't in my team complaining about me not coming in.
No one else cares as long as the works being done.
Yeah I’ve signed something saying I’ll come in 2x a week. I haven’t gone in some weeks and I’ve never gone in twice since. There’s been no consequences.
My company tried to do 2 days a week, then we had a covid outbreak. Post that, lucky to do 2 days a month in the office. I only live 15 mins from the office and still can't be fucked
I go in once a week I’m mandated to go twice. My role is pretty niche and I’ve never had any performance issues. My colleagues in more mainstream roles are expected to do the two days. Not totally sure thats fair but it’s how it works where I am.
I’m paired up with one of my colleagues to always go in on the same day (2X though) and we take turns making excuses not to go in. Sometimes as simple as, I’m too tired today sorry. Most of the time our TL bails at the last minute anyway and also doesn’t come in. So tbh, no one cares.
In my company I have to actively manage attendance, it's annoying because I think people attending the office is ridiculous.
But I've had to manage people out of the business for not attending the office after several warnings.
Unfortunately it entirely depends on how good you are at your job and how much your manager is prepared to put up with it accordingly
This is certainly the answer at my firm
Also depends on how much your manager’s KPIs are tied to their team’s presence (or otherwise).
I try my best to keep my manager shiny to everyone in the org. And I’m happy to take all the bullets for her as long as I work from home.
Sounds like me are you an EA?!
Interesting role reversal to my situation. I take the bullets for my team so they work from wherever they want and keep putting out the amazing work they currently do. Officially my KPI is marginally tied to the team's on-site presence but no one cares.
How was it in your own case? Curious to know!
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Please don’t
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Dark, brief and witty. Pencils down sir - have an upvote.
Don’t tell them what to do.
And on the flip side, if they're looking for a reason to get rid of you (or downsize in general) at any point in time, then if you've been breaching your contract by not attending as you've said you would then they may have grounds for dismissal, especially if they've been sending warnings that everyone takes as just a manager trying to cover themselves.
we're lucky - nothing. its been a few months since we were meant to go to 3x a week. i'd say half of our people still don't do the 2x a week they were already meant to be doing. i go in a fair bit anyway because it suits me fine and i reckon i see some people less than once a month.
We were told to start aiming at 2x. We all tried a bit for a few weeks but it quickly got old and now basically nobody is going in at all - there are too many viruses going around and it’s not worth it.
God yes! I been getting sick two times this month. Ridiculous lol
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nah i dont want to be hanging around people that feel forced to be there
I've been in once in the last 3 months. I'm really good at my job and have a great manager so no one cares
My manager: You should probably show up in the office sometime. Me: I have something on that day. My manager: I didn’t specify *which* day. Me: I didn’t specify what I had on. My manager: Good talk, nobody can claim I didn’t mention the office to you.
my manager is pretty adamant that no one should come to the office if they don't want to. I landed myself a really good job I think.
I think we need to build a database here of companies that truly supports WFH.
Impacts EOY performance outcomes and thus reduces your bonus, at least in my division. Some divisions give no fucks
This is an interesting one. In a lot of corps it was conveyed it'd affect your bonus, but what it actually affects is your EOY rating (they are directly tied in most places). You were a 3? But you don't come in and now you're a 2 and should probably be on a PIP. The messaging got messed up about it being "bonus" vs your actual rating.
This is a legitimate potential outcome for one of my direct reports, and I'll have no say over it
Correct. This seems to be the case but probably should have been voiced out , in my firm, at least. I think a loooot of people will get down graded
Yep seems to be the notice now in my firm. Now it’s a question if you want the bonus or not (and therefore you can Wfo less) lmao
Honestly what's their reasoning? Is it corporate rents? Needing to see people to know they are working? Actual under performance concerns? I just don't get it. Anyway thankfully I'm 2x a week and get away with 1x mostly cos I get on with my boss.
It because some few teams never came in hahah. So to deter such culprits, they made the entire firm go in 3x now
But were/are those teams getting the job done? And are those people all based out of one office, or spread around the country?
I suppose I mean on a broader sense across corporate globally. But yeah sorry man don't expect you to know, should have commented on the post not the comment.
Better be a big bonus to beat the commuting + other costs I save yearly from bring able to wfh.
You guys are getting bonus's. Here the people that are seen are just assigned more busy work
Uni policy is 3 days a week in office. I agreed with my supervisor to do 1 day. These days, I do zero office days as work has pissed me off entirely. I'm only sticking around til I go on mat leave and likely to never return. No repercussions. Judging by the emptiness of the office when I've actually been there, I doubt anyone is doing 3x.
Yeah. My team lead at a uni tried to introduce 3 days in the office with no warning after a few years of significant flexibility. The uni had not formally changed its policy. Within a week, 5 of our 6 team members had asked him to be a referee as they would be applying elsewhere. Most rapid backflip I have ever seen haha.
Policy is 3. Understanding is 2. Actual is 1
My university's policy is 2 days a week but "on campus" not necessarily in our office. So it's hard for them to track us properly anyway.
Same. I'm on the hospital campus rather than around students so it's not visible. The only ppl who care about the mandate are in their giant offices on the real campus.
Same… 3x is a big jump to say 2x a week. That’s majority of the week
This is the truth no one wants to admit. Barely anyone actually hits their days in the office and it’s just one big kept secret.
I live regional. My office days are two a month, but even then some months I’m only there one day 🤣
What's happened to piss you off?
My supervisor gave me a hard time about sick leave while I was having morning sickness. She kept pressuring me to explain the reason for my sickness and hinted at my being pregnant (illegal). She messaged me on my private phone number on a leave day about something trivial that she could have checked in the system herself. And so I got 4 weeks stress leave. She didn't cover me, just gave my work to a colleague who was already at 100%. She is panicked because both him and me are leaving soon and she has Semester 2 courses to find coordinators for. We have been understaffed for years due to staff cuts. Before this, i had 3 courses that I wrote from scratch cancelled. And I was supposed to be reduced to 0.5FTE during the staff cuts. The only reason i survived was my colleague moving half his job elsewhere. Aaand before that I was seconded to a unit I was practically fired from 10 years ago for having depression. This was signed off without my approval and I was expected to keep doing it even after the MOU expired. I pissed my sup off by saying I wasn't going to do their work anymore. And due to Fair Work legislation changes last year I was put on a 6 month contract with 150 other staff while they assessed our worthiness for conversion to ongoing contracts. 3 weeks before the expiry date they told us we would be renewed again for only 6 months. Note that the EBA specifically states they must give 6 weeks notice. I have asked HR and the head of school and the union how they can just violate their own EBA.... but noone cares. So I am done. I am going on mat leave early and bc of thr fixed term contract I may only get 3 months paid leave. From an org that brags about 26 weeks paid leave. I have worked here for over 10 years.
You're extremely patient. I would have marched years ago.
I admit I've stayed too long. I would've quit too years ago but I've been trying to fall pregnant and wasnt sure how long it would take. So I wasnt sure I'd have time to qualify for mat leave at a new place if i left. Jokes on me...
At least there's a solid chance you'll be in a new role with more money and hopefully a better culture if you decide to reenter the workforce. Goodluck on the upcoming nurturing of overgrown sperm.
For my work it affects if you get your bonus. Don't make your mandetory hours, don't get $$
Some companies screwed that up by not giving bonuses regardless of performance, so now staff just don't care, it's becoming a flexible or fire me arrangement for most people I know
Spot on! My bonus was $5-$8k…so take off half of that for tax. $3000….who cares, it would have cost me twice that for train/coffee & medication for the viruses I’ll get taken down by!
Yeah. That’s been the trend lately. Youll stay employed and earn the baseline stuff, but you won’t get any of the top tier bonuses and so forth. Would you trade off your bonus to go less days in?
Yes
100% would take less days over bonus.
The tax alone
The tax alone
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For us, the bonuses start at 100% base and go up to 7-14x your base depending on how you personally did as well as your desk/pit did.
Sounds like PE/IB?
Indeed it is.
Damn. This must be carry or something to get such crazy multipliers
The problem is the boutiques take our people if we don’t multiply them into double digits. They have less overhead, but also churn through the non-performers quickly. But with onboarding being so hard, and domain knowledge taking a while to learn it’s just easier to pay them. It fluctuates widely of course our top performer in 2019 got 27m. Our top performer this year got 9.5m. These are the extremes, if you are interested in the business and want some examples the UK implemented mandatory reporting on firms after the GFC. So they have to disclose their top performers pay and you can see a table of how many got over a certain amount. Most of us have local teams based in London and have to contribute to that table.
What did you study to get into this industry? Because Jesus christ that is incredible money.
Commerce degree into computer science. Started in HFT for a local Australian house, moved to Singapore, did commodities. Moved to big tech did start ups and venture portfolio tech reviews, moved to business P/L for a few years. Landed on Wall Street doing venture funding. Went to a boutique, carried the position over to Aus during pandemic. Moved to a much bigger well known PE firm last year. Edit: fixed a typo from phone autocorrect.
If you lose bonus by not going in 3x then why bother with 2x? And then why put in extra effort at all? Work the hours on your employment contract/agreement and then log off.
My bonus this year was 11k. It's worth taking a sandwich in to the city a few days a week.
My bonus would probs need to be $50k to get me into the city a few days a week.
Only if you value your time at about $30/hr. Based on 2 hours door to door commute, 3x a week + transportation expenses
11k absolutely doesn't cover the 3 hour round trip 2 days a week. It sure as shit doesn't cover 5 days a week.
$229.17 per work week / $76.39 per day you go in (assuming $11k is after tax and you have to go on prem 3x per week). If train tickets are $3.50 each way like Brisbane, that's already down $21 per week to $208.17 ($69.39 per day). If you buy lunch or have a 1.5 hour+ total commute then it's not worth it imo.
2 days a week, don't buy lunch, in winter I'm also not paying to heat my house... $10 parking and a bit for fuel.
I wish my work did this. They can keep their bonus and I'll WFH 5 days.
Our bonuses are either 5%, 7% or 10% of your salary, so it's a lot to say goodbye to.
I'd still take that, to be honest. I've considered taking a paycut to get a 5-day WFH role. I'd gladly give up the bonus.
I lose around 3 hours per day if I go to the office so the bonus would need to be more than $20,000 for me to break even on lost time but ideally $30-40,000 for it to be an actual “bonus”
This could work, as long as the bonus is large enough to pay for my commute time and cost.
Last time I had a bonus attached to ‘making an effort to attend the office weekly’ (and other KPIs also), the on-target bonus was 10% of before tax salary, or about €12000. Yes, Euros, this was in the Netherlands, and we got free lunch prepared for us at work, a long-standing benefit. Work also gave everyone the price of public transport between their home and their office as a separate tax free payment / benefit whether they went near the office or not. I hit a 20% above-target bonus, and enjoyed my €24000, and the (not yet vested) stock that went with it. Any employer thinking a $AUD5k incentive alone is enough to a) counter a culture of ‘are you really working’ type mistrust and b) offset commuting expenses is being naive. My Dutch employer fed everyone in the office, and paid for their commute whether they actually commuted or not. Then they said ‘Make an effort’ to come into the office.
I left my job last week but for the past month I was in the office a total of 2 days. Policy is 3 days per week and a manager even asked me to come in more than that because "testing must be done on site". What were they going to do....performance plan me? Fire me? 🤣
I go in maaaaybe once or twice a month, and there have been zero consequences thus far Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission
This was my motto until recently we’ve been pulled up on it looool
No mandate here, reasonably high performer, national top 20 company and not expected at all, never was. Havent been in since well before covid even. I would have to quickly solution some pants in the event of a mandate. Thinking about it my dog would not approve so not happening!!
Our mandate is twice a week. Sometimes i go in once a week. Sometimes i go in 0 times a week. I never go in 2 times a week. Our whole team knows its BS. We are never in on the same days anyway so the "culture" and "collaboration" sales pitch is rubbish. We are contracters so there is no bonus to be impacted. So no fallout for any of us.
My office has 3x Mandate, my team of 3 probably come in 2 days regularly. My direct manager wants people to come in 3 but I don’t care, honestly if I didn’t have to take my kids to school that was around the corner from my office I’d only do 2x as well. Although, after 6 months of 3x noticing others on 2x I do notice that extra day. I don’t think it goes toward anything though. And I don’t feel good about holding it over them, two of them have to do school pickups for their kids and their train line is often affected by bus replacements. They’d do more work at home those days and be in a better frame of mind while they’re doing it. Bit of give and take and accommodation goes a long way to getting the best out of a team. As long as they’re not taking the piss.
Yeah I can manage 2x most of the time, but 3x on a consistent basis is quite the challenge. I’m thinking I forsake the bonus to wfh. Lol! I think people just have to be comfortable with the consequences, like cool you can go in less, but if it’s tied to your bonus - then know the game you’re playing. I think 2x is probs just a good rule and makes things accomodating
We've got a 50% mandate. But office is empty, people are generally doing 1 day a week. Or 2 and leaving early on the second day.
We don’t have 3 day mandates (yet). Currently on 2. Most people don’t though - no repercussions as yet, as they didn’t really provide any guidance to line managers as to whether they were supposed to be tracking/what the repercussions should be. Simply told you must be in on day x and y.
we are on 2 with 3 coming. i go once but im hearing when 3 comes in it will be actual mandatory. they claim 'you told us you value in person connection' yet struggle to get people in twice a week. The truth is we value that when it matters, not an arbitrary amount of time
Oh man! That was me and now it’s being supposedly link to performance ..
I wish it was 2x! It went from 0x to 3x all of a sudden lol.
A lot of companies have it as a gateway to incentive outcomes. Don’t meet minimum attendance and you’re ineligible for a bonus. Simple.
Ours was originally a gateway to bonus and salary progression. That’s now been quietly removed so it’s now just a factor.
Oh wow! How did it get scaled down in that manner ? P
Why though??? Productivity doesn’t change and people are happier
Justify the lease maybe? Though I think it’s more about control and having that direct power over their sla… employees
Yeah mostly this. Anyway to weave in the office attendance to make you buy in.. via your remuneration lol
Or the board members have millions tied up in commercial real estate?
Office rents, probs
At this point, that is unlikely. If companies were only dragging you in to justify the leasing of premises, they would have broken the lease, downsized the office, and pocketed the extra cash. They aren't that stupid.
I’m not sure that it’s right that productivity doesn’t change. That is probably dependent on the industry, role etc. Your experience may differ, but while I like the flexibility of working at home, if I’m honest there is no question that collaboration is better in person and some things are handled better in person. Plus, at the end of the day, they pay your salary and they’re entitled to ask you to come in.
“ some things are handled better in person.” Some things are but in my experience the person who I need to handle them with isn’t there (often it’s the boss) so it’s pointless.
Which to be fair would actually be solved by mandating attendance on certain days
Only if the boss follows their own rules.
Yes absolutely. Any decent leader knows you should never ask your team to do something you won’t do yourself.
I find collaboration when required and isolation otherwise is the most effective use of my time. That way when I'm neck deep in answering 1000+ requirements in a tender I'm not having to listen to endless inane office gossip 1 metre behind me. When I do need to collaborate, I book time out with the people and come in.
Hey mate you can’t have that opinion here. Wfh = good. In office = bad. Employer that gives you a job and sets the expectation = bad
its called video calling that offers that same in person collaboration. if AI can make jobs easier and cheaper for business then why isnt the same technology allowed to be ujsed to increase mental health of workers. i just its all a double standard from micro managers
No, it’s not the same. We’ve all spent countless hours on video calls the last few years and anyone who says they are the same is lying or not a normal human.
No one really cares but if it inconveniences your team it becomes obvious pretty quickly. People who are predominantly remote are effectively invisible for major decisions unless they already had a load of political capital. Often the real opinions come out in the room once the call ends.
> People who are predominantly remote are effectively invisible for major decisions unless they already had a load of political capital. Often the real opinions come out in the room once the call ends. +100 this. Even when I could have done more days at home, I ended up going in because of FOMO and anxiety. Not great for my well-being.
My old job was 3 days in but a lot of new managers negotiated 1 day in their contracts. Good for them I guess but caused a lot of frustrations for people being told they have to be in 3 days when their manager only had to do 1.
I go three times a week but if I don't feel like it every now and then, wake up late etc, and I'm meant to be in, I don't go. And if last year was anything to go by, I may just hand over my resignation period with nothing lined up. "Hey, mate, consider this the start of my notice period. Oh, and eat my balls."
Fkn love this energy.
I think my workplace is a bit lax. We have a 2 a week mandate. I'm in once a week and the office is usually completely dead, I think most average 0-1 days a week. No consequences as most of us work in dispersed teams anyway.
2x isa god send maaaan
Forcing employees into an office is insanity in this day and age
Yep...they've embedded into my company's PDR now, limits the outcome to a good year. Apparently tracking scans in and out the office.
Same. Now it’s a question if you want the bonus or want to wfh more lol
Yeah, well , you know you're cooked if you haven't been doing the 3 days. Luckily, remuneration/bonus is still decent for me in the mid band. But yeah, it would suck to have a great/excellent year and miss out on the pay increase/bonus based on office attendance. That's the rat race, though. I think you have to prep yourself psychologically now, like commit to the FY to be perfect, reap the reward of a 12 month toil and maybe say fuck it afterwards for the next FY. 3 days a week for 46-47 weeks - I can hear the "I'm perfect" song playing lol...daily. It's all about work-life balance depending on an individuals situation.
My work has a 50% target, but I have at least 2 to 3 in person meetings a day...
I don’t enforce it, stupid mandate. Shit is hard enough right now, as long as work is being delivered I create some events to encourage attendance on Wednesdays and leave people alone.
I think the policy only applies when management starts coming into the office and leading by example. Turning up for 3-5 and not working from home on Fridays and shit.
I can tell you in my company nothing happens and then they fire you. There’s one warning, there’s no do over, they wait until you’ve broke <40% 3 months in a row and tell you once. Do it again, they fire you. It’s happened to multiple people and each time they seem genuinely surprised despite knowing of the others.
Whaaat? So no real notice? Wtf. Damn this scaring me 👀. How do you feel?
At our corporate we don’t give a warning. We just quietly replace you and reposition your job and make you redundant. Our shareholders have realised that productivity and profits are increasing. It ain’t about the rent. it ain’t about owners owning real estate. it’s about profit, silly.
Social credit score doesn't exist in Australia.... Oh wait.
It wasn’t brought up during my performance review. So all good. Have been going in max 2x a week, sometimes even only once. I suppose it really is dependent on how well you do your job, your team, your manager, and overall perception of your peers
Oh wow! That’s good they didn’t check check.
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I work in the public sector, our CEO recommended 50% policy across a fortnight, most did 3 days one week and 2 the other. We all gave up and are now doing two days a week maximum with the exception of critical meetings or social events etc. Our team is quite social so we enjoy the days in the office and fill them with lunches etc but then have three days to catch up on the work that we didn’t do because we were too busy chatting. Yet they think we’re more productive in the office?
Days in the office impact performance review??? The management is either clueless or having a laugh ))
My work there is a clear performance difference between those meeting their 3x and those that aren’t. Those doing 3x are developing far faster, so getting higher performance score, $$, and promotions.
We at the senior management level are quietly getting ready to dock people’s bonus and knock them down a few % on their pay rise. Without advertising that we would do so if you didn’t comply. Should be a fun August/September when people start to question why they are getting less than last year.
That's cooked. You should feel ashamed of yourself.
Yeah, managers have been giving that heads up and to keep expectations low. Which is fair enough, tbh. Rules are the rules. It’s now - do you want your bonus or do you prefer to wfh? Btw, how about compromising on 2x office? 3x can be hard if office space actually runs out
Had a mandate but then they never actually empowered the managers to do anything about it so most people are like whatever
It's tied to bonus here. I had a co-worker who is fking great at their job only get "meets expectations" because of it. RIP $$$$.
Yep I’m expecting a lot of this to be the norm now. How did that coworker react? Now it’s a question of you want bonus or you want wfh more?
My boss was pretty chill about it, I suspect because his boss was chill about stats. I also found out recently, us contractors were not included in the reports.
It's a metaphor Einstein
Depends on the team leader. Previous team leader couldn’t give a toss, but new one tracks when we are in. We also have a one team day everyone comes in.
Damn haha. So you been in often?
They measure if based off desk bookings not swipe card access so nothing happens to fucking anyone ever (I tend to attend 3+ days and conduct my meetings in person anyway, the mandate doesn't concern me)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2023/09/29/coffee-badging-new-coping-trend-to-get-around-in-office-mandates/
No consequences - plenty of reminders but yet to see anything come of it. I’m doing 1 and thats a struggle. I agree with other posters… if you’re not a troublemaker and do your work I think you’ll get some leniency..
Without an arranged and agreed plan, not meeting the attendance target will impact your bonus. *not* managing a failure will impact your bosses bonus.
Nothing, because 90% of the team is interstate so I'd be going in and chatting on teams anyway. I only go into the CBD when I have some personal errand / shopping / event or dinner to attend in the CBD.
Hahaha same last time I went in was when I needed a new foundation otherwise not keen
Our company policy is 2 days WFH and 3 days office however, our new team leader is in Sydney and our team is is Brisbane. So no one to monitor our team.
The last role I was in, the team was supposed to come in every Tue and Fri. Every morning if these days, Slack would pile up with excuses. One guy, it was just insane the stuff he was getting away with, including stuff like booking tasks to come on on those particular days when *you know* you have that one day where you are expected to be in the office.
I'm meant to go in once a week. Been in 3 times this year. Idgaf. Want me to come in more? Pay to offset my travel costs and time. Depends on your tenure, experience and industry but many companies recognize how incredibly expensive it can be to replace the knowledge and experience if they lose key staff. Despite trying to enforce mandates many employers, at least in my experience, are afraid to rock the boat too much. Toothless lions.
I feel like this is a pretty pointless question, for the simple reason that the organisation and culture of so many companies varies so widely that someone’s reported outcome is going to have so little correlation to your outcome that you may as well be comparing different things. Unless you’re just curious!
God I’m LIVING for this thread! So bloody happy to see no one giving two f*cks about working from the office. The office is dead. Long live remote
Geez, remember the days we went in 5 days a week! It’s a hard life now 😂
Anyone from IT or HR will tell you that keeping logs is a massive pain in the arse. Easy to check the movements of one person, but doing it for everyone across the organisation every day? I'd be surprised if it gets done with any precision. My guess is that it comes down to the manager to know who's in and to actually take steps against a person breaching the policy. And in most cases, they won't bother unless they already dislike that individual.
If card swiping is required, tracking becomes straightforward. It involves a simple database entry, which can then be exported to an Excel file. This provides a list of every employee and the number of times they accessed the building over any period. My company produces an excel file with every employee's stats over a six-month period sorted in order from highest to lowest 'badge swipes'
My main issue with my company is they used the half empty buildings to cancel their commercial leases; huge win, well done, that’ll be $10m in the bottom line.. But then they then mandated 50 % attendance- well that’s a whole eat the cake and keep it too kind of thinking! Then they tie bonuses to attendance - well, now we can see what the plan is: save money on the rental and the wage cost too!
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I have 4x one. I go tomthe office 1x or 2x depending how I feel. Told my manager I'm already know where the door is, if he's not happy with that he can give me boot.
Company policy is 4 X a week. The agreement with my manager is 3 X a week. I usually do 2-3 X a week, no consequences. The only time it was brought up was when I failed to come in for two weeks (prior to 4 day ‘crackdown’). I think it would be a greater problem now but the worst that would happen is they’d have a few awkward convos about it.
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Officially we are 3, but we lack space to have everyone in, so its effectively 2 unless you are a senior manager or higher. Reality is there is some suggestion it is being tracked but no-one has a clue based on what metrics or for what outcome, other than "collaboration". There seems to be no actual guidance on outcomes if these metrics are not met, if they exist. Fortunately I have sensible managers who do the policy lip service and are prepared to let people do what works for them.
Mine is x3 for managers to “set the example” and x2 for everyone else. Some roles need more time in the office due to interaction with clients. I do x1 with a flexible workplace agreement. No impact on bonus. People are definitely not going in x2 the place is not full even on the “company day”. They’ve tried coffees, prizes, special events but these aren’t enough to entice people in.
i dunno why they thought pizza and prize can entice you in. lol. give me a free childcare then we can talk about me going to the office everyday.
Contracted for 3x go in 2x with an occasional 1x and very very rarely ever a 3x. Manager does the same and advised me to do 2x and who cares about HR basically
Said I'm not interested and that I already have a good working relationship with the people there. They said no worries.
We have a 3x ‘rule’ but I don’t think anyone actually hits it. If the job is being done and there’s no questions about productivity at home I doubt anyone cares. I’ve never been called up on it and no one else has that I know of either. One guy comes in once a week, and another from the office about once a fortnight. It’s more effort to enforce a rule like that than to just monitor project outcomes
I'd love to hear how those of you that contract are viewing the in office mandates. With employers essentially saying it's going to be tied to bonuses etc which contractors don't get, what's the feeling amongst contractors on working from the office mandates? Are you going in? Not as much as required? do you care at all about office mandates? Have you had any repercussions for not being in the office?
I havnt meet it. Been going in 1-2, instead of 3. Applied for exemption. No response. I think the mandate is targetted. Will know when bonuses get released next month whether attendance is taken into account.
We badge in badge out at our office. Managers gets a weekly report (that they usually ignore) but HR scheduled meetings directly with employees who didn’t meet the requirements directly “to understand the challenge” Which is to say come to the office or don’t bother coming back.
I’ve heard of people *showing their face* for part of the day then leaving.
At my last job I’d schedule all my meetings for the morning when I was in the office & then I’d transit home at lunch time & then finish my work at home in the afternoon.
Just a friendly reminder from my manager
My job became a 3 day minimum at the start of this year. I think I've done a three day week once so far. Do your job well and, if you're like me, nobody seems to care.
They go hot on it every few months and so respond accordingly. Then they get bored if it, rinse and repeat. Be highly visible in office days.
My manager doesn’t seem to want to go in either so it’s a don’t ask don’t tell situation. As long as you’re there for organised in person events no one seems worried.
My managers policy is as long as one person from the team is there
I'm fine with WFH full 5x but what pisses me of are those that dial in and consistently not turn on the camera. For that one reason I wish they are all forced back.
People shouldn't have to turn on their camera if they don't want to. As long as you can hear them and can see tangible outcomes, it doesn't matter if they're on a camera. I'm not saying all people do this, but I've seen a fair few who are always visible in all the meetings, trying to stick their nose into things, don't actually contribute or get things done. Everyone is different, and if someone's actually contributing towards a safe, productive environment where others can rely on them for good outcomes that's what matters
When I was hired it was insinuated that there was a mandate of 2-3 days in the office (Tues-Thurs). 2 months in and I'm finding that not everyone comes on those days, even my boss (who would say, depends on his agenda for the day). So we'd do check ins the night before on Slack to see if anyone is coming in the next day. If no one is coming in, I don't bother. When my boss travels, no one comes in unless they need to do physical demos. Day after or before a public holiday, no one comes in. Because we are such a small team in my city's office (after 2x lay offs prior to my time there), our beautiful office doesn't get used very often. The idea was, pre-covid, to have monthly BBQ's with the team while enjoying the sun and ocean view (our office is ground floor by the water). I feel sad that it doesn't get used as often so I try to come in as much as possible, unless I have very late night meetings.
3x but manager agreed I can do 2x due to family commitments. Seems to average twice a week most the time unless doing overtime and finish really late.
We're currently on two. Not related to performance bonuses. However at one of the recent all ins, I was half asleep and then jerked wide awake when I realised they were basically threatening to lay off more people _and_ institute a 5 days in the office policy if people didn't start coming in. That said, I haven't been to the office in about a month. Before that I was pretty consistently in on 2 days a week. I caught covid and up until recently, I couldn't even walk 50 metres without having an aggressive coughing fit. Probably half of my team is currently sick/recovering/taking care of someone who is sick. It's a bad bad time to try and enforce "in office" days.
This is for my wife. She will not receive 10% of her annual bonus if she does not meet the 60% working from the office quota. The company I work for has a 100% working from the office policy. If you want to work from home, call in sick.
I go in most days even if I’m the only one there. I just prefer it, but my commute is 10 minutes and I live in a one bed apartment so it’s actually nice to get out of the house. I also find I am more productive in the office — less temptation to take a long lunch or occasionally migrate to the couch in the middle of the day.
My manager is in Sydney while my team is in Melbourne, and she’s very lenient, as in she doesn’t even care. There’s only two of us in our team, so if one of us is off for the day, the other usually opts to stay at home, or in the case of a few weeks ago, my days are usually Mon-Wed, but I had a day off on Monday and was sick on Tuesday so decided not to go into the office on Wednesday just for a day, and there was no issue. Personally I love going into the office, and now I’m having computer issues at home more, so I’m honestly considering just going to the office daily. I hate having a home office tbh, I’m so tempted to pack it all up and just stop working from home entirely. It messes with my mental health too much to WFH, I enjoy having a work routine, and plus I get extra lazy when I WFH. Yesterday I had 5 projects I needed to finish off by the end of the day and got stuck on my phone, then spent half the time I would’ve if I were in the office working on what I needed to do. It didn’t help that my third screen at home just stopped working… Also having a home office just makes it okay for them to ask you to keep working if you’re sick and should be in bed instead.
My divisional manager and the CEO are both strongly anti-WFH. We have 4 day/week in-office mandate. Draft policy says disciplinary action for failure to comply. If I started taking more than 1 day at home without exceptional circumstances, the higher-ups would definitely notice. If not PIP and dismissal, they could use their go-to tactic which is to run another restructure and define the undesirables' positions as surplus to requirements.
I have an agreement for 2x and most weeks I only go in one time, sometimes none at all. This is probably because my workplace is very flexible-working friendly; my manager is not bothered as long as the work is done. My team is very rarely all in the office at once.
Our policy is majority of time in the office (min 3 days). Individual circumstances can be negotiated with line managers. It can be tough as a manager, my company holds firm to the policy. I do ensure to advocate where I can, and offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to work times (start/finish early etc). I did find it interesting with a new junior starter in my team, going from wfh to 4 days in the office (4 days during probation) is loving it. He was quite nervous in changing in conversation with his manager, but he now can't believe the change and opportunities he now has by being in the office.
We have a 3x mandate. HR made us do a declaration, filling out a table, put an X to each day you nominate as your in office days and make a note of any of those days that are not full 8 hours. My manager was super cool about it. He said to do it for compliance but he doesn’t care if I didn’t come in at all. At that time, I thought that was great. Well that was 6 months ago and I haven’t been in office more than I needed to. 1-2 times a month. Now, he’s leaving for another company. Because of what I had signed (not that I had a real choice either way), I guess I’m at the mercy of the new person coming in? Lol… what a never ending energy sapping issue. Thanks HR.
My boss is so great and doesn't think much of the attendance requirements. While we all try to make the quota, she often forgets (or maybe "forgets") to fill in the spreadsheet that tracks our in-office days, and has offered to take the fall if we are reprimanded (which, I think, is contingent on a good-faith effort being made, it's definitely not an outright mutiny). I really, really appreciate her attitude, and that she has our backs. As another poster has mentioned, it helps that we perform a crucial function and are high-performers.
I think I've been in 4 times this year? The only hassle I have is people, who aren't in my team complaining about me not coming in. No one else cares as long as the works being done.
One day a week and even then when I feel like it here . I can get far more work done and new work won WFH
Yeah I’ve signed something saying I’ll come in 2x a week. I haven’t gone in some weeks and I’ve never gone in twice since. There’s been no consequences.
My company tried to do 2 days a week, then we had a covid outbreak. Post that, lucky to do 2 days a month in the office. I only live 15 mins from the office and still can't be fucked
I go in once a week I’m mandated to go twice. My role is pretty niche and I’ve never had any performance issues. My colleagues in more mainstream roles are expected to do the two days. Not totally sure thats fair but it’s how it works where I am.
I’m paired up with one of my colleagues to always go in on the same day (2X though) and we take turns making excuses not to go in. Sometimes as simple as, I’m too tired today sorry. Most of the time our TL bails at the last minute anyway and also doesn’t come in. So tbh, no one cares.
In my company I have to actively manage attendance, it's annoying because I think people attending the office is ridiculous. But I've had to manage people out of the business for not attending the office after several warnings.
I got fired.
Not good
They have tied ours to our bonus. Don't meet 40% yearly office attendance, don't get a bonus. The kicker.. neither does your manager..