As recently as 2 months ago VP level communications in ATO have clarified folks need to be back in the office. The communication also stated that some jobs needed to be full time telework. It would be an employment lawyers dream if they fired people for full-time telework in these situations. Some folks in ATO still need to be working at home for valid reasons.
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@npm. I am in ATO
The issue is lack of consistency on the definition of Flex office Worker (FOW) among business units.
You have Full Time Office (FTO) and Full Time Telecommuter (TW), and then something in between.
I know of FOWs that have not been in the office for several years and operating under the pretense of being approved as if a Full Time Telecommuter, when they are not formally approved to do so. Never show up.
Who is to blame, Management.
(Follow up to @1ch, although HR policy itself does not specify a number of days for FOW)
@nnq it appears the rule only applies to ATO
Kate Hopkins specifically addressed this in a town hall in December. Anyone in her organization cannot claim ignorance. She said FOW need to start being in the office ‘most days’ per week. That would mean 3 at the very least.
I’m a home based flex worker. I asked my supervisor if I needed to start going to the office and he said no.
@aot Agree! It's kind of offensive that "VPN reports" are being used as a weapon of intimidation & that policies are not clear or consistent. I'm sure some managers are more lenient than others, and as many have stated not every position requires this bogus excuse of collaboration.
@aot: Well said! Miscommunications and inconsistent messaging has been par for the course for years, not just between organizations but between managers in the same group in the same office. There was a big push for transparency and all it accomplished was the type of email we got from Jeff, vague information with enough detail to put everyone on edge and not enough to actually explain what is expected or give anyone any piece of mind.
I am ATO with an office indicator of FOW, I don’t recall language any stronger than “you don’t want to appear on “reports” with high VPN usage”; nothing more than that. I also confirmed, as per telecommuting policy FOW has no required minimum days in the office; so when I asked how many days should I go in - only a suggestion was made. I can also say for certain that the message about returning to the office is not being cascaded through the chain of command the same for all, that is to say managers reporting to the same director are not all passing on the same message - some stating everyone In everyday, while others said nothing, and others said 3 days.
Unfortunately when you are chosen to leave you will not be given a reason. “AT Will” employment or not, if one was to be let go for not being in then office I don’t see how it will hold up, there has never been anything in writing stating what is expected and the telecommuting policy clearly spells out the expectations for each occupancy indicator.
A colleague 2 weeks ago was told to go in 4 days and last week that was changed to 5 days.
Jeff’s email that was sent to ATO speaks volumes about this companies inability to implement a policy. In my opinion a letter written as it was, with so little detail really tells me it was not well though out. Did they not expect it to raise a ton of questions, many folks have no clue what the official zones / hubs are. Look at the edits to the doc on tspace in recent days and the questions being posted. Not to mention the rush to the office the email has triggered. Some buildings folks are assigned to have no cubes in the reservation system, seating is first come first serve - this is simply crazy.
The communication was people needed to return to the office because of the need for "collaboration" which we all know now was a line of BS. It wasn't some jobs....it was a blanket rule for everyone.
It was clearly stated that "Teleworking is a privilege not a right. It can be earned and lost". How's that for a slap in the face to your work ethic?
In addition, no where did I see it stated that any ATO jobs were OK'd to stay full time VO.
Yeah go ahead and hire a lawyer. Your employment along with any agreement you signed is at will.