Pressure
Hi all. I returned to work in April after a years adoption leave. I stayed with the same company but lucky for me a job appeared on the job board just before a returned for a full time flexible role which allowed working from home.
in the interview I did explain to my now manager that I could only afford 3 days per week for nursery fees. This meant that i would probably have to WFH for 2 days per week depending on what my husband is doing. Even after this he offered me the role.
8 months on and I am hearing things like 'I don't care that you have children I just don't want it to interfere with your job' (which it isn't). from day 1 I have always input a private appointment into my calendar for when I have to do the nursery run or WFH and its rare that I have to WFH for 2 days a week as my husband also can do this.
Recently my boss has been sending invites to me of early morning meetings an hours drive away on days that I have to do the nursery run and when I explain this he gets agitated and says 'I said I don't want it to interfere with your job'.
my contract states flexible working monday - Saturday 0600-2000. All my hours are always completed.
I am after a bit of advice really as I don't know whether he is being unreasonable. We have an excellent HR department but I don't know whether to rock the boat.
i am not sleeping and am really stressed.
the most recent issue I have is that he has called an all day meeting on my daughters 1st nativity play day where she is playing Mary. No meeting = an hour out of work to watch it, now I have to book a days holiday which I in visage him refusing.
thanks for any responses
Replies
Hi there, wow yes this is totally unreasonable. What I would do in this instance is speak to HR confidentially initially to hear their views as they are there to support you. They may be able to offer you ways of dealing with a difficult boss.
I have had the same situation with my work, I am 22 weeks pregnant and have a fairly long commute. My boss said I could work from home once a week to take the heat off, however, other pregnant women in other departments seem to be working from home around 3 days a week. I mentioned this to my boss who basically laughed and said it won't work for us but I don't see how as I do the same job as the other girls. I would like a proper reason really. I spoke to my HR department confidentially and they were really helpful and told me of ways to deal with this. However, after xmas when I am due to go on mat leave in Feb, if she continues to not be accomodating, i am going to rock the boat so to speak and get someone in HR to have a word with her as you simlpy can't have one rule for one and another rule for another.
Going back to your situation, your contract was negotiated when you returned and you are never slack on your hours. I would def ask for a confidential chat with HR and explain how you are feeling, As for your childs xmas show, there is no way you should miss it, you are entitled to parental leave also.
Don't take this sh*t lying down - some ppl just have no idea of the law these days and they are stuck in the past.
I hope all gets sorted soon xxx
Thanks, I have asked this as I started to think that I was being paranoid. I don't think he is doing it intentionally but he is not giving me any room or flexibility and when my reason is my family he says 'like I have said I don't want to know'
Don't let them take the mick hun. I got so fed up with being treated differently from my full time male colleague i spoke with hr but they were totally sh1t so I took them to court and won a nice little pay out. I was worried about rocking the boat too but it made me so ill I had to have 8 weeks off work sick and thought enough is enough. They won the war though as made me redundant at 9 weeks pregnant having found someone in Poland to do my job for less but they had to pay me off as had 8.5 years service so it wasn't too bad really. And I hated the job anyway! Good luck with hr xx