I'm a single parent and have learned the hard way, over the years, what I need, can do, can't do.
I need nearly 100 % home office, as even one office day will take more mental capacity than all the other days combined. Also, on that day, pets and children tend to get sick, doctor appointments happen, contractor needs apartment access.
And yet, I got lured into a job with the good old bait & switch once more. Was supposed to be nearly full remote, limited time with max. 1 office day per week. Got switched to 2 office days min last minute, when I was already too committed to that offer.
Payment is very good, quite excellent, but it is all about office day logistics. Oh, and it's a 2 hour trip one way. With a child coming back from elementary school, having afternoon stuff to go to.
Also, it's hard not to hate the job and its people after getting lured in with broken agreements. I'm not even sure if they are all assholes or I just feel like that.
Needless to say, my stress level is through the roof. The absolute necessity to get up early in the morning makes falling asleep even harder, which intensifies the problem.
The plan, 2 weeks in?
- No foul play, but accept the great benefits regarding sick days. (On full remote jobs, I sometimes just pull through, as long as the pay is really great and above market.)
- Pull through 2 or 4 more weeks, then demand nearly full remote. They vaguely hint at the option to reduce office days at some point. If they say no, I'll just not come in, but won't quit. They'll have to fire me.
- I already started looking for a new job. When I find one, hand in my notice.
I've been in a very similar boat, and it fucking sucks.
When I first started my current job, it was supposed to be 50% remote, 50% in person. I was very much struggling with it, but made it about 6 months before the company shut down the office for renovations.
It was shut down for a year and a half, and we were expected to be in person 2 days a month for the one section of the building that was still open.
I was absolutely thriving for that year and a half. But it had its limit and eventually the renovations finished up. They called everyone back to the office. Worse, some employees weren't meeting the quota so they opted to punish everybody by moving to a 4 day in person, 1 day remote setup.
It was absolute hell for me because of my OCD. I just can't pay the mental cost of being outside nearly every day, even before the coercive nature of work.
So I tried getting a reasonable accommodation through HR and those bastards fought me at every step. It took them 3 months of lying through their teeth to finally give me a remote working accommodation.
So for the first time in too long of a time I feel like I'm actually me again. Fuck the corporations.
Any tips on getting the accommodations.
So it's worth saying, they absolutely shot themselves in the foot with the renovations thing. It unequivocally proved that they were ok with my WFH when it suited them, but not when it suited me. I think it was a big part of them eventually caving. Not knowing your situation, it may be a bit harder.
With that said, there is still hope. For me they kept trying to push an ineffective accommodation. No matter how many times they brought it up I kept on pointing out that it would have been ineffective, and they are by law required to give an accommodation that is effective if one exists.
So at a certain point it became a game of attrition. I needed the accommodation or I would have suffered immeasurably, so I couldn't back out. They couldn't drop the conversation because HR is required to provide a resolution. So in the end they just got tired of dealing with me and caved.
Also, it's worth quoting from the EEOC if you're in the U.S. like me. All of their stuff here just straight up says "employers should not be doing [thing that my employer was doing]"
Here are some examples of the resources they have:
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-reasonable-accommodation-and-undue-hardship-under-ada
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/work-hometelework-reasonable-accommodation
This is great info. I'm saving it for later. Thanks!
same struggles ... great that it worked out for you!