Do you believe them?? Depending on your answer should dictate your choice of action.

Have you asked them directly what's going on? Seems like a basic place to start would be to let them know you've noticed they are having lots of emergencies/issues arising recently and you want to check they are ok, then let them know the impact that unexpected WFH is having on the business and ask them for their thoughts.

If you understand the cause, you may feel it is worth the business impact. If it isn't, you can explore with them other options. But you need to talk to them...

In reply to David Perry:

Hi David, Generally, I do. As I said, this employee is generally really good, with no significant concerns. It's just a trend that has started since the introduction of flexible working.

In reply to Sophie:

Hi Sophie, I did it a month or so ago, and this is when it started intermittently. They assured me that they were ok and were going through a patch. After speaking with them, it stopped until today. This employee is generally really good, with no significant concerns, It's just a trend that has started since the introduction of flexible working.

In reply to Chris:

Chris said:

It's just a trend that has started since the introduction of flexible working.

If it would work for the business, what might be the reaction if you suggested a variation, whereby one of the employee's 'office' days change to a Monday?

I would have another meeting with them and highlight that there is a pattern emerging and that it is not company policy to WFH on the extra day but we want to support them so really try and dig into what is going on on (without getting too personal of course) - Ask them if there is anything else you can help with and maybe they would need to look at a more official flexible working request and then you can decide if it is approved or not by the business if they are still able to deliver on their work.

... May be worth highlighting WHY it is important for your employees to be present in the office.

Hi Steve, thank you. This is going to be one of my suggestions. However, I have already done this on a temporary basis, and on this specific request they actually asked to keep there agreed Tuesday and Thursday and have this as an addition. My worry is if I swap this trend may continue.

In reply to Daniel:

Welcome to our Community, Daniel 

The primary question should be "what are you losing by allowing the employee to work remotely at this time?"

If you can quantify what features of their role are being under-performed or how customers or colleagues are being adversely affected, then you need to push back and insist that they attend, with the reasons well articulated.

If, on the other hand, you're still getting exactly what you need from them whether they are in the office or not... what's the problem?

In reply to Robey:

Yes this was my thinking too...

In reply to Robey:

Hi Robey,

Thank you for your reply. I want to start off by stating that I have no issue if any of my team work from home or the office. To me, personally, this makes no difference. My team can perform all tasks from the office or at home. They have now all passed probation, are trained to perform all talks, and can work independently. All tasks are being completed within KPI, and workload is being shared evenly. All calls are being answered. So, no issue from me.

However, flexible working has recently been brought in. An aspect of this that my team has taken up is Hybrid working. The policy states that they can work from home 2 days a week and from the office 3 days a week. I have no issue with swapping days if it doesn't cause any issues for the business, and I am as flexible as possible.

However, in these recent specific requests, the employee is actually asking to keep their agreed Tuesday and Thursday (or two days) and have this as an addition. So, in total, they would be working for 3 days from home. This has now happened on a few occasions. My worry is, if this trend continues, what is the best way to go about resolving it?

As I said, I personally have no issue about my team being in the office or at home, but the policy states that it has to be a two-day home-to-day office split. I am now starting to get "questioned" on why the policy is not being followed. 

Regards

In reply to Chris:

I'm not Robey but I am someone in a similar position to your employee. When I took up my role as Director of People, my organisation's hybrid working policy stated that employees would work up to 60% of their time in their office and 40% of time from home. As I work part time (0.8) and my manager is sensible, after a few weeks we agreed that it would work better for me if my standard work was two days from home (mainly project/planning/thinking/drafting time) and two days in the office (mainly in meetings, collaborating, working with my direct reports,etc) and 60% of my hours wasn't a nice round number. Of course, it's not exactly the same every week as my diary has to be flexible to meet organisational demands. We went back to the policy and tweaked it to add a line to say "a typical 60/40 split, or as agreed with your manager" so that I wasn't acting in direct contradiction to a policy I am responsible for.

Do you have discretion over how this policy is applied to this team member? What are the likely negative impacts if you make an adjustment for them? If they are carrying on doing their work as you need them to, is the fear about making others unhappy?

In reply to Gemma:

Hi Gemma,

Thank you for your time and reply. It's really appreciated. Unfortunately, I do not have discretion over how this policy is applied; it took me a long time to get flexible working introduced.

Yes, I am worried that making an adjustment for them, if it is not for a specific reason, will cause others to be unhappy. If it turns out to be related to anxiety or depression, I can explore options for them. However, if it isn't, then I was hoping to get some advice on the best way forward.

In reply to Chris:

No problem, happy to help.
I guess as others have said, it's time to have a slightly more forced discussion about whether there is a need for this particular day and sticking to your position that they need to swap one of the other WFH days (if you can accommodate this). I guess there's a chance they may become ill on Mondays instead, but if that happens you probably have other mechanisms to deal with that. There are other chances they may declare something medical and feel 3 days wfh is a reasonable adjustment, or disclose something relating to caring responsibilities or just formally submit a flexible working application too.
Best of luck with it.

In reply to Chris:

Again, I would be speaking with the employee. I would avoid saying that *you* don't have a problem with them working from home, because you are undermining yourself from the off - even if this is what you personally feel, if you need to comply with the policy and therefore need your employee to comply with the policy, it's probably not best to give away that you disagree with it.

I would highlight to them what the company policy is and let them know that you are all expected to adhere to policy unless there is a specific reason that it needs to be adjusted to individual circumstances. Then ask them about their circumstances and for their help in ensuring you both remain compliant.