Vodafone: Be in the office 8 days a month or lose bonuses

Vodafone is warning staff in the UK to work onsite at least eight days a month or be subject to disciplinary action from April. Group UK employees were last week sent the “Hybrid Working at Vodafone” memo - seen by The Register - to highlight the policy and tell them to expect a year-end conversation with their line manager …

[Anonymous Coward]

Another place dead to me then.

I'll take my 30 years experience elsewhere, thank you.

Currently working for a fully remote start up. They aren't paying me top dollar, but then since my commute is 0 minutes and I get to fit my work around my life, the uplift in quality is priceless.

Still if you really insist on paying your staff 20% extra to see them in the office, it's your own shareholders you are stiffing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

One issue at Newbury is they've sold off part of the site and there are not enough desks. If this is just a box ticking thing then teams can plan their attendance so that there is desk space but if they want entire teams on site at the same time it is going to be a mess.

[Mike 137]

"they've sold off part of the site"

The most Kafka-esque implementaion of this I've encountered was a co. with a large open plan hot desking office on one floor. They leased half of it to another company but didn't put in any barriers so you had to guess where the boundary between the two lay. And this was a business processing sensitive data for government!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "they've sold off part of the site"

The stupidity of the bean counters knows no bounds!

[A.P. Veening]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

One issue at Newbury is they've sold off part of the site and there are not enough desks. If this is just a box ticking thing then teams can plan their attendance so that there is desk space but if they want entire teams on site at the same time it is going to be a mess.

How about malicious compliance by the employees, all showing up on the same days and all working from home on the same days? And those eight days per month, how about the first eight working days month? And that can even be explained by the employees as precaution, if they have to call in sick near the end of the month, they might not make those eight days.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

Well, it's not just paying extra, it's the buildings and FM costs as well. And the berks at Voda did a sale and leaseback a couple of years ago, so somebody will now be looking to shaft Voda.

But I'm in two minds - not all and everything can be 100% remoted; eight days a month isn't that unreasonable, and if they're going to have rules then it's not unreasonable to enforce them if people are taking the proverbial. My experience is that if there's any leeway, then people will interpret the rules as entirely voluntary.

But I guess for anybody valuable enough to the business, then the office day mandate either doesn't apply, or will be interpreted differently, this seems to happen at most places.

[Rage Destroyer]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

The main issue with forcing the rule is people were told it was working from home during interviews. I certainly was.

People's individual circumstances are being completely ignored.

For instance, back 2019 I was told I was exempt from coming in to the office due to long term health issues, that have only got worse. Now I've been told the company have reassessed my situation and my health issues are exactly that, my issues not the companies. So now I have to sit on a train with my compromised immune system and have people coughing and sneezing all over me so I can goto an office that I have no access for, because I'm a home worker, just to go back home again.

It's clearly an attempt at constructive dismissal

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

Long before COVID, a client working at $government-org said he had an hours drive through heavy traffic to his office, followed by a potentially fruitless search for a car park place, and even if that was successful, a potentially fruitless search for a spare hot desk. He would then have to drive home again and start working.

I suspect Elon would rejoice that getting rid of parking spaces and desks was “efficient”, but actually wholly ineffective.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

There isn't a one-size fits all solution and the "studies" cited were mainly self-selecting. Other "studies" have shown what we all know: some people are good at organising themselves and working independently, others less so. SWMBO as the boss works from home one day a week and is at her most productive then. But the other days in the office she's constantly interrupted by employees who need help and advice, many of whom prefer working in the office to being at home, despite long commutes.

I'm not saying this initiative isn't another poorly disguised attempt to get some employees to leave voluntarily, but the reporting has been pretty one-sided so far.

[Mike 137]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

"she's constantly interrupted by employees who need help and advice"

Isn't dealing with that a primary function of good management?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

Yes, within limits!

I am a senior developer, but for the past 2 weeks I have contributed 3 hours to my primary task. All the rest has been in meetings (mostly useful) or hand holding junior developers, who to be honest have no F*cking idea and do not learn, traipsing back with the same question, slightly reworded a day or two later. They are based in an Indian "Centre of Excellence" - the only thing they are excellent at is wasting EMEA staff members time!

The local Technical Lead would not get a job as a junior developer in EMEA. But Bean Counters think this arrangement is wonderful. Agh!

[A.P. Veening]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

But Bean Counters think this arrangement is wonderful. Agh!

Just make sure your timesheet reflects the actual situation. It might help if there is a way to split out or highlight the actual productive hours. And ask those bean counters how long it takes nine cows to produce one calf.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

It's necessary, and shows why both parties are required, but with "good" management you might expect the amount of time devoted to hand-holding to decline to some kind of minimum.

[UnknownUnknown]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

Fixed desk in the office …. Pah! Who needs a mobile phone any more !!

[UnknownUnknown]

Re: Another place dead to me then.

Pop into your local Vodafone shop, have a cuppa with the store manager … and then back home to do some proper work.

No bonus is what poor corporate performance or blowing your annual performance review is for not office presenteerism.

[abend0c4]

Be in the office 8 days a month

I at first misread that as Be in the office 8 days a week.

They're probably saving that for later.

[GoneFission]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

Refusal to facilitate spacetime alterations in order to ensure attendance and mission success will result in disciplinary action. High performers willing to show consistent engagement for 48 hours or more during a single 24-hour workday may be considered for 15 minutes unpaid leave from the Hellscape Time Loop

[K.o.R]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

They want them to be a Day Tripper quite frequently.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

It's called Haiku OS now.

[Annihilator]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

That's broadly what Google have mandated, no? "Be in the office *at least* every weekday" was the linked article.

[xyz123]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

yes but google also mandates daily chicken sacrifies to the Dark Elder Gods who run their AI codebase.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

"I at first misread that as Be in the office 8 days a week."

Isn't that what Sergei Brin (Alphabet/Google) was referring to further down in this article? "...saying they should expect to be in the office "at least" every weekday as part of a hardcore 60-hour working week"

[Giles C]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

Yep, I don’t know when these companies will realise that working multiple 12 hour days in succession will lead to lower performance as you need breaks from work to recover.

Occasionally I have done such and at the end of the week tasks that should take 10 minutes end up taking a lot longer as you are so tired.

You can do this for a week or two but after you need downtime to recover.

[nijam]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

> You can do this for a week or two but after you need downtime to recover.

True, but that's your problem, not theirs.

[PB90210]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

I preferred the much more softcore 36 hrs a week, worked as a 9-day-fortnight...

They locked the gates at 5:30, so little chance of a 12hr day!

(engineering, so no chance of WFH)

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: Be in the office 8 days a month

"Hard core 60 hour working week" had better come with 40% over the local average pay.

[Doctor Syntax]

Another comms company that tells the world its comms arrangements aren't good enoug to support remote working.

Noted.

[gv]

I've never forgiven them for shutting down Demon Internet...

[that one in the corner]

Absolutely.

Although they were unable to actually manage DIS admin tasks[1]: they didn't so much shut it down as never maintain it until it just - stopped.

[1] I ended up with three DIS hostnames and fixed IP, one pair active at a time, because as a major telecomms company (!) they could never figure out how to change the landline 'phone number when I moved! So had to close each account[2] and start up a new one.

[2] And to top it off, when *they* told me that they had to shut down the first account, *they* then came back to say that it could not be shut down because it was a "company account". No. No, it was always a personal account. "What if just cancel my personal credit card so it won't be paid for any more?" "We'll keep it alive and just send out the bailiffs". Did they have a contact name for this company? Yup, my name. So I can cancel? No, it must come on company letterhead! Aaaargh.

[xyz123]

And ironically acting like demons stiffing the staff out of redundancy pay by "hiring" them for a couple of weeks, shifting their contracts, then making them redundant with "only two weeks continuous service".

[Boothy]

Haven't thought about Demon for years!

Was using them back in the 90s, when I was still accessing the Internet with Amigas!

I had a Demon hosted web site, providing instructions on how to set up a TCP/IP stack in Amiga OS, and control your dial up etc.

Good old #disa (Demon IP Support Amiga) IRC channel, we even organised a few meet ups! Those were the days.

Icon: That's what we did on the meet ups!

[Dan 55]

I think the quality of their coverage and service told the world that years ago.

[renniks]

Vodafone support is terrible anyway - I'm unlucky enough having to deal with them, and they are brutal compared to Three when it comes to support

[John Miles]

Actually I think it says - another bunch of C grades and senior management who have no idea how to measure performance.

[Evil Auditor]

Be in the office 8 days a month or lose bonuses?

Need to be in the office more than 4 days a month: lose me.

[renniks]

bye bye - don't let the door hit you on the way out...

[xyz123]

Nah come in 8 days a month. Take a seat as close to management as possible. Constantly in their office asking questions. Shame you somehow now have chronic flatulence etc.....

[Dabooka]

It will ultimately limit their recruitment

In my line of work folk actively ask in recruitment phases what the hybrid / WFH policy is, as would I. Some days I'm back to back on Teams, well I'm at home for that thank you very much otherwise I'm off elsewhere

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: It will ultimately limit their recruitment

As long as there are enough applicants they won't notice.

Why should they if employees are fungible? After all MBAs are.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It will ultimately limit their recruitment

It's also unlawful for several reasons.

It's a significant change to contracts - the "official" policy is irrelevant, reality is more important than any document locked up in a disused basement lavatory, and is really easy to prove.

It's also discrimination against several protected characteristics.

I foresee a quiet walkback when ACAS get in touch, or multiple very expensive tribunal losses and a louder walkback in Vodafone's future.

Anon while the cases are built.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It will ultimately limit their recruitment

This is already in Vodafone staff contracts though - it's just being enforced at a company level now, rather than ad-hoc in specific teams.

Not impossible to argue that's a major change in T&C, but I doubt it would stand up in a tribunal.

It does look like a ploy to get headcount down ahead of the Three merger though.

Three's HQ staff T&C are very similar, judging by the various jobs being advertised at present.

[SundogUK]

Re: It will ultimately limit their recruitment

"It's also discrimination against several protected characteristics."

How?

[Richard 12]

Re: It will ultimately limit their recruitment

I assume the OP means that it's extremely difficult for someone using a wheelchair to make it into the office.

For example, the Tube is impossible to navigate unless you can lift your wheels off the ground - nearly all the "wheelchair accessible" stations require you to do that to board a train. Buses are similar and take much longer.

There's a lot of disabilities and conditions that have similar effects.

Even if it's physically possible, the extra travel hours each day can make a huge difference - someone who has enough energy for an 8 hour day of work from home can easily lose two to four of those active hours to a commute.

So forcing RTO means they're only working 4 hours, and have no energy for any kind of social life.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the big push to RTO? Financially it makes no sense as it costs businesses more. The common sense approach would be to downsize the offices then schedule 1 day a week or fortnight people are in the office on a rota. That way you start scheduling around that for the things that require attendance. As for performance, if you can't measure performance when your staff are offsite then you can't measure it onsite either.

As we know though the economy doesn't work with common sense. Someone needs to rent all those expensive office building and buy expensive coffees and pastries near by. Then you have the related businesses such as cleaners, caterers, office supplies etc... That's the real reason for the RTO push. Who will win though? The employees who can change jobs or the employers who can make everywhere RTO.

[Kevin Johnston]

Very few larger businesses will be in a position to make rapid changes to their stock of office space. In most cases those who owned their own buildings went for sale and leaseback to reduce the Capex side since that has all the depreciation which the beancounters see as a bad thing. Now they are leasing the offices they have very long leadtimes on making changes since the new owners have them on the hook and need to screw every penny they can before the bottom falls out of the office rental market.

Those few who do still own the buildings they work from are actually in a worse position since it can take years to sell such a building unless it can be partitioned into smaller units.

[Richard 12]

If they own the building then it's easy to rent it out.

In many cases there's permitted development rights to cheaply turn it into poor quality housing, which nets a very pretty penny.

It's only the sale-and-leaseback muppets who have a problem.

[xyz123]

We're turning the office into poor quality housing.

By which we mean there are sleeping bags under the desks......

[rg287]

If they own the building then it's easy to rent it out.

Depends on the building layout, what on-prem IT they have and where it is.

Clearing out an open-plan hot-desking floor and turning it into flats is easy. Moving any sort of substantial on-prem server facility to... somewhere.... (colo, cloud, upstairs) could take rather longer and carry more business risk.

Even if you tried to split it and give over a couple of floors to residential (with their own entrance/lifts) and retain the others, that may only work in relatively urban areas. Converting urban office space to residential is lucrative. Living out in a random building on a business park in the middle of nowhere with no local shops, amenities, car-only access, etc is not an attractive sell (although you'd still fill it in today's housing market).

Looking at Voda specifically, their campus is like, 7 buildings, but when they sold the site to Iqon, they're only leasing back half the property and vacating three buildings, which Iqon said in 2023 they'd use as business park. But that could change if they struggle to fill them, and it's not too far out of Newbury to be livable - cycle/pedestrian paths leading into the neighbouring residential areas, etc. It's not just a big chain-link perimeter.

[SundogUK]

"...to cheaply turn it into poor quality housing,"

Turning commercial into residential is NOT cheap. Apart from regulatory issues, in most cases, you can be guaranteed the plumbing/electrical systems will need completely replacing.

[Mishak]

"expensive coffees and pastries near by"

Yes, I saw some "business development" person from somewhere on TV using this as the mean reason why people needed to RTO - "or else I won't get re-elected as everywhere will be shut down".

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: "expensive coffees and pastries near by"

Years ago local TV was reporting some bod from Sheffield council bragging about bringing some big business project into the city. A few days later another bod from the same council was complaining about the difficulties of managing traffic in the city. Joined up thinking?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're over thinking it

It gives them a full on robo chubby when they get to boss other people about. They know commuting is miserable and makes our work days 2 or 3 hours longer and knowing we hate it makes them happy.

It's literally that.

Pathetic.

[Doctor Syntax]

"Someone needs to rent all those expensive office building and buy expensive coffees and pastries near by. Then you have the related businesses such as cleaners, caterers, office supplies etc..."

If those have to be supported by long commutes then they are unsustainable. TPTB need to realise that and the sooner the better. Those with net zero policies who actually mean them need to look at that aspect.

[blackcat]

Sadly the UK sorta bet the farm on these service industries. You don't need to do much to train a cleaner or barista and commercial real estate has been a huge and reasonably passive money-maker for years.

[Roland6]

Thanks to lockdown, my village of circa 1000 homes, now has two thriving coffee shops, a business centre (for home workers wanting some office space and facilities), two hair dressers and a couple of other business support related shops. We also have been getting people involved in the residents association and social events, RTO threatens all of this, as people will have to divert currently spare income into travel expenses. (For me that means running two cars rather than one car and a bicycle).

[ecofeco]

It's... complicated.

If the company doesn't actually own the building then there is a good chance they own the leasing company or are a major investor/partner in the leasing company.

If they DO own the building then they need to show business cause for keeping the building instead of selling it. Selling the building means upper management may lose their cushy offices and assigned parking and other perks. Not even joking.

[Anonymous Coward]

Upper management are more likely to “move on to new challenges” than actual worker bees. And initiatives such as this barely last a few news cycles. So perhaps we just wait for the next MBA-fuelled initiative to get management their bonuses, probably involving AI or something they read about in Forbes or a Gartner report.

My own experience is that someone at the top mandated RTO, HR was told to make it happen, EVERYONE got pissed off, and ultimately HR didn’t want the hassle and subbed it to line managers who just decided to carry on as before. Huge waste of time and effort, and huge loss of staff goodwill,

[Roland6]

> Who will win though? The employees who can change jobs or the employers who can make everywhere RTO.

Ultimately the employees, as history has repeatedly shown us the power of cost reduction. In recent years the internet has totally changed transactional costs.

The future, and we are probably looking circa 10 years out will be those who have trod very light with respect to traditional office infrastructure conventions and gone fully remote friendly. (Yes Starlink does potentially mean you can be in the office whilst backpacking in Yosemite, “sorry can’t talk now just having to attend to a bear”).

[Anonymous Coward]

Companies think you owe them something

Your time is not the company's to demand. They pay you for your life which is far more valuable than the salary you're paid.

They can request, but you can choose to walk instead.

I think Vodafone needs a "wake-up-call".

[BrianJacobs]

Call me a cynic

I work for a large telco company, not VF. I can tell you that the reasons for these policies are much more cynical. In short - they are a cheaper method of reducing the workforce without the need for payments to those exiting. This is a policy I have seen enacted in my company. It didn't really work. The high performing individuals all left, remaining people just engage in malicious compliance, go into the office, can't find a desk, spend the day chatting around the coffee machine, repeat. I was lucky enough to have a WFH contract, so I am an untouchable. Didn't stop them trying though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Call me a cynic

And a fair few of them start the road to a tribunal.

Some accept a payout, others a large payrise, and a few (likely the best paid) go all the way to tribunal.

Constructive dismissal is sometimes difficult to prove, but unacceptable contractual changes like this make it trivial.

[Woodnag]

Didn't stop them trying though.

Didn't stop them trying though.... we need that story, Brian. Please nicely.

[0laf]

Re: Call me a cynic

"You'll lose your best people" is something often said when the loss of WFH is assumed to be cover for downsizing.

And I think the reality is that those people making the decisions and counting the money don't give a shit about it.

[Wang Cores]

No more pizza party guys

:(

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Whats the alternative?

Perhaps one day we might have telephones that we can take with us when we aren't in the office - but for now we need to be close to the switchboard

[Annihilator]

Re: Whats the alternative?

Well this is the thing, isn't it? The more companies tell me that I'm apparently not able to work effectively at home, the more I'll demonstrate that during snow days, strikes, etc. "Nope, sorry, can't work from home, or answer that email outside of core hours anymore"

[elsergiovolador]

Predators

One thing is that it is much easier to do bullying and harassment in the office, because remote leaves more paper trail.

I always thought that the people behind RTO are the odd ones, you know the "team players" or the bullies looking for work "romance" using their position of power.

Other thing - again commercial property market is suffering, so the investors push companies to get bums on seats to artificially prop the value.

[ecofeco]

Re: Predators

It's worse than that.

The leasing company may just be a shell for the parent company. Another scenario is the named company may be a major shareholder in the leasing company.

For those of you who don't know that companies burn both ends of the candle, AND THE MIDDLE, and conflict of interest is no longer taboo, consider yourself warned.

[Bebu sa Ware]

"help teach members to form a pattern."

Sounds more dressmaking classes or kindy. :)

Operant conditioning? But more likely Tom Brown's school days with the patterns being the sadistic weals from six of the best. :)

(Hence the Jimmy Edwards' Whack-O! Icon.)

[PerlLaghu]

But what's the bonus?

Apparently not conforming to the RTO means one "would not be eligible for a bonus in 2026 or in subsequent years in which a final warning is given"

The big question is "What size is the bonus?"..... I know I'm not in this IT game for the money (so long as I have enough for my hobbies, I've no desire to get money for monies-sake), but a bonus could be a nice holiday somewhere.

Of course, if the bonus is a couple of hundred quid, I'm not seeing a winning argument here: I'm not shelling out [in my case] an extra £60 a month to commute to an office, to be demonstrably less productive, at no risk to my actual employment (allegedly)..... and, at the end of the year, actually be worse off in both time and money

[Rage Destroyer]

Re: But what's the bonus?

Anything from £0 to £2500

[MJI]

Re: But what's the bonus?

£60, that is nothing, I was spending nearly £300 on tractor juice pre Covid

[MJI]

Re: But what's the bonus?

A month

[The Onymous Coward]

Good value

For most employees, bonus will be maximum of 10% - after tax, I bet it doesn't actually cover the cost of going into the office for ~100 days per year, so I'd continue to WFH and tell the boss I don't care if I never get a bonus again.

[xyz123]

I've worked with vodafone. Their "bonuses" are around £100 a year for the lowest staff.

For high-end managers it goes up to around £150k (paid via various sneaky non-taxable methods natch). Their pay system is incredibly unbalanced towards top management

and WFH for the ordinary call-takers/admin staff being £100 , WFH is cheaper in terms of commute costs!

[Anonymous Coward]

Same in many places

We're getting the push as well though it's not mandated outside or North America.

Can only assume it's a cowards way to downsize by pushing people out the door but I accept that the boardroom like to see full offices as they pass them in the glass elevator on the way to the exec floor.

I'm in a small team, geographically seperated, we never meet except remotely. I cover territories across the UK, Ireland and Australia. The chance of me being in the same locality as a client for any call is about 1 in 30. They're not opening the office at 3am for me to call Aus so I assume they are still expecting me to do those calls from home.

Offices have been downsized now there is not enough space to cope with a return to onsite working.

As for cutting a bonus, ours is so low that losing the bonus is still more economical than returning to a commute. The loss of time returning to a 3hr a day commute is probably even more unnacceptable.

You also have the hypocricy of businesses touting carbon zero achievements whilst pushing workers back into cars to commute. Public transport and Evs would still have more of a carbon footprint than WFH.

[s. pam]

Glad I retired in Jan 25

I don't have to deal with this shit anymore and if you can at all afford to, now's the time to find a new employer!

My previous job offered all employees the decision point in 2021 to stay FTE onsite, or Hybrid, or 100% WFH.

I signed 100% WFH with only very occasional forays into the orifice, which meant my travel expenses were reimbursable! That company (now US owned) is now trying to force new contracts down everyone who'd signed WFH contracts and discovered that UK employees do not have to agree. So my prediction for my ex-staff there is look for another job now!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Glad I retired in Jan 25

Yeah the contractual thing is just a hurdle once. Family member worked at Lloyds, and got split out to TSB. They tried to force new contracts (that were less favourable - basically meant they could send you to work in any ‘local’ branch, of which all of Scotland was a region. Managers could and did weaponise that by sending problematic staff to crazy locations).

Obviously they couldn’t force the new contracts. But they created every trip hazard and incentive to do it - such as no bonuses for those on old terms (they’re not a contractual obligation) and if you wanted to adjust your working pattern, quite common in a service role, you had to sign a new contract.

I also currently work in a large building society that made a large song and dance about how remote working forever was the way forward - only for them to subsequently declare it wasn’t a contractual change, and you were now expected back in the office.

[Rage Destroyer]

The problem is......

The company have downsized all their offices so there is no longer any room for all staff to attend any office.

I suspect this is yet another attempt by the company to screw staff members out of bonus.

The ferocity of the enforcement is baffling though.

[A.P. Veening]

Re: The problem is......

The company have downsized all their offices so there is no longer any room for all staff to attend any office.

I suspect this is yet another attempt by the company to screw staff members out of bonus.

The correct answer to that is (massive) malicious compliance. Everybody shows up at the same days (preferably even at the same times) and nobody can find a place to work. Well, the first few might, but they won't get any work done as they are continuously interrupted by those "seeking" a place to work.

[Efer Brick]

As Jimmy Carr once said...

I'll get into the office around 11, chat up the recptionist, have a spot of lunch then home.

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop complaining

In my view, looking at it from a different company, employees at Vodafone should stop complaining about this and stick to the extremely light rules on the office return.

A lot of other companies (say, BT as Telco ...without even mentioning Amazon as Tech) are pushing for way more than 2 days a week.

Vodafone pays relatively well, bonuses in Corporate are >3K (10% assumption for most of the cases), they also never reduced/cut any salaries/bonuses during COVID and always supported employees.

Also, this is the first time they are moving to this return model (considerably later than others, who adopted twice a week already around 2 years ago).

Also, a very uncomfortable true, for people complaining about space: Please let us know how many times you attended an office building on Mondays and Fridays (...I suspect not many, as strangely enough, there is usually a lot of space available on such days). The fact that these are not "popular days" it's a different story, but that's your "personal schedule story", not a company problem.

With this policy, VF still remain a perfectly viable option for flexibility and 100s times better than other Telco/Tech companies in the UK.

Also, individual circumstances can usually be agreed at HR level, when required (not for everyone, but for the extreme cases).

And, no, 2 days a week (which can be also done as 8 days altogether in a month) is definitely not a way to avoid bonus payments as I would expect >98% compliance with the policy, leaving 2% which is completely negligible in financial terms.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Stop complaining

(then posts long, whining post about how this shitty behaviour isn't quite as shitty as other companies shitty behaviour)

Take your own advice AC, stop complaining about people complaining.

[vekkq]

McKinsey is terrible advice. Vodafone should get rid of some more office space.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bonus - extra money above the normal

Why does this threat sound like it's going to effect normal salary?

Just asking.

[arachnoid2]

Vodafone pays relatively well, bonuses in Corporate are >3K (10% assumption for most of the cases

Have you actually worked out via hourly rate and travel expanse if that makes any sense cost wise, I think not?

[MJI]

Working from home is a

£4000 pay rise

Fuel, tyres, insurance, wear and tear.

7 hour shorter week as well

[markr555]

Contract is king.

I'm not sure I understand all the bleating here; if your contract says WFH then you can work from home. If it says Hybrid/WFO then the company is well within its rights to ask or demand your presence. If you don't like it then find a new role. They company cannot arbitrarily/ unilaterally change your contract and must make you redundant if you don't want to agree new terms (UK employees, yanks are screwed)

[Anonymous Coward]

Unpopular Opinion

People are lazy, don't want to get dressed, like watching TV and playing playstation under the guise of being more productive working from home. Yes some people are very responsible and take their duties seriously (and these are the people impacted by this RTO), but a large percentage of WFH do it to sleep off hangovers, doss and be unproductive. They then drag a negative attitude and sense of entitlement around with them if they ever do deign to show their faces in the office. Productivity going up is a myth. It did so early during Covid because most people saw a workload reduction but it plateaued in 2022 and has been regressing steadily from 2023. Hybrid RTO is good and companies should be applauded for leaving choice in the hands of employees but also having exceptions for where WFH is genuinely required.