Reason #1 why I will retire early

[Joel]

Corporate nonsense.

I’m quoting an actual email chain I dealt with today. Mind you I’m a Director level Finance employee who reports direct to a C-suite employee. Legitimately got in a full days work while working from home on Monday (month end close wasn’t going to do itself). No communication was made to my boss but rather we received this bullshit email from the HR Admin, who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee. Small company around 50-60 employees, with some employees that are full-time remote and some that have fixed schedules where they are remote part time on set days every week. No employee handbook exists. Our son is 18 months and could not go to daycare because of his fever.
 
What in the actual fuck. Me and the boss were both completely shocked and had never experienced something like this before. Neither of us even knew how to begin to respond. He told me not to worry, I’ve been kicking ass and he will talk to the CEO about the nonsense.

——————
 
From: HR Admin
To: Joel
Cc: C-level Boss
Subject: Monday
 
Hi Joel,
 
Were you out sick on Monday?  If so, can you put the request into the system?

——————

From: Joel
To: HR Admin
Cc: C-level Boss
Subject: RE: Monday
 
Hi HR Admin,
 
I worked from home on Monday. Our son had a fever so both my wife and I stayed home to juggle watching him and getting our work done. I had cleared it with C-level boss on Sunday night.
 
Thanks,
Joel

——————
From: HR Admin
To: Joel
Cc: C-level Boss; CEO
Subject: RE: RE: Monday

Joel,

You need to be aware that employees are not permitted to work from home. 

You currently have # hours of PTO.  When you need to take a day off, you are required to use the PTO that is available to you. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
HR Admin

[Freedomin5]

That is crap. I hope your boss replied to the HR Admin and CC'd all.

[ObviouslyNotAGolfer]

HR.

My father-in-law sometimes comes up with a good one:

"You show me any corporation, any government agency, any university, I guarantee you the dumbest motherf***er in the entire place is the HR guy!"

You're right==it's not the work itself, it's the stupid bullshite that goes along with it. Fortunately, I have to deal with very little of it. Nevertheless, I'm always looking over my shoulder for someone coming up behind me with a sharp implement!

[PhilB]

My usual comment is rather shorter - 'Why does everything HR touch turn to shit?'

[marty998]

Really not a great idea to trash talk your HR department on a public forum... never know who is reading :)

[Enigma]

I always have a hard time working from home myself.  When given the option I have made it a point to go in anyway.  With the exception of inclimental weather.  Then again it sounds like you had your hands full and a ton of work to do at home.  I dont usually feel like I have enough to do when I am at work.

[DeepEllumStache]

So after you already worked the full hectic day of month end close they want you to burn a precious day off for it? I hope your c-suite boss brings the hammer down on that stupidity.

[ixtap]

"Can you please point me to the written policy forbidding working from home."

[Cool Friend]

"You need to be aware that my ass isn't going to kiss itself, ya goon"

[dignam]

Boss needs to say something.  That is ridiculous.

After HR had asked if I was out sick on Monday, my simple reply would have been:

"No."

[cowpuncher10]

Corporate nonsense.

I’m quoting an actual email chain I dealt with today. Mind you I’m a Director level Finance employee who reports direct to a C-suite employee. Legitimately got in a full days work while working from home on Monday (month end close wasn’t going to do itself). No communication was made to my boss but rather we received this bullshit email from the HR Admin, who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee. Small company around 50-60 employees, with some employees that are full-time remote and some that have fixed schedules where they are remote part time on set days every week. No employee handbook exists. Our son is 18 months and could not go to daycare because of his fever.
 
What in the actual fuck. Me and the boss were both completely shocked and had never experienced something like this before. Neither of us even knew how to begin to respond. He told me not to worry, I’ve been kicking ass and he will talk to the CEO about the nonsense.

——————
 
From: HR Admin
To: Joel
Cc: C-level Boss
Subject: Monday
 
Hi Joel,
 
Were you out sick on Monday?  If so, can you put the request into the system?

——————

From: Joel
To: HR Admin
Cc: C-level Boss
Subject: RE: Monday
 
Hi HR Admin,
 
I worked from home on Monday. Our son had a fever so both my wife and I stayed home to juggle watching him and getting our work done. I had cleared it with C-level boss on Sunday night.
 
Thanks,
Joel

——————
From: HR Admin
To: Joel
Cc: C-level Boss; CEO
Subject: RE: RE: Monday

Joel,

You need to be aware that employees are not permitted to work from home. 

You currently have # hours of PTO.  When you need to take a day off, you are required to use the PTO that is available to you. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
HR Admin

I would just ignore it personally. That is someone attempting to seem more important than they actually are...

[TomTX]

Boss needs to say something.  That is ridiculous.

After HR had asked if I was out sick on Monday, my simple reply would have been:

"No."

Good answer.

[rothwem]

That's a weird situation.  So you work for the CFO, and the CEO told HR to send you an email?  What a weasly mf-er. 

[CheapScholar]

Fuck that place.

[Chrissy]

“Wow, this is the first I’m hearing that the work-from-home policy had changed! Since this was part of my negotiated compensation package with [Boss] we will need to revisit my compensation. I certainly welcome reopening negotiations since WFH is worth a lot to me!  :) Please set up a meeting with the three of us ASAP, and come prepared to bargain hard.”

[CheapScholar]

HR people ....

[Cromacster]

Recently I heard of a coworker being reprimanded by a Csuite (two levels above coworker) for working inconsistent hours, not working too few hours, just not always 8-5 or whatever.  He watches people come and go from his office that has a view of the parking lot and employee entrance.

Now I do pretty much the same thing this guy does with my boss's approval and I have never been told to do otherwise so I will continue doing it.  I've even planned out how I'd respond if I get reprimanded for it.

Ahh the joy of having FU money.

[bluebelle]

wow....just wow.

btw, how did HR know you weren't in? 

[ysette9]

I’d be flabbergasted in your shoes as well, OP. Especially for anyone over, say, a new college grad. People who work with there hands need to be at work to get stuff done. People who work in classified environments need to work in the SCI-FI to get stuff done. Most of the rest of us knowledge workers have some ability to be productive wherever. Besides which, aren’t we supposed to be judged by our output?

Please follow up if you hear any more. What nonsense

[mm1970]

I also would like a followup.  My favorite response was:

"Can you please point me to the written policy forbidding working from home."

[six-car-habit]

  quote - * who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee *

 ugghh - This is preposterous that you should be treated like a dumb+ dirty, blue collar employee - who works with his/her Hands+Body+Brain...
  Where is the sense of class structure in this company ?  It's almost like you go to work and once there, are incorrectly lableled as being from a lower caste.
    CEO's wanting to treat everyone alike ?
   Horrible, simply horrid, i need to look away. [sarcasm ]

[bluebelle]

I probably wouldn't have told HR I was working from home because I had a sick baby, I would have said I worked from home to focus on month-end reports.  HR doesn't need to know your personal business, and too much information to them never goes well in my experience.

Careful about asking for the policy in writing, it may exist.   When I first joined the company I'm with, my boss and team were 2300 miles away, but I was within 5 miles of a company office.   HR declared I was not a virtual employee and I needed to go to the office, all to save $50/mth internet charge, policy stated that I couldn't be virtual if I was within 50 miles of an office.....so my boss and I agreed that I was virtual, without that particular expense claim, since there was zero value in me driving to that office and I'd get sucked into problems what weren't mine to fix.   Everyone in the local office presumed I was virtual, and we kept HR happy.....several iterations of HR later, I suddenly became virtual.

[cloudsail]

I wonder if there is some office politics going on between CEO and your boss (presumably the CFO), this smells a little bit like pissing contest between the C-levels.

[mm1970]

  quote - * who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee *

 ugghh - This is preposterous that you should be treated like a dumb+ dirty, blue collar employee - who works with his/her Hands+Body+Brain...
  Where is the sense of class structure in this company ?  It's almost like you go to work and once there, are incorrectly lableled as being from a lower caste.
    CEO's wanting to treat everyone alike ?
   Horrible, simply horrid, i need to look away. [sarcasm ]

Maybe re-frame that as (I assume) he meant to put it:

CEO likes to treat everyone like a non-exempt, hourly employee, whose primary job requires actually being physically present in order to perform the work.

Compared to an exempt employee - which come with different rules, legally (and different definitions), or an employee that works primarily on computers/ paper, which can mostly be done anywhere.

[partdopy]

  quote - * who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee *

 ugghh - This is preposterous that you should be treated like a dumb+ dirty, blue collar employee - who works with his/her Hands+Body+Brain...
  Where is the sense of class structure in this company ?  It's almost like you go to work and once there, are incorrectly lableled as being from a lower caste.
    CEO's wanting to treat everyone alike ?
   Horrible, simply horrid, i need to look away. [sarcasm ]

Well yeah, why would a CEO treat employees of starkly different value to the company, different skill sets, and different job requirements the same?  The only one insinuating that blue collar employees are dumb or dirty, or that there is something wrong with working with your hands, is you. 

[Psychstache]

HR.

My father-in-law sometimes comes up with a good one:

"You show me any corporation, any government agency, any university, I guarantee you the dumbest motherf***er in the entire place is the HR guy!"

You're right==it's not the work itself, it's the stupid bullshite that goes along with it. Fortunately, I have to deal with very little of it. Nevertheless, I'm always looking over my shoulder for someone coming up behind me with a sharp implement!

Someone I used to work with once had a saying: "Human Resources is the most inaccurately named department in the world. They are not very resourceful and they certainly don't act human."

[TomTX]

  quote - * who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee *

 ugghh - This is preposterous that you should be treated like a dumb+ dirty, blue collar employee - who works with his/her Hands+Body+Brain...
  Where is the sense of class structure in this company ?  It's almost like you go to work and once there, are incorrectly lableled as being from a lower caste.
    CEO's wanting to treat everyone alike ?
   Horrible, simply horrid, i need to look away. [sarcasm ]

Blue collar jobs are far more likely to require physical presence. Being blue collar is fine, just far less likely to be a job where WFH is a good option. OP was working on a computer on financial reporting.

[ysette9]

Unlike the experiences here I’ve had a number of positive interactions with HR. Especially as a manager dealing with challenging situations, I’ve found them to be a good source of support and info.
I wonder what separates out the good from the bad, or if there is just a mix like any other population?

[HBFIRE]

Yeah, I definitely don't miss corporate politics and the antics that remind me of "The Office".  As an introvert, it was incredibly hard to deal with.  It's a game I refused to play and I know it hurt my career in many cases.

When I started my own business, my main motivating factor was the fear of having to return to that environment.  It turned out to be an extremely good motivator.

[Hula Hoop]

I'd be careful mentioning the sick child thing.  I know that you said that you and your spouse were both home in order to take turns looking after the baby and working but looking after sick kids and getting work done aren't usually compatible.  At my office, we're allowed to work from home but we're not allowed to also look after children while we're working from home.

[Kris]

HR people ....

No shit.

I have a particular loathing for HR, as well. I’ve told my husband more than once that if, when I met him, our first date had gone exactly the way it did except he told me he worked in HR... there would not have been a second date.

[Joel]

In hindsight, a simple “no” to the initial inquiry would have been the way to go. My boss felt honesty was important (knowing my young child will be sick again) and the fact it was pre-cleared with him should have trumped anything.

[six-car-habit]

  quote - * who presumably sent this under the direction of the CEO who likes to treat everyone like a blue collar employee *

 ugghh - This is preposterous that you should be treated like a dumb+ dirty, blue collar employee - who works with his/her Hands+Body+Brain...
  Where is the sense of class structure in this company ?  It's almost like you go to work and once there, are incorrectly lableled as being from a lower caste.
    CEO's wanting to treat everyone alike ?
   Horrible, simply horrid, i need to look away. [sarcasm ]

Well yeah, why would a CEO treat employees of starkly different value to the company, different skill sets, and different job requirements the same?  The only one insinuating that blue collar employees are dumb or dirty, or that there is something wrong with working with your hands, is you.

 The entire comment was meant to be facetious, which i guess was lost in my bad delivery.  In my industry, if the blue collar folks don't turn wrenches, wire up and deliver electricity, or make items with machines, than there is no business / reason for existing, and the white collar folks would be unemployed as well.

    The idea that the CEO would treat both white and blue collar workers alike in the case of "sick leave" is appealing to me. And if you're not at your expected "work location" to interact with fellow employees - it doesn't matter if your skill set is different.
 If the blue collar worker brought his kid to the worksite, and stopped his job every hour to wipe his kids nose, make them drink pedialyte, and take their temperature - this is likely not to be acceptable to management, even if the worker made the required quota of widgits that day.

     Plus it seems that the original poster did not have carte-blanche to stay at home and remote work, and was expected to be at the office. At least in the minds of HR and the CEO.  Yes I understand the CFO gave them permission to be at home, however higher management disagreed. Anyhow, good job by Joel in being honest with the CFO, about sick child.

  My snark was directed at the subtle attitude on the boards which is often present, that white collar folks are inherently superior, and should enjoy better perks from management. That was lost on you PartDopey, so my apologies to any worker -  of any color collar - whom i offended.

[mrs sideways]

(shrug) I've had good experiences with HR too. In my last job the HR lady was awesome and the poison in the company all seeped from the CEO/Owner's son.