In the beginning of this year, I was fortunate enough to be hired at a company that my mother has been working at for over 35 years. She’s extremely established in her career and is only one level lower than the district VP in her state region (this information is important, I promise). I have a 401k, extended vacation time, sick time, and excellent benefits. It was a huge pay increase and step up from working for a toxic mom-and-pop business where my mental health and benefits were severely lacking.
I am currently working under my mother’s good friend and coworker who has the same status in the company as my mother. She treats me and my team extremely well, with kindness, understanding, and fairness. But, she is a stickler for one thing: she insists that being in the office is necessary to complete my job duties. I knew this when I was hired and had no issues with this. . .until my rent, food, and gas steeply increased. I’m driving almost 100 miles a day, which is now becoming a problem because I’m filling up my tank with premium gas that’s upwards of $5 a gallon. Inflation is a real bitch. I’m not even breaking even anymore, I’m making LESS than I did when I started working here. I want to stay at this place and grow within the company.
I’m completely exhausted with my relationship with my boss and if she would let me stay home (I complete my overtime work in my home office), I would save a significant amount of money a month in gas, which is a huge deal to me. Saving a little bit is A LOT these days. I’ve expressed my unhappiness to my mother, and this all could be resolved if I would let her tell her VP that I’m unhappy and would like to work from home. But, I don’t want my boss to feel like I went above her head to get what I want. It’s favoritism and it’s not right. But, what I HAVEN’T mentioned is that half of my team works from home. . .and one of my coworker wants to return to the office, which means I could work from home. But, my boss dislikes this specific coworker and finds that she is a distraction in the office. I’ve witnessed first hand that she has caused unnecessary work drama.
I just don’t know what to do. Please help me.
TL;DR: My mom helped me get a really great job that was a pay increase from my last position. National inflation has caused me to now make less than what I was making previously, and my boss could alleviate financial stress by allowing me to work from home and having my drama-causing coworker return to the office. My mom has the ability to say something to the VP and make this all happen, but I don’t want to go over my bosses head and cause turmoil.