My job can be done remotely. We worked remote during 2020 because of the pandemic. In 2021 they forced us back to the office in the summer because we are “better together” and they spent so much money on advertising this campaign, throwing a party for our reunion, etc. The “compromise” they offered us was to work 3 days in office 2 days from home even though the majority of us wanted to continue working from home.
The way our jobs are divided is that everyone has a specific function. No one else can cover for that person except in some situations. Yesterday half of my team was out of the office at a baseball game to thank them for their work on a prior project. I decided since the floor was empty I would spend the afternoon working from home. My boss came back to the office at 3:30 didn't see me at my cube and scheduled a meeting for today.
He told me I'm part of this team. Last tie I took vacation at the same time as other people which meant no one was there to cover for me (again no one can cover for me and all my work was caught up). He was disappointed walking up the stairs with his manager seeing me not at my desk. He said we are working on building trust and he expected me to hold down the fort (again, half the floor was gone and I can't cover for anyone). He is going to record that we had this conversation but no write up because technically I committed “job abandonment” (again I continued to work from home). He expects me to be at my desk Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Should I have an emergency and need to go home I need to contact him but I need to communicate better.
By the way, I'm underpaid. We took a pay cut in 2020 after they laid off 40% of the workforce. Instead of backfilling these positions they gave us everyone else's responsibilities. We got our original pay back in 2021. I had asked for a raise since I've been taking on work outside of my job description. I started working for the company in 2019 and 2021 I got a 6% raise. However, compared to my colleagues who's jobs I'm doing, I'm still making significantly less than them.
I'm really ready to leave this job for real.
ETA: In February 2021 I asked for a raise, October 2021 I got the raise but still making less than my colleagues. 2021 I really went above and beyond in addition to doing work for our grassroots DEI. March of 2022 we talked about all I had accomplished and my manager's criticism was I could've condensed my accomplishments by topic. During this time I expressed concern I still wasn't paid enough and he told me our company isn't like that and I'd be better to look elsewhere but he's always advocating for us. In June of this year we were supposed to come up with “goals” that go above and beyond our job description. I said I wasn't motivated to come up with any and he told me it's on me to promote and advocate for myself and I need to talk to his boss's boss. I spoke to her last month. I told my boss's boss's boss I want a raise or promotion, here's how my MBA helped the group, what I'm doing to learn more about the business, and where I'm heading in my career. She didn't know I did all that I did (so much for advocacy from my manager) and she had to think about it. Two weeks later she gave me more work to do, no raise or promotion.