Throwaway account here; just need to vent. I work in a branch for a huge company as one of two office managers/admins. I caught the flu 3 times back to back earlier this year, causing my chronic health issues that were in remission to flare, so I've been out of work a lot and used all my sick time. My other admin is also out often with chronic migraines. None the less, we typically outperform all the other branches in our region when it comes to filling our quotas and our branch is doing better as a result.
Our boss has been understanding and doesn't intend to punish us for it but he frequently has talks with us about our attendance. I get it. Shit rolls downhill. I've asked multiple times to be able to wfh on days where I can't make it in because the two hours of commuting is painful and at one point he was going to order himself a new laptop and give me his old one and not mention it to anyone higher up. Apparently, they shot any wfh down without him mentioning it and are treating this as though it's a motivational issue, and I'm irked that nobody is actually talking to us about our own health issues or trying to work with us reasonably. Boss is at a loss as to what to do because he doesn't want to punish us and says he won't but he keeps getting harped on to talk to us about it so he ends up giving dumb suggestions like “if one of you is out, the other HAS to be here” as if we have control over when we're sick, or telling my other admin to just pop 6 advil for her migraines.
My other admin has a company laptop because she used to work at corporate, so she's able to wfh if she can't come in. I've heard there's other admins who have laptops and get to wfh if needed, but I don't get that same accomodation simply because they want to babysit us, which makes zero sense because if I don't do my work, that will show in the daily reports. It'll be obvious, especially when I'm one of only 3 admins in the region who regularly meets and exceeds our quotas. So I guess it's okay to trust me with thousands of dollars everyday, confidential contracts, etc, but I can't be trusted to wfh if I get sick but feel well enough to do my job. Cool.
There's 2 entire departments serving the whole country who wfh full-time. It's way less pay but for my sanity I may ask to transfer but it'll probably be denied because they want me here so badly.
Also, they recently fired 50+ people at corporate and most were people who were wfh and don't want to rto.
I don't even get paid enough to live on my own but I actually love my job and the people I work with. This part is really aggravating me though when my chronic health issues have zero to do with my performance or commitment.