Had a meeting with HR this afternoon about a few days a few months ago where I had no transportation to work and was relying on an evening ride to get my badge swipe. My direct management was aware and, supposedly, fine with it. Our team also has the unofficial ‘official’ go ahead from our global head to leave once we’ve logged 4 hours in office, but that’s beside the point I guess.
HR called it a ‘fact finding’ meeting and had no concrete answer when I asked what next steps were and when I could expect to hear back. I’ve seen posts of people being let go for the same basic reason and am just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience? Meeting first and then termination to follow? Obviously can’t change the outcome now, but I’m still curious.
32 replies (most recent on top)
@20k did you have a similar call? Please update here with any changes.
Could you provide some clarification like what time you arrived, what time you left, and what lob and location you were in?
Did they give you any severance?
The issue is you need reliable transportation to get to work which you didn't have. The onus is on you to get to work. If you've moved further away from the office after you were hired, it was up to you to make sure you had reliable transportation.
@19w thanks for updating this post. How did they share their decision, and what were the next steps?
Your direct manager does not have the power nor authority to grant you the privilege of working 4 hours from the office. You and your manager will be fired for violating the corporate policy.
@18n they did terminate me for ‘dishonesty’ on Tuesday. From what I gather there really isn’t any other outcome people have experienced. Wouldn’t exactly call it dishonest as I was up front about it all and my managers were aware and okay with it. But obviously that didn’t matter in the eyes of HR and anyone else who was involved with making the call.
Can you update this post with any changes? I just had a similar meeting.
@vm those require mgmt approval for one and excessive use also leads too…..termination for violating the RTO policy dum--ss
I received an email from HR regarding one of my employees who works in office from 7am to 12pm and works from home from 1pm to 4pm. I was instructed they will need to work their full shift in the office starting in January 5th.
@OP you’re going to be terminated for cause, several members of my team were let go for the same thing, should have used in office exception days
What's the point of going in to the office to "collaborate" if your "coworkers" are 12 time zones away?
All of you RTO Refuseniks crack me up. You’ll never get it.
Learn to work your job.
@es unfortunately it is written in the policy. The FAQs state you are expected to work your working hours in the office. They don’t need to specify how long since they are already saying in writing you are expected to be in office during your working hours.
@h8 perhaps reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit because nowhere did the post say I was working for 4 hours. I work 8 hours (or more) every day. They specifically were upset about the time spent on the network in the office. There have also been many other accounts of people having the same issue of being in office working, then going home and finishing their day and getting a call from HR about it.
The people who work 4 hours in the office and then DONT work the other 4 hours on VPN or otherwise are the issue. They are the ones being complained on. There are plenty of teams who do their 4 hours, drive home at lunch because they live 10 minutes away and then work from home the rest of the day. Or they start their day at home and come in at lunch. Those people are not the issue. Your pay is for 40 hours a week. If you’re working for 20 you’re going to get caught. That’s time theft. If you have a transportation issue have your manager approve in office exception. It’s that simple.
Make sure you badge in and are on network for your 40 hours. Do your job. Carry your share. Don’t get complained on.
To be honest, your manager should take some responsibility
Your response needs to be follows IN WRITING:
Hello,
Thank you for the time we spent discussing an “alleged” failure to meet “in office policy.” As per your procedures, I was present onsite on the following dates (list dates). Your “working together” policy indicates that I have met or exceeded these requirements. However, despite your policy, you claim that I have violated this policy due to “time in office.” This is nowhere stated in your policy. Please provide documentation in response to this email asap. In addition any further conversations of this nature regarding this issue will be considered retaliatory.
Your prompt attention to this matter is requested.
Thank You,
Employee name
Copy your manager. Put them on the defensive. If ANY action is taken against you, you can take this to your attorney and name your price.
Get all exceptions in writing as well.
@e3
They wanted an ‘opinion’. Imagine if you just said why have a meeting? Just ask me. Here at BNY it’s zero strikes and your out. This company is more interested in sod-omizing its workers than helping, growing and protecting them. A real HR department would also give a person a chance to improve or go on probation for real offenses especially if they had a clean record. This place is run by human garbage. Robin is going to get karma someday.
No sympathy for a group that has an “unofficial official” 4 hours and then you can go home. If you’re working part time and skiving off, then I hope HR has a successful “fact finding mission!” Can’t believe some people had made it this far doing half a job.
I got a meeting invite mid summer. HR titled it as an incident and wanted my opinion. Got on a call and was told it was fact finding about the working together policy. They pointed out certain days from over 3 months ago where badge swipes were not during normal hours. There was a focus on spending a full 8 hours in office. A few weeks later I was terminated for cause. Seemed my management did not know. From my perspective there was no actual discussion and the decision was made before the call even happened. Reasons did not matter. I understand people will say well if you followed policy 100% there would not be an issue. I agree. I would also say I wished the company looked at real metrics and put as much effort removing poor workers or preventing promotions to those that have just been there long enough.
In the present state of BNY, if you get a call from HR then you are 100% gone. It is just a question whether they have enough justification to do so without severance.
Human Resources have become a layoff expeditor. There is nothing human about them and they are definitely not there to help employees.
If you are not located in Lake Mary or Pune (also some in NYC) now then BNY would like to see you leave the company without having to pay severance. They believe that they can replace you with AI.
@d1
This company was once a great place to work. Now it is the worst. Just imagine if management spent even half as much time being creative for clients and coming up with support and championing new ideas that attract more business……
Instead we are overrun with clock watchers, attendence checkers and imaginary robot forces that deliver nothing. If BNY became a ‘meter maid’ service we would be the world’s best. This company is in big trouble.
@OP if you didnt go in due to ride issues and mgmt was ok, you needed to enter an exception into oracle to cover the tike so it didnt count against you
@ce best of luck. When I lost the employee they were running for a second one. The employee I lost was coming in three hours a day in Lake Mary. I had told everyone to do four, but truth be told I didn't give a F at all. The work got done. I failed in my attempt to save this person. The second person, it was false bc I worked with her in the office. I protester the data and they backed off. In the end the data from her laptop was not correct. Something to do with her having a Mac. But think about it, they would have terminated her employment if I had not been able to physically vouch for her. This is the worst company I've ever worked for. Need to leave next year.
@c9 they said as much in my meeting. Something about going back through data systematically and they noted the days from the end of July. I was anticipating simply being let go right in that meeting, but since they said they’d ’loop me back in’ I’m now expecting the termination meeting to follow next week some time.
@ac I’ve unfortunately been seeing/hearing a lot of accounts of how HR doesn’t really care what your manager said so I’m not optimistic. Probably something about how they don’t trump policy, even if they’ve okayed something.
They 100% are going through logs and finding people out. I lost someone three months ago for something very similar
Lesson for all; send your manager that note and get the approval in writing. Put in all the in office exceptions into the system.
Hr called and also let go my colleague today
@OP keep us updated. Would love to know how it works out. I would think if you have direct manager approval you will be fine.
Seems like this would be the definition of micro managing
A member of my team had this happen a year ago.. went in swiped no seats so went home . Fired about a week after HR meeting
When this happens in my group we use In Office Exception days. I used it while I was sick/ contagious but still able to work. Manager approved and I’ve never been questioned.