Friday, July 10th, 2026

# Yesterday, I had what I thought was going to be a difficult conversation at work. Since covid, my employer has gradually been increasing the required time in office for staff. This week they announced that everyone under a certain grade will have to start going in three days a week, everyone else (more senior staff) 4 days. I fall into the first category so would need to go from my current two days a week to three. 1 I currently struggle with those two days — mental health reasons etc. — so the thought of three days fills me with a sense of dread. An exception process exists where you can request more flexible working arrangements so I wanted to discuss following this. Additionally, I have effectively been doing two jobs for much of this year: my main role, and a secondary role with another team. Since my issues and subsequent time off earlier this year, I have been really struggling with context switching between those two things so wanted to step back from the secondary role. I…