A manager told me to stop cycling to work because ‘I can afford a car’

Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “Got a Minute?” This week: bad news for bike riders, midnight calls and crossed legs in the office.

Keeping employees fit, healthy and happy should always be a priority.Credit: Dionne Gain

My workplace has excellent end-of-trip facilities with showers and secure bike storage to encourage people to ride to work. Our company has just been through a merger and one of the new senior managers has started discouraging riding, saying we should be able to afford a reliable car. They have said the facilities will be closed at the end of the year. Can anything be done for those of us who ride by choice?

This is one of the dumbest decisions I have heard an employer make in a while. How on earth can it be disadvantageous to your employer to have people riding their bikes to work? I can only assume someone is making this decision to save money. This leads me to wonder how much they can possibly be saving by closing the facilities, and at what overall cost for employee wellness and happiness? Dumb.

Full disclosure, I am not someone who has ever ridden their bike to work or used end-of-trip facilities. But that’s the point: I don’t need to be a bike-riding manager to appreciate why encouraging employees to be fit, healthy and happy is a net benefit and not a financial cost to a company. And as for your manager telling everyone they should be able to afford a new car; no words. I would get together in a peloton (see what I did there!) with all your fellow bike riders, runners, scooter riders, skateboarders and anyone else who uses the facilities and speak with someone else about the decision to see if it is not too late to reverse. Ride on!

I work for a company with the head office in Europe. They regularly book meetings at a time that suits them but not me. I have calls at all hours of the evening, including after midnight. I have told them the situation from my perspective, all to no avail. How do I get them to agree to more appropriate times?

It always amazes me how many people on the other side of the world have such little appreciation of those little things, driven by the rotation of the earth, called time zones. It is unreasonable to always expect you to be the one to do middle of the night calls. Some meetings are unavoidable, but in most cases – especially for internal meetings – decent employers operating across time zones will try and alternate which part of the world needs to stay up late.

My suggestion is you contact whoever is setting the meeting times and let them know while you are always willing to be flexible, the consistent scheduling of meetings in the middle of the night is starting to impact your wellbeing and productivity. Ask whether they might consider rotating meeting times, or even using asynchronous updates for any discussions which don’t require everyone to attend in person. Perhaps suggest you trial it for a month, just to see how it works for everyone. If you have other colleagues also experiencing these ongoing late-night calls, see whether they are also wanting a change so you can approach the organiser together.

If this doesn’t work, I would check what your company policies say about work-life balance or reasonable working hours. You might also need to speak with your Australian manager or local HR support to see what they suggest. Here’s hoping you get a good night’s sleep soon.

One of my managers insists that I not sit with my leg crossed as she says it is bad for me. Every time she comes by, she says, “stop crossing your legs”. Seriously? I am an adult. Is your workplace able to make you sit a certain way to avoid work health and safety issues?

Does your manager also comment on someone who bites their nails, drinks soft drinks, eats fast food for lunch or any other number of personal habits people have? We all need to be mindful of the glass houses we live in, your manager included.

While your workplace does have a duty to protect you from harm in the workplace, her comments are unreasonable and overstep her responsibilities. They may even amount to bullying if she is only making these comments to you and not others who also have their legs crossed. I would speak with her privately and let her know it makes you feel uncomfortable. If she continues, keep a record and seek further advice.

To submit a question about work, careers or leadership, visit kirstinferguson.com/ask. You will not be asked to provide your name or any identifying information. Letters may be edited.

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