An estate agent who quit his job after being offered a desk he believed undermined his authority has won damages against his employer.
Nicholas Walker, 53, was left feeling ‘upset’ at Robsons Estate Agents in Hertfordshire after being told he would sit at a ‘middle’ desk rather than the ‘back’ desk – typically where the manager sits.
The tribunal heard that when Walker’s boss heard about his opposition to the arrangements, he said he could not believe “a man of his age” was ‘making a fuss’ about where he would sit.
Akua Reindorf, an employment tribunal judge, concluded that asking senior staff to sit in a part of the office that they argue is designed for junior employees could “logically” lead them to conclude that they have been demoted.
That type of office seating arrangement could “destroy or seriously damage” a senior employee’s relationship with bosses and lead to a successful legal claim, the tribunal ruled.
The hearing in Watford was told that Walker was branch manager at Robsons from 2017. In 2022, he was moved from an office in Rickmansworth to a branch in Chorleywood but the following year Walker was asked to move back because his replacement had resigned.
Daniel Young, the estate agency’s sales director, decided that Walker would share the branch manager role with a more junior colleague but this was not discussed with the senior estate agent, who, the tribunal heard, thought he was returning to his former role.
A junior colleague, Matthew Gooden, had already moved to the back desk by the time Walker returned and Walker was told he had to use the middle desk, which he saw as a demotion to “assistant manager’ – a position in the office that he rejected.
In its ruling, the tribunal concluded that Walker was right to see the desk issue as a “demotion”. The judge said it was a “logical conclusion for him to draw” and that the boss’s conduct “was likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence”.
Walker will now be awarded compensation, with the sum to be decided at a later date.
I must say that I’ve regularly asked people to move desks, for various reasons, and it was never about seniority. Must be more careful in future!
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My staff are more concerned about proximity to a radiator!
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Well he seems to have landed on his feet, working for Gibbs Gillespie, looking at the stock image!. I was way back in the 90’s taught by Michael O’Flaherty, that a senior manager should sit at the front of the office, stand up and direct the incoming client to the relevant desk be it sales lettings or valuer. That way as the first interaction, the customer felt important. These days, with less footfall, does it really matter where you sit?, it is how you generate and lead.
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A sign of the times. I used to get in early to secure the front desk, where I could lip-read applicants pointing at the window display. That way, I could greet potential buyers as they walked in or offer to make tea when the ‘Let’s look at some houses , it’s raining today’ holidaymakers came in.
Justin never figured out why he ended up with so many ‘what a waste of time’ viewings.
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Back in the day I always wanted to be near to the cabinet that contained the telephone system. In an analogue world, you could hear the unit get ready to make the office phones ring when a call came in. That meant that I was always first to pick up which drove my colleagues absolutely NUTS 🙂
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I own and run my office and choose to sit in the middle but I think a good manager could conduct his orchestra from anywhere. Leadership draws the crowd not a desk. Now we have more internet enquiries – I’d be fighting for a bigger monitor, but hey its a softly softly world now.
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‘That type of office seating arrangement could “destroy or seriously damage” a senior employee’s relationship with bosses and lead to a successful legal claim’ – I’m sorry, what now?
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Clearly there was a lot more to this than just which desk was to be used. Having said that, I always wanted the front desk pre internet. No longer an issue as the virtual crowd appear to be sat up in bed with a laptop.
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