Can employer do this? Totally different job

[ArseholesOnToast]

Due to coronavirus my team in work have seen our workload decrease massively as we’re no longer able to do visits, etc.

Another department within the company has seen a massive increase - this is the call centre who get queries on all sorts and everything.

We were told that we were going to be helping out as well as doing all the catch up tasks in our own jobs. Fine.

We were given minimal training for the call centre stuff and then told we were going to be doing it full-time for the foreseeable (at least 6 months) and that it was an amazing opportunity and that we were lucky to have a job.

The call enter stuff isn’t anything like my original job, the one I’m contracted to do, and due to patchy training it’s really hard. We’re all WFH so there’s not really any support.

Can my employers do this? I’ve sucked it up because I need a job but I’m not happy. None of our other conditions have changed, e.g. salary , leave, hours, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this?

They should consult properly to change your job and if the old role no longer exists then make the role redundant.

I think that all companies are experiencing an unprecedented challenge and that they're managing it in the best way they can. They are making sure you still have a job. That being said I think they should still be consulting and putting paperwork in place. Have you had any paperwork about a secondment?

I suspect they probably can. What does your contract say? If you have the same terms and conditions they are probably allowed.

Depends on your contract. My contract (in an NHS trust) allows for me to be asked to do more or less anything that suits my employers.

Hard as it is, your current role could be considered redundant. They’ve redeployed you to prevent that redundancy happening by the sounds of it. They would have had to discuss with you the call centre role as part of redundancy consultation.

Based on what you’ve said, it’s either accept the temporary redeployment with the chance to return to your normal role if it picks up, or be made redundant now.

Also NHS (back office)
Loads of our back office staff have been redeployed into completely different roles to help out (obvs not clinical roles) They have all been trained and are supported though, whether it’s a WFH job or not.