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Original poster

Manager wants us to have in-person meetings of 15 from next week

161 replies

Wilker · 05/04/2021 01:32

As in the title really... Apparently we are going to be having in person indoor meetings of 15 people from April 12th, and 30 people from May 17th.

Absolutely no business need for these meetings to be happening in person. We are all admin/office staff and have been working fine from home.

I wanted to check whether they are even legal? Aren’t the 15/30 people gatherings permitted for weddings only?

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 05/04/2021 07:29

Work from home if you can is still in place, until May or June. What's your company covid risk assessment say on this matter? Don't forget you have to consider public transport and welfare facilities as well as being in the office.

If you were to do this, everyone would need masks, windows open and spaced at least a metre apart, preferably 2 m, so in a room large enough to facilitate this. Plus covid tests immediately before the meeting.

But obviously it's completely unnecessary unless you are doing training that cannot be done remotely, eg practical first aid training.

You work for idiots OP.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/04/2021 07:42

Oh, and if someone brought covid into the meeting and it was transmitted to colleagues, that would be reportable under RIDDOR so at risk of being investigated by HSE.

I can't remember if office work is under HSE or the local council, but the website of one or both should have information in the 'covid at work' section, making it very clear that meetings like this should be avoided. It doesn't have to be specifically illegal to not do it, but needs to be subject to a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, which will conclude that it's too high risk to be allowed. Talk to your health and safety people, they should agree these meetings shouldn't happen.

CuthbertDibbleandGrubb · 05/04/2021 07:54

Legal yes because of the vague 'work from home if you can' being left to the decision of employers. I agree with talking to your health and safety team as a first step.

Perhaps ask the manager what the agenda for these meetings is and at what time they will be. If he is just a micromanager or overpromoted I expect the answer will be vague.

Soontobe60 · 05/04/2021 07:57

@Wilker

As in the title really... Apparently we are going to be having in person indoor meetings of 15 people from April 12th, and 30 people from May 17th.

Absolutely no business need for these meetings to be happening in person. We are all admin/office staff and have been working fine from home.

I wanted to check whether they are even legal? Aren’t the 15/30 people gatherings permitted for weddings only?

I have daily meetings with 32 other people. No masks, very little social distancing. I’m a teacher!
PinkPlantCase · 05/04/2021 07:59

Are they asking for any kind of testing in order for people to be allowed back into the office?

loulouljh · 05/04/2021 08:05

sounds great...some normality at last.

Jobsharenightmare · 05/04/2021 08:05

You work for idiots OP.

Yep! Work from home if you can is still the guidelines, so sorry to the teacher but that isn't comparable here.

itsgettingwierd · 05/04/2021 08:09

Work from home if you can is still in force.

So what's the rationale for these meetings that they can't be done from home?

There is a caveat for where it's not practical and someone above mentioned first aid course.

I've just done my refresher. There was 6 of us (half numbers) stuck with same person for whole course, seated 2m apart at all other times, PPE (gloves aprons and masks), seats in canteen all facing front with distancing.

Cant deny it was very odd being in a room with strangers and being up close - and cannot work out why as I work in a SS and have continued to be in a room with 8-15 people daily all the way through! And that's with no masks or distancing.

Bumpinthenight · 05/04/2021 08:14

I work in a school. I may get to have around with lots of little people but I still can't be within 2m of another staff member in my bubble.
We also can't use the staffroom and haven't had any face to face staff meetings since March 2020.
If we want dinner together, we eat outside or in the ventilated hall at least 2m away from each other.

BendingSpoons · 05/04/2021 08:17

Is your room big enough? All our rooms at work have capacity stickers on. Our office for 8 usually says max 4. You would need a big room for that. It's different at a wedding when you would expect some of the guests to be in family groups, so less spacing out needed.

ErleighBird · 05/04/2021 08:20

Sounds great, I've been in work the whole way through, we use big rooms for meetings.

QueenCuntyFlippers · 05/04/2021 08:20

I work in a school and we have the staff room available, we have (in person)staff meetings still most weeks. No masks in school but the ventilation is pretty good. Oh, not to mention the non-socially distanced 30 small people I spend my days with!
This has been the same throughout, I often forget how different it is for others and how protected they are! I'm not complaining though, I've appreciated having so much 'normality' in my life.

OverTheRainbow88 · 05/04/2021 08:21

@Soontobe60

😬 I always find these threads bemusing when everyone tells the OP to work from home etc and the OP is terrified of being near anyone else inside and yet most those people are asking why teachers are complaining etc.

Moondust001 · 05/04/2021 08:26

The guidance is guidance - if your employer says that you must be in work then that is where you must be. They have a responsibility to ensure such meetings are Covid secure, but if they do, then they are not breaking any laws. So yes, the instruction is legal.

My team have been working from home for over a year now, but we have had - at their request, and they are very popular - a number of real meetings, and are about to resume them now. You may not think there is a business need, but on-line meetings are simply not the same and are not as effective in many areas. And personal interaction, even socially distanced, is important for many people.

Some of the advice you have had on here is drivel. It isn't up to you or anyone else to say whether these meetings are required - it is solely the responsibility of the employer to decide, and to make provision for those meetings to take place within extant law at that time, which includes ensuring H&S requirements are fulfilled.

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 05/04/2021 08:27

Fascinating responses here considering schools are face to face meetings with 30+ people every day and teachers are told to get on with it.

I'd ask to see the RA and point out that if anyone did test positive you could potentially force the whole office to isolate.

Bagelsandbrie · 05/04/2021 08:27

Dh is back working in an office with 30 people. They have twice weekly Covid tests. During the height of the pandemic they were split into two groups with one group working from home for 2 weeks and then swapping over with the other lot. I think things are getting back to normal for most companies now. I don’t think you can really say anything... if schools are back 35 to a class what can you really say?!

WireFan · 05/04/2021 08:28

WFH if you can is still the advice.
It's not about whether others who can't work from home are working in workplaces. There have always been people who haven't been able to and the rest of us doing so if we can is about trying to keep infection rates low so that schools etc can stay open. It's that simple.
Teachers are getting twice weekly testing too and some other employers who genuinely need people in the workplace are doing the same. Is your employer even offering that?

Geamhradh · 05/04/2021 08:30

@Moondust001

The guidance is guidance - if your employer says that you must be in work then that is where you must be. They have a responsibility to ensure such meetings are Covid secure, but if they do, then they are not breaking any laws. So yes, the instruction is legal.

My team have been working from home for over a year now, but we have had - at their request, and they are very popular - a number of real meetings, and are about to resume them now. You may not think there is a business need, but on-line meetings are simply not the same and are not as effective in many areas. And personal interaction, even socially distanced, is important for many people.

Some of the advice you have had on here is drivel. It isn't up to you or anyone else to say whether these meetings are required - it is solely the responsibility of the employer to decide, and to make provision for those meetings to take place within extant law at that time, which includes ensuring H&S requirements are fulfilled.

Well said. I think there are going to be a lot of people very miffed that they've got to actually go to work very soon instead of sitting in their pyjama bottoms with a brew in front of the PC.
Ilikewinter · 05/04/2021 08:35

My heart bleeds for you....seriously thousands of people have been working in large groups in confined spaces, wearing masks for full shifts and trying to keep Covid safe, throughout the whole pandemic.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/04/2021 08:36

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation

Fascinating responses here considering schools are face to face meetings with 30+ people every day and teachers are told to get on with it.

I'd ask to see the RA and point out that if anyone did test positive you could potentially force the whole office to isolate.

But teachers need to be onsite, likewise people who work in factories where they have to do observations, checks or whatever on the factory floor.

General office workers don't, that's the key difference and H&S 101. Remove people from the hazard where practical to do so. What people do in other industries is irrelevant.

Bluntness100 · 05/04/2021 08:38

It’s totally legal to have meetings if there is a business need, you disagree with your employer on whether there’s a need or not, but it’s their decision not yours,. The fact Work from home is totally and utterly at the employers discretion also,

They need to be Covid safe, so socially distanced and wear masks.

JeanClaudeVanDammit · 05/04/2021 08:39

The government aren’t exactly setting a great example on this one since they’ve decided that local authority committee meetings must be in person after 7 May because it would be “too difficult” to do the work required to update legislation so that they could continue being held remotely and live streamed.

insancerre · 05/04/2021 08:40

“Ilikewinter

My heart bleeds for you....seriously thousands of people have been working in large groups in confined spaces, wearing masks for full shifts and trying to keep Covid safe, throughout the whole pandemic.”

^
This

thewinkingprawn · 05/04/2021 08:42

It is legal - it is up to the employer as to whether you need to be in the office or not and need can be intangible even if you cannot see a valid reason - you are only thinking of your own needs. As a PP said, zoom meetings etc are just not the same. I think many employees are going to be upset to be pushed out or cosy home to have to get back into the office but get back they are going to have to. Life thank goodness must now go on.

thewinkingprawn · 05/04/2021 08:44

@JeanClaudeVanDammit

The government aren’t exactly setting a great example on this one since they’ve decided that local authority committee meetings must be in person after 7 May because it would be “too difficult” to do the work required to update legislation so that they could continue being held remotely and live streamed.
Well that depends on your matter of opinion doesn’t it. I on the other hand think it is good to be modelling behaviour that shows they think it is fine to be meeting in person again when needed (which they clearly think it is).