To be furious at my DPs boss

[sticksandstone]

DP works in an office environment and after today's new guidelines & restrictions have been announced, he should be working from home which is perfectly doable.

He worked from home since the beginning of lockdown and has recently went back to work, he worked every day (mon-fri) and had daily meetings (as usual) with his colleagues.
We are based in the north east, currently in a local lockdown, as cases are rising rapidly.

However, his boss quickly sent an email around which states

"We will not be changing the current situation in that we require people to be in the office. For now the priority is getting the latest project finalised along with planning a road map for ongoing work.
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Currently the general position is that going back to the time of lockdown where we all worked from home with have serious potential personal impact on some employees."
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AIBU to be quite peed off that he is prioritising work (which has been done from home for a period of 5 months) over the potential cost of lives for his employees and their families? We have a new baby and a couple of high risk people in our household (including myself).

Is he actually allowed to make this decision for his employees? Shouldn't they have a choice in the matter?

@MrsRobinson247 admittedly for smaller companies it probably has been more challenging putting in sweeping overhauls, and absolutely they should be back in if it's not working.

Just because some jobs can't be done for home doesn't mean other jobs that can be done from home should be kept in the office just because

That's true, but just because a job can technically be done from home, doesn't mean that's the most productive thing for the business.

The request from Boris is "work from home if you can" - not "you must work from home if you work in an office". If your manager decides that productivity at home is too low, of course they can request that you come into the office and work.

At the end of the day, businesses have to survive, and if that means people come into the office, then that's what happens. It's not a race to the bottom - it's business.

YBVU. Many of us have worked all through. His option is to leave his job if he doesn’t want to do it, as requested. I am sure someone else would be happy to do it.
You can’t live under a rock forever.

I've been WFH throughout and when offices started opening up again we could only fit about 30 of our 90 staff at a time while following rules re: COVID secure offices. They brought back a chunk of our sales team as some of them were not working very effectively from home (though some were doing very well and they've continued to work from home for the most part). We were asked to stay WFH for the moment as we simply couldn't all be in the office at the same time and also the part of the business I work for is doing really well at home.
They've approached the new guidelines very sensibly by saying that we should all WFH where we can but if we're more comfortable/feel more productive in the office then we can arrange to come in as long as we book desks etc to keep it COVID secure. I'm actually really impressed.

Has your DH explained to his boss that you and others in your home are at high risk? Is it possible for him to reduce his risk by only going into the office a few days each week?

If you are in a local area with rising numbers of cases, it’s quite likely some of the employees will develop symptoms. The workplace policy will probably change again, once a few people are taking time off to self isolate and get tested.

One of my DCs has had their whole office close down for two weeks because someone tested positive a few days after their workplace reopened!

also for those who are saying they've worked out of the home throughout and so he should just get on with it... surely the less people milling around on public transport etc the better? Doesn't that keep you safer too?
My DH is working throughout in a key worker role which makes him very vulnerable to COVID so I'd rather he was protected by less people being around...

Really shocked at some of these responses. Found this on gov.uk from August . . .

What should I do if my employer is asking me to come to work, but I’m scared to do so given the pandemic?
Your employer should consult with you on how you can work safely, and must ensure workplaces are safe if they are asking you to return, as above.

If you remain concerned that your employer is not taking all practical steps to promote social distancing then you can report this to your local authority or the Health and Safety Executive who can take a range of action, including where appropriate requiring your employer to take additional steps.

Yesterday measures were also announced to protect staff if employers are threatening redundancy for those refusing to work in settings where employers have failed to make settings Covid secure.

Nothing is going to be perfect, but he does have rights - as do all employees.

I really do sympathise, and as someone who has worked at site as normal throughout I really do was doing so- surely that would keep them safe and me safer as it reduces the numbers of us mixing?! That said, the government have been their usual crafty fucker selves saying "if possible"- employers can simply say "not possible, business cannot cope with you all wfh".

My team and I have discussed this today- we all need to be at site some of the time, it is not possible to do our roles entirely from home, but it would definitely be workable to do 2/3 days a week from home each. We know our employer won't go for it though. You have to be a special person employed by central to matter enough for that

I really do sympathise, and as someone who has worked at site as normal throughout I really do want as few people as possible doing so

Sorry, no idea what happened there

It’s strange that over on the Coronavirus board, people are very pro staying at home because we are dealing with a “killer virus.” Yet on this board, people seem far less bothered about it.

The rights re the HSS referred to above are laughable. I know lots of people who are being forced back to work in an office because they know they will be labelled as difficult and may lose their jobs. The Govt need to be much firmer here! It’s like they want a lockdown!!

In lockdown v.2, office workers will be told to WFH again and Mumsnet posters will resume shrieking at people doing non essential shopping for Christmas. Just the Easter egg debacle.

Depending on the number of employees they have, they should have a publicly available risk assessment that covers how they are providing a covid secure workplace.

@Funkypolar

It’s strange that over on the Coronavirus board, people are very pro staying at home because we are dealing with a “killer virus.” Yet on this board, people seem far less bothered about it.

If you’re in the corona virus board, you’re probably a little bit more.... anxious (understatement!) than if you’re posting on AIBU So not strange at all

@Funkypolar

It’s strange that over on the Coronavirus board, people are very pro staying at home because we are dealing with a “killer virus.” Yet on this board, people seem far less bothered about it.

It's a whole different audience.

I avoid the Coronavirus board as it's full of people panicking and doom-mongering. Reading those threads is bad for your mental health!