To ask what ‘work from home if you can’ means?

[Merryoldgoat]

I work in an independent school. I’m back office staff and from March until September worked absolutely fine from home with the odd visit to school. We (back office staff) all went back as normal in September.

My office isn’t Covid safe. My assistant and I sit within two metres of each other, there is no protection etc.

My assistant wants to work from home. I don’t especially.

I have zero issue with her working from home - she’s diligent, able and thorough. I like going in because I just find it easier to be on the ground but it’s personal preference.

My manager (effectivemy COO) doesn’t want us to work from home. Fine for me, not great for my assistant who is quite unhappy about it.

The basic reason my manager doesn’t want home working is that some other staff are NOT effective at home, and that he feels it’s divisive as there are probably only 6-8 people who can work effectively from home.

I’ve told my boss I need to think about the way forward - we are butting heads on this.

I think that if he wants us to work in the office it needs to be made properly Covid safe. Otherwise he should facilitate a rota for us or allow us to work from home.

YABU - you work in a school - deal with it and go in as normal despite your roles being easy to do from home

YANBU - your manager should facilitate home working, a rota or make your office Covid secure before expecting you in as normal.

To clarify again - I’m happy to work in school. I like being there and I like the space from home.

In case it’s relevant I’m a Head of Finance, my assistant is an accountant.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Those who can’t work well from home need to be performance managed, and quickly.

This is completely accurate and he should manage this properly."

I don't think that's fair. Home working was never part of my job description or contract and I never claimed to be able to do it effectively.

Performance management isn’t unfair. It isn’t disciplinary. It’s working on aspects of your performance and giving you support to improve them.

The people who aren’t working well from home have general Performance issues. It’s not about the home working but on the premises they’re easier to manage

That's a different issue really, I would say crappy management is the same whether someone works from home or is in the office. If they feel they can micro manage them more on the premises rather than address the issues themselves then again, poor management.

@Merryoldgoat

Are there are only 6-8 people who have the right equipment etc to work from home, or are there are only 6-8 people your manager trusts to actually work from home?

It’s not so much about equipment but roles.

Essentially Finance, HR, Admissions and Marketing can work from home but Reception staff, ICT and also PAs can’t.

I think that he (and The Board) are also worried that some teachers are very anxious (understandably) and find it divisive in that respect too.

Finance, HR, Admissions and Marketing should all be working from home then.

I sympathise with the teachers, but if the schools are physically open (whether they should be is a whole separate debate), they need to be there as the kids need to be supervised by someone.

The more people who are at home, the safer it is for the people who have to be on site.

t is very simple. If I were your co-worker I would complain in writing. I would not want to risk Covid-19 just because my manager wasn’t that competent.

I will advise her to do that if he and I can’t agree tomorrow.

I can work from home about 90% of the time, but we've been told to come in. Only then one of my colleagues got the COVID so we had to self isolate and work from home anyway. And, now we're all back in until the next time!

In your situation I think it's unreasonable that your colleague isn't allowed to work from home.

Sorry - I really wasn’t clear on this. The people who aren’t working well from home have general
Performance issues. It’s not about the home working but on the premises they’re easier to manage.

That’s still his issue to deal with from a people management perspective, and the way to do that isn’t to increase other people’s risk.

And in doing so potentially increase the school’s liability.

This is all down to poor management.

If people aren't as effective when WFH then the manager needs to address that with them. My dhs work had a similar problem, called everyone back in. Now, following Boris announcement, there is a strict rota in place for coming in. Dh is barely on it because he works so well from home. Others are on it 3x per week because they don't.

I work in a school office and am totally in agreement with you.

I would point out to him that the HSE is currently run spot checks on school to check they are conforming to covid safety regs (we had the call this week) so it's in his best interests to have everyone who can wfh.

You should all be WFH. It's not about preference, or who's 'better' at it than it than others.

Hypothetical situation 1: Everyone still in the office. One of your team develops a cough on friday night, and gets a test for Saturday & a positive result back on Sunday. All staff in that office will have to stay home for 2 weeks, not allowed to return to the office to get computers etc to work from home.

Hypothetical situation 2: Everyone (who can) is working from home. Someone gets symptoms, has a test, it's positive. Everyone continues working from home. Person with symptoms self isolates, starts working when they are able to.

I don't understand why employers are risking both their entire team's health & wellbeing AND losing all their staff as having to self isolate without equipment but perfectly capable to work. In your case, even half the workforce working from home would reduce the amount of people mixing (because goodness knows who they have mixed with) and mean you're not working so close to each other, and that work can to some degree if someone is positive. The ones who don't work as well at home could be asked to stay in the office. Or at least could be more productive at home than they would be if they were ill or having to self isolate with no equipment.

I think there are 2 issues here- working from home to keep all safe and not trusting some people to actually 'work' at home.

You should ALL work from home if possible and that means you use IT and get on with it.

Making claims of it being 'divisive' are ridiculous, childish and have no place in the workplace at times like this.

IF he has an issue with performances at home, he needs to address that.

That is a very different issue and as a manager he needs to do what he has to , in order to make sure staff perform.

You can't use the idea of 'trust' to make people come into work when it's not covid safe.

I'm sorry, I am genuinely appalled that in the middle of a pandemic, an employer is making you work in a non-COVID safe environment. One of the things that have become clear is how good employers care for the health and well being of their staff.

Schools and health care settings are example where this is not always possible. They should at least be taking any opportunities that present themselves to do so.

Deal with other staff who are not so fortunate as a separate issue. Maybe the 'manager' could do with some support themselves on performance management.

Sorry - I really wasn’t clear on this. The people who aren’t working well from home have general Performance issues. It’s not about the home working but on the premises they’re easier to manage

Yes, well it's HIS job to manage that!

He sounds useless and weak.

If his staff are no performing, they need to be spoken to and the appropriate measures implemented - ie performance reviews- irrespective of Covid.

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I feel very much more confident about my view point now and will address it with him first thing.

If you have people at home not working properly managing them consists of proving they are not working at home. How do you do that exactly? Set up software so you can see everything they do? If so everyone's computer needs it. You have to have the protocols for everyone to catch the few out. Even one person taking the piss is impossible to prove to be taking the piss and getting them out is a very very long job.

It isn't fair but the ones not doing the work will be the first on the phone to acas so the school has to then make sure that the rules are the same for all. Likewise if you let some work at home but not others that's 'not fair' if the ones that want to work at home can't because they aren't trustworthy. Also a lot of working from home involves others in the office doing some of your job. It's an absolute minefield.

OP you are correct and reasonable. Sadly some of your colleagues are not and spoil it for others. Also wfh in a school involves extra work for those not wfh. You would need to hire new managers just to manage it all as managing those wfh is a lot of extra work - I know. I have had to do it and for over Covid. I had one who caused carnage by not working and it took weeks and hours and hours of work plus a solicitor to get her out. Not sure schools have the legal resources either.

@Needallthesleep

Those who can’t work well from home need to be performance managed, and quickly.

You will lose your good staff if you refuse WFH, especially at the moment.

Surely just not being able to work well from home isn't a reason to performance manage people? When I was wfh I felt as if I wasn't quite as effective or productive as when in the office, and often felt unmotivated. I am not shit at my job and now am back in the office am back to normal levels of motivation and effectiveness. I didn’t need to be performance managed, I needed not to be wfh.

I wasn't as effective wfh because wfh really didn't suit me and because of the whole lockdown situation - I was incredibly lonely, hated "living at work", found it very difficult not having regular interaction with colleagues e.g. to bounce ideas off each other, and was in tears at my "desk" on a regular basis. If people are not as effective wfh, but were perfectly OK in the office, allow them back to the office.

Your assistant should put in an official complaint to HSE if the school’s management won’t listen to her.

Some businesses do seem to think that the rules don’t apply to them!

Also a lot of working from home involves others in the office doing some of your job. It's an absolute minefield.

This is absolutely not the case for me and my assistant. We work very well at home and our roles are very well defined and don’t require on the ground assistance. I run a very tight two-person ship and we have met all of our deadlines and have worked very effectively.

He needs to be a much better manager! He's failing right now.

Good luck making him see sense tomorrow

The ones who don't should learn from their mistake of being lazy. It's their own fault.

It really is not as simple as that. I consider myself extremely committed and hardworking in my role. Lockdown happened and I found I had the motivation of ... Jim Royale maybe!! I think a lot of this is down to good management as another OP has said. Clear structures, goals and deadlines go a long long way here. If you have all the time in the world to do something you might take all the time in the world to do something, or maybe not even get it done at all. That's what I learned with the last 'work from home'. I think many lessons should have been learned, particularly by management. This is new for many of us. Let's use it as a learning opportunity and go forward with those lessons learned 🤗😷

The difficulty is it is only guidance from the government so if the company insist on staff going back then they probably have to

I work in an office and can absolutely work from home but I’ve returned to the office. Apart from my office having no windows (which I’ve solved by keeping the door into an adjoining office open and opening that window) we can usually socially distance. I stay at home 1 dY a week when the office is busier and my colleague does the same on another day.

If your office cannot be made Covid secure either a rota system Needs to be put in or your colleague allowed to work from home.

I think though that in a school there needs to be a lot of protection and having all staff there is crazy. They need to find out their legal position on keeping the tricky/needed ones there and the others wfh. They could face complaints if they send people home based on their trustworthiness though.

Bit hard to manage someone remotely to check without being a total arsehole about it. You know they aren't working but how do you prove it? Or force them to change? When you cant physically see them? Most work isn't as easy as you sent x number of emails or sold y amount of whatever.

Of course the answer is to not have shit employees in the first place but you can't just fire people either.

I think if you can find a way that they can be managed at home - suggestions from the people in this thread maybe? You say poor management which is fair enough but what do you do about it? How do you actually ensure they do the work at home?

Your boss has decided he'd rather sacrifice your safety than actually manage. No fucking chance. Of course you should ask him how he intends to ensure you're kept safe if he's going to insist on physical presence solely because he prefers it.