To not work from home

[Funkyfriends]

I requested a few months ago to work from home in my office but was refused because my boss doesn’t like people working from home. I wanted to work from home because I also care for my elderly parents so I am trying to stay as safe as possible.

We all successfully worked from home during the first lockdown and my boss even said when we came back to the office how all our figures were up so definitely not a case of us not working efficiently.

So today a member of staff has tested positive so we now have to self isolate and my boss has said that we are to work from home.

I’m really annoyed to have been put in this situation where I’m now at the last minute having to arrange care for my parents, worrying that I may have given them coronavirus, when this situation could have been avoided. I haven’t been anywhere for the last nine months and have worked in this office for years regularly doing overtime and extra things to help my boss out.

I want to email my boss back and say that as I’ve been told it’s not possible to work from home that I will not be working. I don’t see why I should work from home now when it suits her.

I’m very much now on a work to rule routine. I shan’t be helping out anymore when it’s not appreciated.

I see your point, totally.

But right now I'd also think about how well the business is doing and how much I needed the job. Don't put yourself top of the list for redundancy

You'll only hurt yourself.

You're going about it all wrong imo. Kill them with kindness.

Work from home at their request with a smile, show that productivity is the same. Then tell them you're happy to see the company is moving with the times and employing flexible working now and ask to revisit your earlier request to WFH.

I hear you OP. My work also refused requests to stay WFH after lockdown and now guess what, half the office is in isolation due to contact with one colleague who tested positive!

I agree with the PP above though, as much as you don't feel like it, keep working hard and ask that it's revisited.

I take it that you are not bothered about losing your job?

The boss has, for whatever reason, decided that she wants you to ne in the office, where possible. That’s her right. What do you do every flu season if you care for elderly parents? Do you work from home then? If so, you might have a case with HR.

Now that the boss has been forced to keep people at home (not her fault - she didn’t infect anyone) you should just get on with your job at home and stop trying to make a stand over your principles with refusing to work. It’s not “when it suits her”. It’s because she has no option now. She’s probably just as inconvenienced as everyone else.

If you’re not going to work at home because you feel wronged, I suppose you could use this time to look for another job. That might take longer than it takes your boss to replace you.

It’s illegal not to self isolate after being exposed to a positive case. Your boss isn’t asking you all to WFH to be an arsehole or because it ‘suits her’, she has no choice.

Unfortunately someone else has already asked to work from home after the period of self isolation to already be told no (the business is very small only 6 of us so we are all pretty close).

I made this post just after getting that email so was very upset. Because we are a small office I’ve always gone above and beyond in my job because it’s had a very family feel to the place and I’ve been there for 12 years pretty much since it started, I’ve worked evenings and weekends regularly despite the fact that I’m salaried so only really accumulating holiday, I helped her decorate the office a few years back, and her parents live with her because they have various health issues so when she’s had meetings I’ve even driven her parents to various hospital appointments.

But as I said I will now be working the minimum that is in my contract, none of the above has been to my benefit when for the first time I’ve asked for what at the moment is a very reasonable request.

Sorry but you sound very h reasonable. What a petty attitude.

You’d obviously be unreasonable to not work. YANBU to be annoyed at a lack of flexibility.
I work for a large company and we had a department-wide call a couple of months ago (couple of hundred people), they spent the first 10 mins saying what a great job everyone had done at home, how we as a department showed we could wfh really well, still beat targets etc etc.
Someone asked if more flexibility might be possible going forward, working from home a couple of days, going into the office a couple of days, that sort of thing. The response was “no, this isn’t a role which can be done from home.”

Fair enough, they’re in charge, if that’s the route they want to go down then that’s the route they’ll go down. But people were irritated, some of them enough so to start looking elsewhere because we’re in an industry that’s doing pretty well and plenty of other companies are offering wfh a couple of days a week.

I would reply to say you will support her company in any way you can, however, outlining the issues now with your dps, you respectfully ask that you are allowed to wfh until both you and the dps are vaccinated at least due to the issues arising when working in the office means potential colleague cross. Infection.