To think my office is taking the piss?

[fairynick]

Tier 4 today. No word from them about wfh.
Worked at home from March to July with not too many issues considering. Urged us all to come back to the office and haven’t really let anyone wfh since unless self isolating. One employee wfh refused to return and was sacked. Their performance was fine so no other issues.
Their reasoning is that the government advice is to “work from home if you can work effectively from home”, they argue during the first lockdown we didn’t work effectively enough. Neither me nor my colleagues can see why as results always stayed the same or similar. Everyone scared to speak up in fear of losing their jobs. About 30 of us crammed into an office. Only about 4 jobs could be seen as essential, the rest are definitely not. Call centre. Friends and family seem to look down on me for not taking personal responsibility and wfh but what choice do I have? Businesses should have responsibility and somehow be monitored much better.

YANBU. This is a pandemic, a once in a lifetime occurrence. It’s not as if you’re saying to them you can’t be bothered to work plus you have wfh for months on end before. If anything the pandemic is getting worse again, not better.
If they can’t produce hard facts and figures as to what they are referring to when they say those wfh didn’t work effectively enough, then they don’t have a leg to stand on.
Completely understand the fear of speaking up, especially with them having sacked a colleague seemingly just because they wanted to continue wfh. Do you have a union or employee assistance you can contact to ask for advice? Also everyone has different levels of comfort. I know people at work who have gone back to going in to the office even though they can wfh. Meanwhile I have continued wfh and am practically a hermit aside from going out for a daily walk. I’m petrified of catching it and would like to stay put until we are out of the woods. Your employer has no reason to put you at risk when you can wfh.
So sorry you are in this position. It must be such a worry x

This sounds like a nightmare, are you part of a union?

You can report them to the council if you feel that the working environment is unsafe and that you're unable to socially distance - someone reported my workplace for similar reasons. The council contacted them, looked into the complaint and made recommendations- things got much better afterwards.

I sympathise, if you delivered targets and to deadlines working from home then it would be fair to let that continue.

Are you in an area going into tier 4 at midnight? I wouldn't expect to hear from my employer so quickly after the announcement.

Do you know why they want staff to be working in an unsafe office? Won't they lose more time if employees keep having to isolate, it doesnt seem to make much business sense

Employers like this are part of the problem imo.

Would the Health and Safety Executive get involved in something like this?

My employer has massively reduced the number of staff allowed in the office at any one time (cut by about two thirds). There's a rota for people who want to go in, and all workstations are at least 2m from each other. There's sanitiser and anti-bac wipes everywhere and you have to use your own pen when you sign in.

They wanted to have a one way system, but it would mean people walking the entire length of the building and up and downstairs every time they wanted a cuppa, so that was dispensed with. Instead, you don't enter a section of corridor unless it's empty, and there are signs all over the place to remind you. Tea towels have been removed and paper towels are used instead. The cleaners are instructed to sanitise all light switches, door handles etc twice daily.

I'm on sick leave atm, but I was going in one day a week and it felt really safe.

If helpful... these are the covid secure guidelines for workplaces www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/offices-and-contact-centres

My area went into tier 4 boxing day and I've not heard anything from my employer. I assume I'm supposed to go in as usual next week.

surprised you have that many who have voted YABU.

of course you're not being unreasonable. if you are able to work from home you should be. offices are awful for catching things. I work (usually, wfh for the foreseeable) and I caught every cold/sickness bug/insert contagious illness here that was going around. its micro managing on your bosses behalf I would think.

I'm of the opinion that forcing anyone to work outside of home if they can work from home is not right in the current climate. My office reopened in July but it was strictly voluntary to return, so people who live alone and have other reasons for not wanting to work from home can come in without being in with everyone. That's how it should be for everyone who can genuinely work effectively from home in my opinion, I'm sorry that your employer doesn't see it that way.

I think it helps that we’ve been lucky and somehow no one out of the 30ish of us have caught it.
There’s been two or three isolations, but mainly through test and trace app, not because someone in their household has it.
I love my workplace and they’ve been great to me, not a member of a union stupidly, but may look at reporting to local council. I’d feel disloyal, but I’m at the end of my tether.

I am in Scotland and the country went into tier 4 on boxing Day. You wouldn't think it though as there as so many places still open, yeah a lot of them are doing takeaways or click and collect only but that still means that staff need to be in. Customers are still coming and going. What's the point of tier 4 then?

The wording is different for Tier 4 guidance - it says you ‘must’ work from home if you are able to, rather than ‘should’ in Tier 3. The overall message for a tier 4 is to stay at home unless you have to. So expecting you to go in if you’re able to work from home is not supported by the government guidance. Your union will be interested to hear from you on this matter,

It might be helpful to ask why they think it wasn't 'effective', those that wfh. See their view so you can try and negotiate from the other side.

Maybe when you go in they will have it sorted that half can wfh and do shifts or something? Have you got an office set up at home with internet access etc.

Join a union today. Perhaps call ACAS and see where you would stand with your job if you adhered to the 'must work from home if you can't advice from the govt.