To refuse to go into the office

[Jalfreziqueen]

I really don’t know what to do and I am so desperately worried for my health. So my office, we are a small team of 5, have been taking it in turns to work from the office and work from home. This has worked so well since March and we have done an amazing job. We are all so worried for our health and we are all taking every precaution available. I trust the team with their actions whilst out of work as well as we have all known each other for years. I have some health conditions, won’t mention here as I don’t want to out myself. But basically it would be better all round if I were to limit who I see on a daily basis. Again the team are fine with his as they too want to protect themselves. My boss has now recruited someone new and it falls on my shoulders to be in the office each day with them training them. The other team members cannot really do this as they don’t know the role. I am fuming and worried. What can I do? My own job can be done exceptionally well from home btw and I am happy to travel for meetings etc. But every day in close contact with someone I don’t know??? WWYD

YABU I should go into the office and don’t make a fuss
YANBU I should take it further and say I won’t do it

Is it in your job description that you have to train other people? This is a management issue and not necessarily yours

Also maybe make suggestions about how roles could WFH. We were big paper based department prior first lockdown. Once we all started wfh forced our hands to find other ways. Paperwork added one drive multiple users to see. Anything needs signed completed using Adobe. One person does go in each week to scan and send post, pay in cheques etc... anything needs official signature and stamp but it has worked out so much better and more cost effective. Also had several new starters all been trained using teams, sharing screens and chat for quick questions etc... Not had any issues worked really well.

I go into the office once a week and have done almost all the time.

I can't grasp your objections. Put on a mask, keep your distance, open the windows etc, follow all the guidelines.

Your anxiety isn't grounded.

What do people actually think is going to happen if “shock horror” they have to actually go in to work?!!
There’s plenty of us who haven’t had the luxury of working from home and have just gone in to work and have done since the vet beginning. I’m not pushing up daisies yet!!

@PinkiOcelot Jealous much? Plenty of roles can be done from home, so why would anyone choose to take the risk of going into the office if they can do the same job from home?

And having had a 40-year-old brother-in-law with no underlying health conditions recently nearly die in hospital from coronavirus, I don’t think it’s a risk worth taking.

So you’ll be around one other person? Or multiple people?

I think if you can do it from home you should because that’s one less person going out and potentially getting ill. It isn’t about “well I have to go into work so you should have to as well!”

Honestly though, I’d be prepared for your boss to think you’re being dramatic. I kind of think you’re being dramatic, but then you do have health issues. Ultimately no one should be going out to the workplace unless they absolutely have to, for the everyone’s sake.

You can’t refuse; it’s not up to you to choose whether you WFH or not as it’s up to your employer.

If they want you in the office you either go into the office or you quit. They’re the only two options.

This totally sucks and I would be nervous too, however I think you might have to do it, could you buy and wear an n95 mask each day and a visor to double up?

Can you social distance and wear masks when doing the training?

If you are not in the “shielding’ group (i.e. clinically extremely vulnerable< or CEV) and your employer requires you to be in the office to do some work (in this case, training a new employee) which they feel you cannot do satisfactorily from home then your employer is within their rights to require you to come in- provided they have put in place appropriate/required safety measures (ability to sanitise hands, appropriate ventilation etc). If you genuinely are the only person who can train the new employee, and this cannot be done from home, then I think you probably don’t have the right to refuse to go to work unless you are CEV.

If you are in the shielding group, then you obviously should be working from home and your employer cannot compel you, but depending on your contract could only pay you SSP. They could also furlough you. If, however, you are not CEV, then you don’t have the right to refuse to work- unless you can show your workplace is not meeting health and safety standards with regard to COVID-19.

I think before you refuse, point blank, to go into work you should have a discussion with your line manager. They may have a solution- or not- but I think going in with a militant “I’m refusing to do x” when you don’t have a legal basis for doing so is not likely to go well. If you sit down and explain your concerns and ask if there is a compromise or half-way house, you might get a little more co-operation and goodwill.

Wear a mask, face shield too if it helps, wash hands regularly and ventilate the room. Keep your distance from trainee as much as possible. Your anxiety will hopefully lessen once you know what you're doing and have got used to the idea.

At the moment its fear of the unknown and many people are in the same situation as you who have hardly been out of home for a year feel the same. You are really more likely to get covid from the supermarket than from one colleague at work who will be adgeting to the same safety precautions as you.

If it does help, the majority of my colleagues have managed to stay covid free for a year in a frontline, close contact NHS role, with no more precautions than above and in the early days no ppe or masks at all!

Do you live in an area with no symptom testing? You could ask your manager if you and the new person could test before starting work (I'm not sure how often you're allowed to do it). Wear masks, keep a distance, keep windows open if possible, sanitise hands often. As long as you are taking all precautions, the risk should be small

Surely you should be able to train them via Teams?

I am having to train a new starter too and most of that has been done via Teams with no issues whatsoever.

Given how much more transmissible the new variant is, and having read in today's paper about 500+ people who caught Covid while working at DVLA, I think it's entirely reasonable to be concerned about having to go in to an office when you've been WFH, especially if you have health issues that would make contracting Covid more serious than it would be for someone who doesn't have those issues.

However, I agree that the OP may not have a choice if there's no way the training can be done remotely. I'd ask for a risk assessment though, ask them to provide PPE, sanitiser etc, ensure a 2m gap between workstations, adequate ventilation etc.

Can the person take a covid swab? Tbh, I don’t see how it makes a difference that you’ve known your 5 colleagues ages, they’re just as likely to have covid However, I would also agree with other posters about using virtual training if you insist that you can’t possibly work with the new person.

As usual on here, employers’ convenience and non-essential office work come way before employees’ health 🙄

YANBU OP. These are not normal times and you have the legal right to a safe working environment. No reason the training can’t be done remotely, surely?

It's understandable to be worried - I shielded for 4 months from the first lockdown, it was due to medication I'm no longer taking so don't need to any more.
Hopefully it may set your mind at rest that I work in an office with up to 50 people at any one time on rotating shifts - we wear masks, have a one way system and socially distance - and I haven't managed to catch Covid! We have hand sanitiser everywhere, it's well ventilated and we clean our desks before starting and when we finish - the few cases there have been amongst staff aren't people who work together so most likely caught it elsewhere and didn't spread it in the office.

Mask, visor, sanitiser, sorted. Will be fine.

Just be glad you’ve still got a job.

I think this is a reasonable request, sorry. Wearing masks and social distancing it isnt a huge risk. It sounds like your employers have given flexibility where they can.