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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Employer says I must return to office

497 replies

Dishmatic · 09/03/2021 14:18

I’m currently wfh. A lot of people at my company are in the office and have always been.

Last year I wrote to HR and requested to wfh due to a health condition which makes me vulnerable to Covid.
This was approved and i’ve been wfh since.

I have my Covid vaccine this week. I told my work colleague that I’d booked it and yesterday I had an email from work asking for a catch up about retuning to the office.

I spoke to them this morning and they’ve said that now I’m being vaccinated I will be expected to return to the “Covid secure” office.

I didn’t say anything on the phone but I’m really not happy to go back in.

There’s over 70 people in my office building.
14 in the room I work in!!

AIBU to not go back in due to risks?

OP posts:
TheKeatingFive · 10/03/2021 22:50

She's only had her first dose, even after having both doses if she catches Covid she is more at ask of being seriously than others who aren't CV.

She’s 32, not CEV and she’s been vaccinated. If she wants a job full time wfh I suggest she quits and finds one.

Government advice has deliberately kept things vague and the decision up to employers, because able to do your job from home to a degree that your boss finds acceptable is quite a nuanced decision.

People are acting like they have some god given right to wfh. They don’t. It is up to the employer to decide. It’s obviously going to be a long few months/rest of the year while this sinks in.

saleorbouy · 10/03/2021 22:51

Whilst I understand your concern I think that your employer has been very understanding of your situation and once you are fully vaccinated then you could return to the office. Workplaces have implemented government Covid guidelines so spacing of work areas, communal activities and cleaning regimes have made most places of work viable to return to.
There are many other places of work that could be deemed much higher risks than office spaces.
Ask your employer what steps they have implemented for your safety to calm your anxiety and take the known precautions of hands, face and space etc to protect yourself.
Your employer is obviously keen for you to reintegrate with your colleagues and I'm sure your fears will reduce after reacquainting yourself and you can relax again soon.
Unfortunately Covid in one strain or another is here to stay so its better to find a solution around the situation than hide away forever.

achainisonlyasstrong · 10/03/2021 23:09

Employer may be legally in the right position. But if people working from home are just as productive, why not let them work at home! Why make them waste 2 hours commuting etc Surely enabling working from home means that you are more likely to get older workers working for longer etc/maybe companies can save on premises costs. Yes employers can make you come in, but why? unless you have a job where you really need to be at the premises. Think there is still an element of work is only "proper"work if it's done in the office.

achainisonlyasstrong · 10/03/2021 23:10

I don't think people think they have some right to work at home. But people think why on earth waste hours trekking to the office, when they can just as easily work from home and be even more productive!

Mamanyt · 10/03/2021 23:18

Guidelines are two weeks after the second vaccination. I would certainly remind HR of that fact.

LemonSwan · 10/03/2021 23:21

Sorry OP but I think YABU. I know its scary if you have been shielding this whole time but you are in the risk group 6 in terms of priority for vaccination and I have spent the last year working alongside those 65 and over without a vaccine. Everyone just had to get on with it.

Wear your mask, change it every time you touch it. Wash your hands and use Zoono. Keep 2m

QueenPaw · 10/03/2021 23:24

Ask if you can go in and see, might make you feel more at ease
I'm WFH but can't go back as no room until distancing drops basically. CEV and had first vaccine, my work I think are being very very cautious but they can't have me in as we can't wear masks at work so sticking to 2m distance

rulerbirds · 10/03/2021 23:31

I thought the govt told everyone to WFH? Could you report them in any way OP. How are they Covid secure? This is unacceptable. That office needs to be shut down and the people running it prosecuted. Report them to the police.

rulerbirds · 10/03/2021 23:33

Somebody upthread said about working with over 65s without a vaccine! WT actual F?! No. This is not acceptable. Everybody is supposed to be at home unless you are a keyworker. That’s what lockdown is FFS. You should not be leaving your house to go work in a fucking office. The police need to be shutting you all down. Why are the rest of us abiding by the rules!!

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:33

Please tell me this is sarcasm

Haenow · 10/03/2021 23:34

Of course you don’t have to disclose your health condition @Dishmatic but you’ve not really answered the level of risk and any additional risk factors. Even within the CV group, there will be some who are higher risk than others.

TheKeatingFive · 10/03/2021 23:34

Report them to the police.

😂

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:35

Do you think supermarkets, schools and hospitals can run without people in admin etc?

rulerbirds · 10/03/2021 23:35

From the govt website. Copied right now.

National lockdown: stay at home

Coronavirus (COVID‑19) is spreading fast.

Do not leave your home unless necessary.

1 in 3 people who have the virus have no symptoms, so you could be spreading it without knowing it.

What about DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOME are you not understanding

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:35

Do you just want the whole show to shut down?

rulerbirds · 10/03/2021 23:36

Those people are keyworkers like I said. People should are NOT should not be leaving home

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:37

You know shops and schools are open right?

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:38

Post offices, banks, bakeries, butchers...

Jamboree01 · 10/03/2021 23:39

What is OPs job? Did I miss that?

There are very few essential businesses, schools or hospitals that could run without admin staff, receptionists

VaVaGloom · 10/03/2021 23:56

@rulerbirds

I thought the govt told everyone to WFH? Could you report them in any way OP. How are they Covid secure? This is unacceptable. That office needs to be shut down and the people running it prosecuted. Report them to the police.
Yes shut down all the offices, shut down the economy, report your company to the police (as if they haven't got enough to deal with) because then OP definitely won't need to leave the house to go to her job as there won't be a job to go to. Interesting solution @rulerbirds Confused

Alternatively, the OP could just return to the conversation that HR opened with her, where she didn't raise any concerns/objections to returning in April, and explain that actually she is worried & once they know that they can help address it and find a solution. OP can also speak to her doctor about her individual risk now she is vaccinated as that may help with her anxiety.

fiftiesmum · 11/03/2021 00:00

Quite a few healthcare workers are over sixty and were working every day last year - some coming out of retirement and this was before a vaccine was available. They had a job to do and got on with it.
On second thoughts I hope you and others can stay wfh - the daily commute has been so much nicer with empty roads, buses and trains.

Jamboree01 · 11/03/2021 00:08

This 💯

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 11/03/2021 00:16

@fiftiesmum

Quite a few healthcare workers are over sixty and were working every day last year - some coming out of retirement and this was before a vaccine was available. They had a job to do and got on with it. On second thoughts I hope you and others can stay wfh - the daily commute has been so much nicer with empty roads, buses and trains.
Fewer of those healthcare workers would have needed to come out or retirement and put themselves at risk if more people had stayed working at home.

If the OP is getting treated differently to her work colleagues perhaps the problem is not that the OP is working at home, but that more of her colleagues should be.

Familyshopper · 11/03/2021 00:18

😂😂 don’t be ridiculous it all depends on the size of the room we have more than 14 in an office at one time but we still have to social distance, I think not being on the shielding list pretty much leaves you without a leg to stand on

Beaniecats · 11/03/2021 00:20

@rulerbirds

Somebody upthread said about working with over 65s without a vaccine! WT actual F?! No. This is not acceptable. Everybody is supposed to be at home unless you are a keyworker. That’s what lockdown is FFS. You should not be leaving your house to go work in a fucking office. The police need to be shutting you all down. Why are the rest of us abiding by the rules!!
And if you can't do that job at home? Real world calling....