About the level of fear over returning to the office?

[Hilyie]

We all currently WFH, our employer has said that this is the way forward, and we won't go back to working even weekly in the office - indeed we can't as our building has been partly sold off so there's only room for a limited number at any one time . The suggestion by our organisation is that within our teams and workgroups we try to attend the office 'a few times a year'. Apparently the ideal is once a month but there's no hard and fast rules.

As a department, we're currently trying to make arrangements to get people in the office a couple of times before the end of the year. But the level of anxiety is unbelievable.

Most people are vaccinated (personally I'm not, but the majority are), under 50, and with no underlying health conditions, not carers for those who are high risk etc. Very few have had Covid (that they know of)

Yet so far we've had some refusing outright to come in at all because they don't feel safe, others saying they would come to the office but refuse to use public transport as it's too dangerous, some saying they would come in if everyone had done a LFT beforehand (this is not required by our employer, though they are doing other checks) some saying they'll come in but want to sit 2m apart from anyone and if we get together for a meeting insist on everyone wearing masks or that we'll have to sit outside. Someone else wants to go home at lunch because 'its not safe to eat in the office' and so on. There are probably even more examples of what people won't do.

These people all worked side by side 18 months ago, ate lunch at their desks, chatted by the water cooler etc, all very normal. Yet now it feels like they're scared to leave the house.

Are we just unlucky or are other people this concerned? It feels like any semblance of our work environment will never return!

Are these colleagues staying at home 24/7 not seeing friends or family, going to cinema, pub, shopping, etc? If they are then they then fair enough but its hard to believe

My office is “open” but you have to wear masks, sit at alternative desks, sanitise everything you touch etc etc. Public Health is one of the services within the building. It makes me feel that maybe the fear is justified and I certainly don’t fancy it, if I can wfh successfully.

We are all back in the office full time. Have been for months and some of us never wfh. We have also recently taken on new staff so we are properly cheek-by-jowl.

I'm not generally an anxious person but I bloody hope that vaccine works...

And how come people are getting the choice to refuse?

Spaced out desks and meeting rooms is fair enough. And I'd want assurance from management that the aircon is set to max fresh air. But once that is done I think they are being OTT.
Ugh. And public transport in London is getting to be a problem. Still lots of reduced services where I live and it's getting harder to distance. So I voted YANBU but I don't think people are being completely unreasonable. I'm going in a day or two a week, for context. To a middlingly full office.

@Flyonthewall01

Are these colleagues staying at home 24/7 not seeing friends or family, going to cinema, pub, shopping, etc? If they are then they then fair enough but its hard to believe

That's what I was thinking too.

These will be the same people out milling around town at the weekend and seeing their friends and family. Probably not wearing masks in supermarkets etc. They just don't want to come back into the office. We have the same arguments at work but you see them on fb partying and going out to pubs and restaurants.

Pffft. Try being a teacher breathing in 32 people's air all day as they paw at you and lick things.

From what I can gather there are a few who basically stay at home the whole time, haven't been inside a shop or supermarket since March 2020, but the majority go shopping, out for dinner (albeit sitting outside etc), and most of them also have nursery or school aged children.

Our workspaces are distanced but not 2m, we're asked to wear masks when not sat down, loos and communal spaces are being cleaned either hourly or multiple times a day. Not sure how much more can be done!

Most of the staff have for the last 18 months made a lot of noise about feeling isolated at home, struggling with motivation, missing the office environment...but now they don't want to come in either.

Yet so far we've had some refusing outright to come in at all because they don't feel safe

Are they staying home 24/7 and never venturing outside the house? Nothing in life is safe, and anyone refusing to work until it's safe is going to be out of job.

others saying they would come to the office but refuse to use public transport as it's too dangerous

How do they manage to do their shopping, visit friends, see family?

some saying they would come in if everyone had done a LFT beforehand (this is not required by our employer, though they are doing other checks)

Are they doing a LFT every day before going out? Are they insisting their family members and friends do the same before meeting up?

some saying they'll come in but want to sit 2m apart from anyone and if we get together for a meeting insist on everyone wearing masks or that we'll have to sit outside.

Have they not have guests in their house, visited friends or been into any public building or shop since Covid began?

Someone else wants to go home at lunch because 'its not safe to eat in the office'

Have they not visted a restaurant, or had a meal out since Covid?

I just think it's that people enjoy wfh and are finding excuses not to come in

@StCharlotte

And how come people are getting the choice to refuse?

Our employer takes a very softly softly approach, guided by HR, as managers we've been asked to encourage people to come in, but we have to be shown to be concerned for their mental health etc and as soon as people say 'I'm anxious about coming in' we have to back off so we don't end up with employee saying they are feeling stressed or pressured about returning to work and it's affecting them.

Presumably your colleagues have benefited from NHS workers delivery drivers, shop workers etc being at work, teachers teaching their kids. Time to get on with it like everyone else.

Probably they are worried by selfish people not being vaccinated.

Fresh air is very very important. If you have air conditioning it has to be the kind the takes in fresh air, not recirculates. That would be my biggest fear (apart from selfish people deciding not to vaccinate.)

I imagine they just can't be arsed, and it's a nice convenient excuse.

I think it's understandable that people are anxious but I think it's one of those things that feels more scary the less you do it but once you bit the bullet and just get on with it, you just get used to it.

I've recently gone back to the office for some days a week and I did feel worried the first couple of times but I just forced myself and now I just get on with it.

I've felt the same each time my children have gone back to school after lockdowns. The first few days they were back, I felt very worried that they'd get covid and fall seriously ill or give it to us but after a few days, the worries subside and you just deal with it.

@Skinnytailedsquirrel

Probably they are worried by selfish people not being vaccinated.

Fresh air is very very important. If you have air conditioning it has to be the kind the takes in fresh air, not recirculates. That would be my biggest fear (apart from selfish people deciding not to vaccinate.)

Fresh air is very important unless you work in a school. Windows that open don't exist in my classroom. 🤣

Forgot to mention the aircon; as we can't open windows our organisation has also had new aircon installed that circulates fresh air.

@CallMeNutribullet me too

I imagine it’s quite an unsettling thing to do - go back into an office and sit with lots of other people (some of whom are too stupid to get vaccinated) when you have had 18 months in a safe environment. I would suggest a bit of empathy wouldn’t go amiss. I have been teaching teenagers throughout, but my school have been brilliant at supporting people who are finding it hard and ensuring we are all as happy as we can be under the circumstances.

Maybe they just don’t want to go back into the office to work with you, OP, if you are unvaccinated and unkind about their anxieties.

Personally I think if these people have been to the supermarket, their kids sporting events, the pub etc they need to get over themselves. If they have been keeping themselves locked in doors all this time they might have a realistic concern.

For the majority, they more than likely enjoy the convenience of WFH and don't want to give it up.
People can say they're scared to return, companies can't push them to prove it, so have to accept what people say.

YANBU. If they enjoy working from home and they want to continue then they should just say so instead of trying to dress it up as a safety issue. If it's safe for teachers, NHS staff, retail assistants, etc to go to work then it's safe for office staff.

Been back in the office since March and it's fine despite my concerns. it's shut a few times for deep cleaning after a positive case but covid hasnt spread around the staff and we have public visiting every day. Masks, distancing and hygiene measures seem to be keeping it at bay as well as vaccines I guess if, as you sat, they are working.

I'm not keen to turn this into a vaccination debate. But no one knows when they go to a shop, supermarket, pub, gym etc who around them is and isn't vaccinated. Yet as I've said most staff are living relatively normally, socialising etc outside of work. Its only now they've been asked to come in for 2 days by the end of the year that they're unhappy. But they're unhappy at home too.

I am sympathetic and certainly if they had health conditions or immediate family did, I'd entirely understand it. But this level of irrational fear is something I'm struggling with especially when it doesn't seem to equate with how most of them are living outside of work.