To think colleague shouldn’t be on permanent WFH due to his DW’s Covid risk?

[oober6]

As in the title really.

The world has opened up, social distancing requirements have gone, vaccines have given us all plenty of protection.

We are key workers who have worked throughout, coming into work every day. I would love to be able to WFH! It would be a lot less pressurised, and of course, no commute etc.

AIBU to think management should now be telling our colleague that he has to start coming back into work? He is healthy and fit.

@nether

It depends what that risk is, doesn't it?

If she is one of the 500,000 who get a third primary jab (highly immune suppressed, eg transplant recipient, living with blood cancer, on active treatment for other cancers, on heavy-duty immune suppressant drugs) then its entirely reasonable

Yep exactly. I'm in that group and have been WFH since March 2020 Boss is happy me WFH, and I can work exactly the same as in the office Just because shielding has finished doesn't mean the risk has suddenly vanished!

Shielding has been ended now.

No, not for everyone it hasn't, it still remains an option/suggestion/instruction for some people. Doctors and consultants are still recommending shielding for patients with specific vulnerabilities to Covid. There's absolutely no way of the OP knowing whether their colleague's wife has been told to continue shielding by their doctor/consultant.

If you are going to raise it with manageme t be VERY clear about what is your stuff.

What your colleague's health status or his family is stuff all to do with you. It could be because of her or his health.

I'm in exactly this position... I'm ECV my GP has said if I catch covid I'm at risk of dying. I look OK.

My partner has been wfh for 20 months... Some of his colleagues are in... Some are irritated....partenrs boss has told partners team, he is not breaking confidentiality over reasons for him wfh.

It does not impact his work at ALL... In fact he works through his commuting time.

[quote oober6]@BadlyFormedQuestion he has been very open about it actually.

I just wonder when the end point is?[/quote]
End point could be a while off....I’m NHS I am still wfh....I have had a risk assessment 3 monthly up to now....I am still high risk according to the risk assessment they use....I have been told that I will not now be reviewed until next spring..

This (everything having opened up) is more reason for him to work from home if he wants to protect his wife.

If you've got too much work to do as a result you should take it up with management so they can help you rather than resent your colleague.

Yabu.

Hmm.
If WFH is allowed for one person it should be allowed for all of you. This is what you should raise with your manager!

If manager says that no because your workload will suffer say that you’ve all been doing X’s work.

But it’s still unfair if one person is allowed to WFh and others aren’t

If you cannot manage your current workload in your contracted hours, then that is an issue that you need to raise with your manager. Nothing else is any of your business.

If you are having to take on extra work - address that. That is a legitimate complaint.
It's not for you to decide how management deal with him or what arrangements they have so don't go from that angle. Just stick to the fact X workload has been transferred to you and it is not sustainable.

I think that we need to just get on with life or accept that some are so badly propagandised into insanity that they will never be able to rejoin the world and perhaps employers need to make adjustments to enable wfh forever where possible. A sort of two tier Covid society?! Might make it less stressful for everyone?!

Tough crowd in here tonight.
YANBU.
At all.

If he and the whole slew of his family are well enough to be out and about, here, there and everywhere - then he can get his ass in to work like everybody else.

[quote oober6]@BadlyFormedQuestion he has been very open about it actually.

I just wonder when the end point is?[/quote]
For your colleague "the end point" isn't when you decide.

He and his manager have had a discussion and come to an agreement which is non of your business.

Your ONLY issue is the impact it has on you, and if you do have an issue with that impact speak to your manager about it and see what can be put in place to resolve it.

@GiantHaystacks2021

Tough crowd in here tonight. YANBU. At all.

If he and the whole slew of his family are well enough to be out and about, here, there and everywhere - then he can get his ass in to work like everybody else.

I know! AIBU is a strange beast, I am sure there have been similar exasperated colleague threads before which were entirely more sympathetic.

@IamtheDevilsAvocado

If you are going to raise it with manageme t be VERY clear about what is your stuff.

What your colleague's health status or his family is stuff all to do with you. It could be because of her or his health.

I'm in exactly this position... I'm ECV my GP has said if I catch covid I'm at risk of dying. I look OK.

My partner has been wfh for 20 months... Some of his colleagues are in... Some are irritated....partenrs boss has told partners team, he is not breaking confidentiality over reasons for him wfh.

It does not impact his work at ALL... In fact he works through his commuting time.

But if WFH doesn’t impact his work at all - why can’t everyone WFH? I suspect this is the source of OP’s frustration.

It’s not thé colleagues fault, it’s management and she’s looking at it the wrong way. But if everyone is forced into the office for performance reasons then logically the person at home is getting away with less work.

In which case management should still bear the brunt and hire a temp or whatever (not dump it on the OP).

@TheKeatingFive

The double standards and unfairness is pissing me off enough that I'm job hunting.

People are being very naive if they think this isn't causing resentment. Good luck with the job hunting.

As is so often the case, people are misdiagnosing the problem.

The resentment is not being caused by some people being able to WFH. It’s being caused by poor management.

That’s the problem and it’s endemic.

OP things may have ‘opened up’ but we are far far far away from it being ‘safe’ for certain people. Shielding has not ended for everyone so I would gently suggest you enlighten yourself a little bit more on your naivety on issues regarding the current Covid situation.

I think overall it’s a case of mind your own business. If you can not manage your work load then you should speak with your manager, the WFH colleague is not your concern.

If he and the whole slew of his family are well enough to be out and about, here, there and everywhere - then he can get his ass in to work like everybody else

I do agree with this.

It's one thing if people are genuinely shielding. Quite another if they're living life as normal apart from working.

@TractorAndHeadphones

Hmm. If WFH is allowed for one person it should be allowed for all of you. This is what you should raise with your manager!

If manager says that no because your workload will suffer say that you’ve all been doing X’s work.

But it’s still unfair if one person is allowed to WFh and others aren’t

I 100% disagree with this.

It is perfectly reasonable (and legally required in some cases) to make adjustments to working practices in order to accommodate different people's circumstances.

E.g. we don't say "because a pregnant woman gets lighter duties, everyone should do lighter duties" or "because the person in the wheelchair gets to use the customer lift instead of the stairs, we should all be allowed to use the customer lift" etc.

It is reasonable for people to make adjustments for specific staff because of their circumstances, which is what is happening here.

Also I love how people here live in an ideal world where the perfect manager has agreed on something between them, in the best interests of the employee.

Life is unfair a lot of the time and many managers CBA deal with troublemakers as long as someone else picks up the slack.

Raise your own workload concerns with your manager. That’s your issue.

@TractorAndHeadphones

Also I love how people here live in an ideal world where the perfect manager has agreed on something between them, in the best interests of the employee.

Life is unfair a lot of the time and many managers CBA deal with troublemakers as long as someone else picks up the slack.

Bad management…

Do you what, employers would prefer you to all be resenting and blaming each other other, rather than putting the blame where it actually lies.

Making adjustments for individual circumstances and balancing out the workload in a way that does not overload everyone (while maintaining colleagues rights to privacy) are management issues.

In a well managed organisation, there shouldn’t be these resentments and issues.

It’s not just individual bad managers either. Usually it’s a culture within an organisation and managers are often hamstrung by it. Or just having questioned it.

But the very well paid people at the top should be doing their absolute best to make sure this shit isn’t happening.

@mrsm43s no no that’s not what I meant.

If manager goes : everyone else must be in the office, except for X WFH. The logical conclusion is that X won’t be able to perform optimally because if he was able to while WFH everyone else should be able to WFH.

Therefore allowing X WFH should involve a discussion about how the rest of his workload will be distributed.

In many cases however everyone CAN WFH. The manager just doesn’t want to let them! Because it’s not company policy, because they have a lease on the building or whatever. This is what can cause resentment.

What has happened in the OP’s case is that manager seems to not acknowledge the impact that WFH has and this is what she should target. But the above are two general cases

If there are workload concerns, raise them with your manager in the same way you would if you were understaffed, or a colleague was on maternity leave.
The work is the issue for the manager to solve, they may choose to solve that by bringing the employee back from wfh because they realise it isn’t working, or they may choose to solve it another way. Or they may choose to ignore it because they’re a shit manager. Either way, it’s down to them, and if they choose to ignore it, then you have bigger problems than a colleague wfh, because you have a very poor manager and that always causes other problems.

I know! AIBU is a strange beast, I am sure there have been similar exasperated colleague threads before which were entirely more sympathetic
I think it's because there is a world of difference between someone moaning about their colleague's situation whilst saying they're jealous and would rather WFH, and someone saying they're frustrated by poor management and poor allocation of workload.

Anyone who says they're frustrated by their managers and how workload is allocated is probably going to get support and encouragement to speak to their manager about it. Anyone who has a good old moan that their colleague should be told to come into the office because they aren't allowed to WFH sounds petty and understandably people tell them to mind their own business.

Also to add if the family are living their normal lives then surely he can come in to work. This fraudulent behaviour definitely creates ill will.

Unlike the mental health thread Covid is just exposure so if you don’t want to be exposed in one location it doesn’t make sense for you to go and be exposed everywhere else does it?