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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Office is still open

124 replies

Junesopramo · 04/01/2022 23:17

My office is still open. Over Christmas I was exposed via a family member and also in the new year.

I don’t think I’m eligible for a PCR and none are available in my area, no symtoms.

We can work from home, we did it for 15 months.

Surely with Boris telling us to close the office, we should close the office? A couple of employees did get covid before Christmas. I don’t believe lateral flows are mandatory. We’ve been asked to buy a certain type of mask and they will reimburse.

Aibu by refusing to go to the office?

OP posts:

Disneyblueeyes · 05/01/2022 21:12

Try working in a school...

lap90 · 05/01/2022 21:20

Sounds like you ought to be looking for a new job OP... one that's fully remote and will be for the foreseeable future.

ilovesooty · 05/01/2022 21:26

@Sunset999

Im amazed offices are still open, i would demand to work from home !

And "demanding" won't do you any good if an employer decides that the business is better served by people being in the office. In some situations that's reasonable.

Confiscatedpopit · 05/01/2022 21:35

The quicker anyone working in an office gets back the better- it’ll mean normality for everyone. It’s these people who are still hysterical and silly about this virus. Anyone who has to go to work to pay the bills is over it now and has been for a long while.

daisymade · 05/01/2022 21:49

@Sunset999 the people in my team who have refused to come back to their office based jobs are no longer working for our company. We work as a team to service our clients and to work most efficiently, there needs to be at least some presence in the office. And for those of us who have more junior people in our team who need the experience of working with other members, this is vital to their career development.

DroopyClematis · 05/01/2022 21:50

Wfh might be more productive to the employee... ie more washing, cleaning, dog walking and vacuuming done but I'm sick to death of sitting on a phone trying to get issues dealt with.

Sunset999 · 05/01/2022 21:51

I don't think you can fire people for that we are in a serious pandemic, if you fired me for that I'd take you to an industrial tribunal.

HikingforScenery · 05/01/2022 21:53

Some companies are so irrationally reluctant about employees working from home.

If you can work from home, you should. We’re all supposed to be doing our part and limiting exposure/spread.

ilovesooty · 05/01/2022 22:07

@Sunset999

I don't think you can fire people for that we are in a serious pandemic, if you fired me for that I'd take you to an industrial tribunal.

Good luck with that.

daisymade · 05/01/2022 22:13

@Sunset999 have you heard of contract law or do you think employment contracts exist for shits and giggles?

Puzzledandpissedoff · 05/01/2022 22:25

If you’re working from home what’s the problem?

They don’t really like it

They have said they are happy with people working from home but it would be reviewed etc

Which is it OP?

Comefromaway · 05/01/2022 22:36

@Sunset999

I don't think you can fire people for that we are in a serious pandemic, if you fired me for that I'd take you to an industrial tribunal.

Good luck with that one.

NothingIsWrong · 06/01/2022 06:41

@HikingforScenery

Some companies are so irrationally reluctant about employees working from home.

If you can work from home, you should. We’re all supposed to be doing our part and limiting exposure/spread.

Why should I turn my home into a workplace? My job could be done from home full time. I just don't want to.

tigger1001 · 06/01/2022 07:34

@HikingforScenery

Some companies are so irrationally reluctant about employees working from home.

If you can work from home, you should. We’re all supposed to be doing our part and limiting exposure/spread.

Often it's really not that black and white. Who decides whether the job is done to its best at home or in the place of work? As often the employee and employer have differing views on that.

We have had this scenario at my work. The employee saying how much better they work at home and so much more productive. Yet won't answer their phone or reply to emails during the working day as they choose to work different hours. And that would be fine, if that choice didn't subsequently impact others at work. The rest of us at work can also see that the level of productivity has fallen.

Now that's not across the board. Some will work well at home. However a business has to be able to decide what works best for them.

I hate working at home for anything more than the odd day here or there. My job just isn't that easy done at home. And my home is just that - a home. Not my place of work. I am lucky - I do now have a space where I can work at home, but for
Many it's using the kitchen table/on the couch/sitting on the bed. Family life (quite rightly) goes on around them while trying to work

TequilaBlaze · 06/01/2022 07:43

@Frankola

I'm sorry but people are now just wanting to work from home for any old reason in my opinion.

We HAD to wfh during lockdowns when Boris made it a mandatory rule. It was a mandatory rule because there were no vaccinations against covid.

People have now been vaccinated against covid so there is absolutely no mandatory requirement for any employer to bring in wfh.

Covid is not going to go away. We must learn to get on with it, get vaccinated and move forwards. We cannot keep on going in and out of lockdown as a vaccinated population.

It might not be the case with you OP but it really seems some people just want to wfh full time now.

This. There's a lot of laziness coming out and people are hiding behind covid as an excuse. Next it'll be WFH to avoid flu, then a cold.

If your work want you in you should go in. You're unlikely to be as productive and effective an employee as you think when you're WFH. Presumably some people are in the office keeping the show on the road? Why should it always be the same ones who do that?

TequilaBlaze · 06/01/2022 07:44

@Sunset999

I don't think you can fire people for that we are in a serious pandemic, if you fired me for that I'd take you to an industrial tribunal.

Perhaps you could, if industrial tribunals were still a thing...

SquitMcJit · 06/01/2022 08:06

This thread has thrown up the usual “if I’ve got to/had to go in to work, you should too - get on with it” mentality.

Which misses the point that some jobs need people to physically go into premises to get the job done but some don’t.

If those that can wfh do, it has less people on transport and using office space/facilities. Which gives those who do need to go in to a workplace more space.

One of the health advisors who spoke at a recent gov briefing literally said people who could should work from home and stay off transport to give space for those who had to use it.

This might not be sustainable for the long term, but it is what we are supposed to be doing now - when we are in a peak of virus circulation.

So, you’re not wrong OP to question why your workplace is asking people to come on site at the moment IF they can do their job from home.

Whinge · 06/01/2022 08:15

So, you’re not wrong OP to question why your workplace is asking people to come on site at the moment IF they can do their job from home

But it doesn't seem like the OPs office are asking people to come in. The office is open for those who want to come in, but they're happy for people to work from home.

Yeah they said it’s fine. They have said they are happy with people working from home but it would be reviewed etc.

Ops issue seems to be that the office is open, and she thinks everyone should be working from home.

Sunset999 · 06/01/2022 08:20

Id be looking for another job if a company I worked for demanded I work in the office in the middle of a global pandemic .

daisymade · 06/01/2022 08:27

@SquitMcJit that's such a simplistic view.

We've made the choice to keep our offices open this time round because the first lockdown when offices were closed to employees, there was a significant rise in MH issues reported.

It's fine for ME to work at home, I've got a big house, with a space I could dedicate to an office, I live rurally, life is infinitely easier not having my hour commute to the office.

But my sister who works in the same industry lived in a 2 up 2 down and she was wfh with her partner for the first lockdown, they were on top of eachother and actually ended up splitting up and selling their house as a result.

Forcing people to wfh could lower virus transmission but it could raise percentage of suicides and personally if I can mitigate the MH of my colleagues by having the offices open for people to use, that seems a reasonable way forwards.

hangrylady · 06/01/2022 08:32

Have you been triple vaccinated? If so crack on. Some people want to get back to normal. If you don't that's your issue.

SquitMcJit · 06/01/2022 08:36

It’s not simplistic. I wasn’t advocating forcing people to wfh or closing offices. Rather that forcing people to be in IF they can wfh isn’t in the spirit of the public health message.

Employees should have the option to come in to the office if they want or need to - for whatever home or mental health reasons. It’s a good point that people have very different home situations and that wfh isn’t a preference for everyone.

But if people aren’t been asked to come in unnecessarily then, again, it gives more room for those who want or need to be in.

SquitMcJit · 06/01/2022 08:42

@Whinge

So, you’re not wrong OP to question why your workplace is asking people to come on site at the moment IF they can do their job from home

But it doesn't seem like the OPs office are asking people to come in. The office is open for those who want to come in, but they're happy for people to work from home.

Yeah they said it’s fine. They have said they are happy with people working from home but it would be reviewed etc.

Ops issue seems to be that the office is open, and she thinks everyone should be working from home.

Sorry, it’s quite confusing!

Elsewhere the OP stated that “ they really don’t like it (wfh)” - so it reads like there might be an assumption that staff will be in and she’s been made to question choosing to continue wfh?

BlusteringBoobies · 06/01/2022 08:53

So confused my this thread.

The office has remained open for those that need to go in

They have a WFH policy that (like almost every other business) is being reviewed constantly

OP has had close contact so wants to WFH

OP is currently WFH and has been

OP asks if SIBU to work from home?

Confused on what the issue is?

I work for a global business who have (in my view) constantly put their employees first through the pandemic and put loads of measures in place. But their offices remain open too. They have stated they recognise some people don't have the room to WFH, some don't work where there is adequate internet and they've done a big campaign on awareness around increase in DV and recognise for some people, coming into work is literally helping them be safe.

Just because an office is open, doesn't mean you have to go in.

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