To expect better/more reassuring response from HR dept?

[StickleTick]

Our company employs about 75 in its london office, very cosmopolitan, lots of young, travelling students, with offices in Latin America. Normally, I go up once a week, but because of holidays etc, this will be my first visit in over a month - ie - fairly important. I'm 31 weeks pregnant. Emailed our HR???/accountant yesterday, and didn't get a reply. - I asked if he knew of anyone in the office who had recently travelled to Mexico, ... kind of hoping, he might tell me to work from home, which I do at least 2 days a week.

What advice are other MNs gettin on commuting - if pregnant/health impaired?. Only, we've had NO company emails telling us to stay away, if we've recently come back from travelling to Mexico, etc. Infact nothing re. the company and a Swine flu plan - [Then again, working at Bank, in the City, I was also told we weren't expecting any bother from the G20 demos, and to stay at home, ONLY if my line manager agreed?] Am I being unreasonable?

I bumped into a neighbour in Asda yesterday. They got back from Mexico on Monday.
You cannot wrap yourself up even if preggers.
I also lost a relative from ordinary flu a while ago.

Are pg women any more at risk than anyone else? Why should they allow you to not attend and expect everyone else to go in?

Well, Tamiflu isn't recommended during pregnancy. You can take Relenza via an inhaler [still it hasn't gone thru proper testing]. And, yes, we are more at risk [although probably only slightly] - but, especially during 2nd/3rd trimester.
I don't care to know the figures, but rates of miscarriages increased significantly during previous flu pandemics.

Also, it's not as if I don't work from home normally.

Would you be asking this question if your company were solely UK based with no travelling staff members? Because you could sit next to someone on the tube who has it and catch it.

What if you worked for a company with thousands of people? HR can't monitor where everyone has been on annual leave.

I think YABU. There is not a suspected or confirmed case of swine flu in your office so there is no reason not to go in.

Would you be asking this question if your company were solely UK based with no travelling staff members? Because you could sit next to someone on the tube who has it and catch it.

What if you worked for a company with thousands of people? HR can't monitor where everyone has been on annual leave.

I think YABU. There is not a suspected or confirmed case of swine flu in your office so there is no reason not to go in.

I wouldn't be asking this questions if my company had: a] sent an email round to advise anyone returning from Mexico/or had flu symptoms after possible contact with someone back from Mexico to stay away - Like I know other companies have.
b] Had replied to my email yesterday.
c] Was located outside a large cosmopolitan area.

I'm not just thinking annual leave, but business travel. We had an industry event planned for Mexico City a few weeks ago, which they had to cancel at last minute.

If I worked for a company with 1000s of people, they might also have a HR dept. Mine hasn't. It has a willing accountant!

If your company is only big enough to have an accountant who is also responsible for HR issues, I think expecting him to come up with a 'swine flu plan' might be a bit much! If he's responsible for accounts and HR he's probably only providing an absolute bare bones service as it is.

flowerybeanbag - Is the size of my company/ duties of its staff relevant?
Surely, it's the increased risk, if flu is caught during pregnancy, when I don't really NEED to go upto London, because I can work from home, AND the wish for some kind of answer from the company?

I don't think the OP is being silly. Getting anything when pregnant is a pain as there's very little you can actually take. If the company was solely UK based then surely the risk isn't as high as for a company with offices in Latin America?

Yes it is relevant. A bigger company with a huge HR team and hundreds of employees will have the time, resources and greater need to come up with a 'swine flu plan'. A small company without an HR dept at all will not be as able to do that and with only a small number of employees, policies and plans for everything aren't necessary or always appropriate.

Alternatively they may have discussed the issue and decided that asking people to stay at home just in case even though no one is showing any symptoms is an overreaction and unnecessary.

Is the accountant your boss? Surely if you feel you ought to stay at home you should be contacting your manager about it and discussing it with him/her on the basis of your individual situation, rather than expecting an overstretched accountant to have come up with a 'plan'. If you have concerns, you can address them.

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Boss on holiday.
Boss's boss works from home, and is currently not contactable.

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Good point Christiana, which I fully accept.
thanks

you seem to be flapping about this.

why have you not said to the HR/accountant what your actual concern is instead of 'hoping' he'll know what you want him to say?

have you any senior colleagues you could talk to? have none of them raised concerns (not they necessarily should have any)? can the work you would be doing be done at home instead if you're that stressed about it?

i suppose if you're that worried you could just call in sick for this one day a month. though i actually think you're majorly over reacting.

I think you are totally over reacting - the chances of you catching swine flu are minimal - and even if you do they are saying that its a mild strain. This flu business isn't going to go away - it will be with us for months/years - are you going to hide away for the rest of your pregnancy?

What about the many pregnant women who work in London, in large companies, all day everyday? There is not a pandemic in this country, so it's not really logical to act as though there is.

However, agree with other posters - if this is something that worries you, address it with someone in the office directly and explain why you are reluctant to come in.

fwiw i, like many many many other pregnant women, work in a customer facing role. i have no idea where these members of the public have been. i have no idea if their cough or sniffle may be swine flu related. i do not stay at home in fear. i get on with what i need to do.

i'm sure many other posters will say the same.

Sorry but I do think you are overeacting. I work with hundreds of women and a fair few are pregnant. They all have frequent contact with families that travel to and from countries with cases of swine flu, the plague, typhoid etc etc.

If they all stopped working the disabled and sick children in this borough would have no service.

I understand that you are worried and you want to protect your baby, that is perfectly reasonable. But I do think you are worrying too much and are unlikely to be taken seriously.

IF there were a real danger I think there would be protocols in place for the vunerable.

Try not to worry so much.

i think you should take some responsibility for yourself and stop expecting to be spoon fed......if you are worried, do some research. its your baby, your life, look around and assess yourself....the hr dept knows only what is in the press....they are not privvy to info that you are not

I have worked on the flu virus. When I was pregnant, I reassessed the risk to my health as scientists have to do, and with my manager's blessing I stopped working with the virus. The increased risk of harm in pregnancy is relatively small, but as it was reasonably easy for me to change my work, I did so.

It sounds as though you have already done some research. If I was your manager and you came to me with some objective facts and a proposal, I would listen sympathetically and probably agree to you working from home. But hey, maybe it's because I'm a reasonable person