Aibu - manager is refusing working from home

[Iwant]

Saw the message from the PM last night, as I think we all did.

My husband works for a large company (A civil service department, so a government one!) but in a senior HR role, so he isn’t front line service iyswim. He has a laptop and works from home 1-2 days a week anyway.

Flurry of messages from his colleagues (geographically dispersed team) this morning to say one of them contacted their manager this morning, assuming they would all now be working from home following the PM’s directive that all who can, should. She said absolutely not and she expects everyone to be in their sites. No ifs, buts or maybes.

There is NO work my husband does that cannot be done via email or telephone. The ‘sites’ she is taking about have thousands of people in them that CANNOT wfh.

Half his colleagues are as worried as he is, half are not bothered in the slightest and think the whole thing’s a fuss over nothing.

I can’t believe the manager has said this. It seems completely unjustifiable and will endanger the vulnerable people in our care and families. Aibu?

Im MoD CS. Had emails suggesting wfh where possible (I can't due to lack of equipment/not being important enough) but nothing very concrete and no official word from line managers. I just want to go home .

How would you feel if your senior managers had all started working from home before you were issued with your equipment or had the go ahead to wfh Toothy?

My private sector company has told everyone who can possibly WFH to do so as of the advice last night.

@Sandybval

I'm not talking about technical capability, I'm talking about leadership and communication. Decisions about who should be working from home and how should have been made weeks ago, and updated daily, with clear communications throughout and contingency communications ready and waiting for big announcements - all done working in tandem with all stakeholders, including IT teams.

"Bob - just seen the PM's making an announcement this afternoon. Reckon there'll be anything important in it?"
"Buggered if I know Margaret - let's just wait and see what he says then spend tomorrow having a think about it."
"Won't that worry people Bob? Shouldn't we prepare some draft comms now so we can at least set their minds at ease?"
"Nah. I'm sure they'll all just bumble on as normal until we give them a clear directive. Should have something ready by the end of the week."
"Right-o"

Ridiculous. As the death toll rises into the hundreds of thousands, and this horrific tragedy unfolds, I wonder if these people will look back and consider the possibility that perhaps some things weren't so vital that they were worth spreading this deadly virus. He works in fucking HR, for God's sake, he's not an ICU reg or a paramedic.

There's a special place in hell for people like your DH's manager.

MrsToothyBitch - I’m in exactly the same boat as you!

DH is military and works on the same base as me. We both work in Command. No guidance and nothing from the union!

Sounds like a classic case of someone promoted beyond their abilities.

Too damned right. But that's much of the public sector for you. Promotion based on time served, not merit.

I’m so frustrated. Grrrr

What can she do? If your DH stays home she won't pursue it at this time and if she does she would certainly lose. Your DH could not be disciplined for following yesterday's advice, any tribunal would rule for him.

@ItsGoingTibiaK I guess if people would like an update daily about although logistically things are trying to be sorted, there's no real update at the moment then I guess!

OP at least he will be being paid a wage and not worrying about how to pay the bills next month.

But that's much of the public sector for you. Promotion based on time served, not merit.

It's not even that any more Jax. It's promotion based on who can hit the most corporate buzzwords in their interview, and who cares if they can't walk the walk?

@Sandybval

I didn't say comms should be happening daily - but the business continuity team and associated stakeholders should be talking (at least) daily.

But, even if that hasn't happened and you have no clue how you're going to deal with the situation, you don't listen to the prime minister announce to the whole nation that everyone should work from home where possible and then just leave your workforce with zero information at all about what it might mean for them. At the very, very least you tell them you're working on it, when they should expect a directive, and what to do in the meantime.

It's just piss-poor leadership.

I'm CS, very large dept, any staff with underlying health conditions (as per flu have criteria) have been told they must not attend the office. As many of them are in customer facing roles, they won't be able to WFH, I can but my work is dependant on what the customer facing staff are doing and I expect the work I do will be pulled. I don't know how long for, but I have to say I can't concentrate anyway so for now at least, I'm glad I've been sent home.

I wonder what’s happening to recruitment in the CS? We are waiting for somebody to join our team, thinking security clearance will be granted this week...but don’t know if they will be able to start!

I work for a non departmental public body and as of today we are all working at home until further notice. We received clear guidance straight after the PM's announcement.

Now I just have to worry about my teacher DS who's asthmatic....

@ItsGoingTibiaK do you work in my department? 😂😂 This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I've been firing up to the powers that be and our Emergency Planning dept (who, BTW, aren't dealing with this situation 🤔) and had radio silence back.

@cornishporsche

Ha ha! I don't work in the CS any more but I used to head up internal comms teams and we would have been absolutely ready for this. It helps that I mainly worked in executive agencies with 24/7 operational activities - which tends to add focus to business continuity - but still...

I've also worked in commercial organisations who assembled the business continuity crisis team if Outlook went down for 20 minutes. I think there's a balance somewhere!

I can't decide if I'm glad I'm not still doing that, or if I miss being a part of it.

@Sandybval- it makes no difference and is basically situation normal. I don't have regular day-to-day contact with those managers anyway so it's no bones to me. They already partly wfh and my commanding officer is now avoiding London due to risk to dependents so I won't see him. They won't issue me with anything either- it's a grading thing and won't change. I can't take paperwork out the office, nor stuff like a mili printer... I don't have one at home.

It looks like we're moving to staff rotation next week though so as long as they pay me/get special paid leave as per guidelines for the days it's not my turn then that's ok. We've already had someone put in a leave pass because they don't want to risk their heart condition.

@PlomBear It's not just me who's finding it all a bit vague & crap then? I'm mid TUPE crown to "proper" civil transfer atm for added terror!!

ItsGoingTibiaK and CornishPorsche Same here.
I’ve been told my stats are not changing, we may be asked to help with other departments and asked for a review of what I’m working on with no guidance how we are to achieve this. When I questioned it, I received a rather pissy email back about not being negative or critical 😒

My middle boy phoned me to say they all got emails to say they need to work from home today, but go in tomorrow! He has the ability, equipment and role which would mean he can work from home every day of the week. This decision makes no sense. What the betting they’ll cram all the staff together, in one big room, in order to give them further information, on how to decrease the risk of infection. 😒 🤦🏻‍♀️

Local government. Can work entirely from home. Boss doesn’t gaf so here we are, sitting in an office, taking public transport to work. It’s disgusting, frankly.

It's only government advice though.
it's a scam so insurers don't have to pay out.
This is why he isn't being firm in his commitment, it's all wishy washy "advice"

It would be a real shame if your DH developed a cough wouldn't it. I would have thought within a fortnight it will be pretty much everyone who can working from home.

Maybe we should start naming and shaming the companies and hope the DM pick up the story.

@Devlesko

You do realise that the civil service is, essentially, the government? Do you know who the Minister for the Civil Service is? (Clue: the same floppy-haired bloke who was on TV yesterday telling people to work from home.)