To be raging at my work and is there anything I can do?

[secretdoubleagent]

So bit of background I work in a office as an administrator, area that I work in is not classed as key worker.
Ever since the gov have said for people to work from home where possible my company have been dragging their feet and not letting us work from home. It would make our jobs more complicated but other offices in our sector have managed it.
Here's my aibu given that all these huge companies ie McDonald's, Primark etc have said they are shutting for safety reason aibu to demand to work from home?
There are probably around 30 of us working in the office and the company are still letting people just walk in off the street and are insisting that people keep appointments with clients.
I feel that we should be shutting the offices but have been told if we refuse to come in we will face disciplinary proceedings and if we say we are self isolating we will only get SSP.
Is there anything I can do? Given what is happening I feel the company are being irresponsible?
Thank you for reading my ramblings and hope it makes sense (feeling a bit flustered with everything that's happening)

They really are being daft delaying the inevitable, IMO.

Being sent home is a shock to the system. I am a COO, and had my staff come in last Tuesday to wrap things up thoroughly in the office to WFH for the foreseeable future.

Now we're well into the swing of remote set up. You don't want to behind the pace on being set up at home compared to your competitors!

My work is the same, we are not key workers but are being told we have to go in. It is rubbish. We each have our own individual office space so we are not in close proximity to each other but even so ...

DH has two respiratory conditions, can absolutely work from home for 100% of his office-based role but his line manager is saying it's not fair on colleagues that some people get to work from home when others can't. In the NHS!!

For fucks sake, spice, the priority now is don’t overwhelm the hospitals. A much higher percentage of people die if you do!

Thank you for the replies everyone. Luckily I'm not in today (part-time) but I think if I don't hear anything today someone in my house might develop a cough.

It's not so much the going in, I travel in the car and straight into work. It's more that others in the office were not following advise last week. Example one was saying she was going to keep going to the gym regardless, well she wont be now. Also think a few of them would have been mixed in with the idiots who were out drinking on Friday as a last hooray!!

@Thespiceisright

All alcohol has been secured in double and treble locked cellars, the whole building is secured with shutters, good luck to anyone trying to break in, the company claim its to keep updating the computer so it doesn’t crash!

Twice a day is ridiculous, the place is alarmed.

I work for the government in a non essential role - we still have to go in the office as they have been too slow to arrange for us to be able to work from home (although 90% of the managers are now WFH).

Ring in sick until the lock down. It'll happen very soon. People have been warned but ignoring advice.

Yep. My dh too. Could work from home but no mention of it from his employers. Ridiculous. He's going to make waves today.

100% have "developed a new cough therefore following government guidelines and self isolating for 14 day, don't worry boss I will WFH"

36degrees

"DH has two respiratory conditions, can absolutely work from home for 100% of his office-based role but his line manager is saying it's not fair on colleagues that some people get to work from home when others can't. In the NHS!!"

That's terrible. At my husband's school (teacher) the Rota of cover excludes people with conditions that make them vulnerable and the older members of staff and rightly so. I can't speak for the staff I don't know but my husband (as someone without conditions) wants to do his share and is happy to protect more vulnerable colleagues. The fact that your DH is able to do his job at home makes it even more ridiculous. Can he go above his manager's head to the next senior person to get the decision over-ridden. Perhaps email and cc their manager outlining the role, their vulnerabilities and how they can do their role at home.

Agreed. I'm on maternity so doesnt affect me directly. My team however do a job that is pointless anyway(work is duplicated as another department does the same thing), have laptops and still are being made to go into work in the office daily in big city centres.

KatherineJaneway

Of course he is. A lockdown is coming, we all know it is, it is just a matter of the best time to do it.

When would that be? After the hospitals have all filled up their ITU depts and the ventilators have run out?

We are two weeks behind real infection numbers and two weeks behind Italy with an understaffed NHS. Boris has already left it too late.

McDonald’s staff are not working from home - they also won’t be getting paid. Not the best comparison.

Also regarding the above commenters do not remove work property and bring it home without permission.

I would ask to put a note on the door so public cannot just enter.

If you do not work for a large multi national business it is key to make money whilst you can as they may not have enough funding to pay all of the staff their full wage and retain all staff long term in this situation. The government grants will take months and will not apply to businesses that haven’t been instructed to close yet. Also they need to change your employment contract or fire you to apply for this.

Perhaps suggest splitting into two teams and working day on day off. Then you can all sit further apart.

Also it is more difficult than you think to work from home, calls need diverted to mobiles and customers aren’t always comfortable speaking to a business or giving info via a mobile.

Q if one person in a office develops a cough does that mean EVRYBODY in the office has to self isolate at home& the office has to shut?

It is a difficult balance as if every office in the country shut down we not be able to fund NHS hospitals or pay nurses and that kind of thing. Lots of jobs you cannot do from home so people are just going to have to be as careful as possible. My son delivers groceries and every day when you arrive they take your temperature, there is loads of disinfecting going on and new measures such as not going into people's homes.

Office workers can probably take additional precautions -some may choose to buy and wear a mask, wear gloves at work, wash their hands once an hour perhaps bringing their own soap and towel in from home each day and that kind of thing.

@secretdoubleagent you should get someone to set up a secret profile and comment on your bosses posts saying they don’t practice what they preach!

DH’s company say they can wfh but if they have children under 10 off school, any time spent caring for them needs to be taken as leave, holiday or unpaid. Luckily my employers aren’t being so cunty.

Firstly, please get this moved to the CORRECT place - CORONAVIRUS.

Secondly, everyone suggesting to pretend to have a cough, or pretend a family member has a cough. REALLY?? For what we’re going through you all think it’s acceptable to pretend about having this horrible virus??

Even if working from home is a bit less efficient, working from home healthy will be a lot better than not working anywhere because you're sick.

I'm sorry some of you have to work for such idiots. I think some of these bosses may end up facing negligence charges or worse in the aftermath of this.

Yes, whattodo, it is acceptable to lie in order to force employers to comply with the government advice on order to save lives and protect the health service. It’s the employers who are in the wrong here.

I work in a call centre in a large open plan office with approx 250 people. Absolutely nothing has been put in place to allow home working or even social distancing.
We're now even busier than normal, with extra pressure and in turn, more risks as more bums are on seats.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but can I ask if you need to call a contact centre, can you make sure its urgent and dont abuse those you're speaking to. Were there to help you, and putting ourselves at risk to do so.

captain ... no it’s not acceptable to lie about something so serious!
Challenge things head on .. get together with colleagues and confront head on with honesty . We’re all adults for goodness sake ... stop acting like primary school kids, hiding behind lies.

If employers are flouting this advice they are putting profits before lives and endangering all of us. The faster everyone complies, the sooner we get through.

I get that. But lying isn’t the answer.