Work saying Covid secure offices are ok

[QsGal]

I’m posting out of curiosity mostly.

My workplace have said that because our office is Covid secure then we shouldn’t be working from home. Following that logic through, all workplaces should have been Covid secure before people returned, therefore all workers should continue going in?

Has anyone’s workplace said similar?

We got a risk assessment form where you got points if you had a chronic disease, are old, from an ethnic minority etc. The conclusion was always that you should go into work as it was basically impossible to get enough points for it to say otherwise.

We've got the same problem, saying they've been checked as covid secure therefore still fine to go in

Nothing is covid secure. It’s a nonsensical statement.

The govt criteria relate to whether your job can be done from home, not to the level of covid security at the office.

My workplace is COVID secure... but for a certain number of people, therefore we can't all return at once. Also, for many of us, there is no need to return to our workplace, so we're not.

We are in the middle of a pandemic with a new airborne respiratory virus, NOWHERE is "Covid-secure"

No workplace can be 100% secure, unless you are all there 24/7 and never anyone leaving or having deliveries. Workplaces can do what they can to make it as safe as possible, such as social distancing, sanitisers etc., but as you breathe the same air as work colleagues you cannot guarantee on not getting it. My son’s office has been trying really hard to get everyone back in, they are up to about half now, but after yesterday’s announcement I am sure they will mainly be back to WFH.

Different rules in Wales. We’ve been attending throughout with measures that make it a Covid secure environment. No change for us.

Now battling with people who don’t understand that they can indeed be asked to come to work and that Boris hasn’t actually demanded that they don’t.

Ours is fairly covid-secure so everyone is continuing in the office. We've been given the option to work from home again but everyone has chosen not to. I think the plan is to implement some new measures, perhaps shuffling desks around again, to make it more socially distanced and covid-secure.

I think if your employer wants you in they can tell you so, but the least they can do is make sure the workplace is safe.

@OrangPendek

We are in the middle of a pandemic with a new airborne respiratory virus, NOWHERE is "Covid-secure"

30 of us, working on a half-in, half out rota with social distancing, regular desk cleaning/hand washing and being smart when shopping/using shared facilities. On an NHS site with confirmed cases within patient and staff population early on. In since March. Not one person in the team has had symptoms.

Not sure of your point @Feminist10101 ?

One site lucky enough to have had no one with a cough, temperature etc since March doesn’t evidence a Covid-secure environment.

You can minimise risk in a shared office environment but not eliminate it. Plus for many public transport needs to be taken if commuting in to work.

As long as staff are provided with any necessary PPE and cleaning/sanitizer products, and are able to keep a safe distance at all times it should be fine.

Anywhere that can carry on without having to go home should, the economy will start to fall apart if everyone locks down again.

Unfortunately a lot of business will be carrying on without taking precautions and they are the problem.

The new guidance is work from home if you can.

It is irrelevant wether the office is 'safe' or not. That's not the question.

Can you physically do your job from home?

If yes, then you should be at home.

If the company can prove via a risk assessment eg for mental health you can't work from home then you can be in the office.

If the company can prove some other way that you can't do your job ie. fall in productivity / loss of sales etc then you can be in the office.

We've asked our staff to keep coming to the office - they have masses of space and nobody uses public transport. They did work from home for 4 months but it really didn't work for our business, which requires a lot of collaboration, especially for our trainee staff. Everyone is happy with the arrangement so we'll stick with it unless we're ordered to do otherwise. Can't afford any more unprofitable months.

We’ll still be going into our office. Technically we can wfh but employer felt we were unproductive last time (perhaps something to do with the fact many of us also had young children to homeschool!). I simply can’t see it being allowed again, regardless of it being the right thing to do. We are in a large open plan office and well spaced out so they will argue we are Covid safe.

Seems like a lot of business owners have worked out WFH wasn’t so good for productivity after all.

No they are wrong the government changed the advice yesterday and give was clear it was a change so no longer about being “covid secure” if you can work from home you should.

I can appreciate that arguing that to a manager who has just put in a load of steps to re-open safely will be difficult though! But they were clear yesterday was a “change” re office workers

Everyone is happy with the arrangement

How do you know? I know plenty of people who are not happy but don’t feel able to raise this at work.

@Lumene

Not sure of your point *@Feminist10101* ?

One site lucky enough to have had no one with a cough, temperature etc since March doesn’t evidence a Covid-secure environment.

You can minimise risk in a shared office environment but not eliminate it. Plus for many public transport needs to be taken if commuting in to work.

The definition of Covid secure is clear. It does not mean Covid can never affect it. But it means taking the steps required to call yourself a Covid secure workplace under H+S law.

We’ve done that. On a clinical site. And had no cases. Could be coincidence, or maybe it works.

We are basically agreeing then:

The definition of Covid secure is clear. It does not mean Covid can never affect it.

The government has said work from home if you can, not go to work if your office is Covid secure, presumably for good reason.

@Lumene

We are basically agreeing then:

The definition of Covid secure is clear. It does not mean Covid can never affect it.

The government has said work from home if you can, not go to work if your office is Covid secure, presumably for good reason.

Again. The Westminster government has geographical boundaries. That is not the case in Wales.

Eh? Where has the OP said they are in Wales?!?

Apologies if I have somehow missed this.

You haven’t. Just pointing out that guidance/rules in England don’t apply everywhere. Not everyone understands that.

DH was working from home in the proper lockdown but it was a total nightmare. His office opened up for people who really wanted to go back in a couple of weeks ago and he is the only person on his floor in the office. Obviously that is very safe but I don’t know if he should be wfh because “technically” he can, it’s just not ideal with him working in our bedroom where the baby has her naps etc

The big issue is that a workplace can be as covid secure as possible, however the idiots inside the workplace can make that security redundant!

Covid secure does not equal safe.