If you can work from home, can you?

[doireallyneedaname]

.... if your boss wants everyone in the office? Legally speaking?

My boss had some people working from home but has now decided he wants everyone back in the office. Masks are not allowed (it’s a telephone based role) and the job CAN be done from home. I heard they are saving that generally people are more “productive” in the office.

Legally speaking, since I can do my job from home, would I have an argument to be able to do so?

@kandinsko I never mentioned furlough

Fantastic post BookSkark
WFH proved to us that we were less effective rather than less efficient
New staff struggled - we couldn’t take students or apprentices
This time I offered WFH as an option for anyone who feels especially vulnerable - not one person has requested it and all have said they prefer the structure, team support, shared learning aspects of our offices
Nowhere can be classed as risk free but we have done what we can - everyone is 2M apart, no hot desking and lots of other procedural changes to reduce contact

Nope it’s guidance not law. And I doubt the government will make employers send employees back home any time soon. It seems clear they they don’t want to put any restrictions on work or school.

@FunnyInjury

No, but what you describe here:

“At the moment I dont see how employers can be forced to pay for a workforce that they do not require (ie a wfh workforce).“

is furlough, not WFH. Using a home office is just doing your job as normal but from a different desk. It does not mean your employer does not need you to work.

The employers who are putting pressure on everyone to come in are being a bit short sighted. I can see plenty of PPI style compensation claims in the future especially around "duty of care" and discrimination..

A close friend of mine is having this issue and she has gone over a lot of arguments, and it does not appear there is a way to effectively 'make' an employer let you WFH, even if you were able to do so previously. Her employer made them all go back to the office, when Boris said basically people should be back in the office and supporting local businesses That the area is on extra restrictions seems to matter not. That the boss openly praised the entire team when WFH and admitted that productivity was UP, matters not. Shes very annoyed with the situation, as she should be tbh.

An aqcuaintance, I loathe calling her friend but shes in my immediate circles has for a few months tried to get 'around' everything in place. And managed to be able to WFH when noone else in the office was able to (mind again, they were WFH effectively, and went back aswell) by telling her GP she is suffering crippling anxiety and that a reccomendation that a reasonable adjustment would be WFH is needed. This would not be a viable solution to many given..what it is, and this woman has suggested friend does this too.

In her defence, she has suffered anxiety in the past and may well be suffering from it now, but just the fact that shes 'advising' it to anyone having issues with bosses making them go back when its unnecessary makes me a little..sus. Its fuck all to do with me though and while its appalling to think that its possibly just another way to 'cheat the system' for her, I cannot help being a little 'impressed' by her 'solution' (impressed is probably the wrong word, but I know what I mean by this, hopefully its clear) when by all accounts it does seem her family would be rather fucked without her WFH. This of course does not excuse the lying, if thats what happened.

I work at a University, everyone worked from home until recently and now people are back in the office (on a rota basis) to "show support to students and staff who are student facing."

Despite being in a hotspot and experiencing an outbreak amongst students and staff.

That’s ludicrous @HarrietOh

@iskwobel Exactly.

There is a duty of care here that some employers are entirely neglecting, and it’s both shocking and incredibly short-sighted.

Another factor (beyond legal implications) is that members of the workforce might –entirely avoidably – actually fall ill and die.

I dont think wfh is as efficient as everyone wants to beleive. I work in accounts for a small firm and trying to get through to anybody by phone is an absolute nightmare and no one replies to emails. Espically the big corporations.