Literally why am I a key worker?

[Esmerelda01]

I'm feeling so frustrated today.

I work for a large multi national retailer which is currently classed as an essential shop as we sell predominantly food.
My role is absolutely not key, I dont contribute to feeding the nation, to getting the food on the shelves, to checking the quality or assisting in the logistics of it arriving. However the entire company has been classed as key workers, all 16,000 of us which just seems crazy.
Dh is a key worker and cannot work from home (he works in Fire protection predominantly in care homes).
There's so much pressure coming in rom all angles regarding not sending dc to school if you WFH. I wfh 80%, of the week but work will not allow me to look after / home school my 6yo as they say there is no requirement due to my KW status.

I feel like such a fraud. The worst thing is the school know what job I do at the head office and that I work from home and I feel pathetic.

Work have now told me I am to lie and say I've been moved to one of the teams that feed the nation if my status is queried.

I feel physically sick all the time, like im putting dc and his teachers at risk, at what the school must think of me and at the fact that my company are being so inconsiderate.
They told me if I really want to have him off I can take unpaid leave - what for the next 3 months?! We have a mortgage and bills to pay.

The whole key worker thing needs a massive review. It's just a massive joke the whole thing.

"Have" not "gave"

In light of your school's most recent communication asking parents to reconsider sending children in, I would call the school, explain what you've said here (worth doing anyway, in case the school already think you are taking the piss) and say that if they can send you a letter saying that due to oversubscription, they are changing their key worker criteria, and from the information previously supplied, your DD no longer qualifies.

If they can't/won't do that (quite likely) then you can send your daughter in, knowing that your hand has been forced.

DSis and Bil are both key workers. As one works from home they are not entitled to a key worker place in school. Criteria needs tightened to protect everyone, not to assist dodgy employers.
Sorry your having to deal with this, it’s so worrying.

Is it for example the OP works for George at Asda.

Asda can only stay profitable if it’s successfully making money from clothing sales. Without people working for George the supermarket would fold and there would be a massive gap in many towns where food used to be supplied?

We had a McDonald's server demand we consider them as "critical" when we could recently only accept critical key workers for our nursery. Had to explain that no one died not getting McDonald, but that the two parents who were both doctors at the local hospital (one in A&E, and the other is the NICU) came before her. She wasn't happy and kept saying "but Boris said I'm essential!!!". Yes love, but you're not critical in life or death situations.

@NailsNeedDoing

Perhaps the OP has read the numerous threads on mumsnet slagging off keyworkers taking up places at school when they don't 'need' to. Plenty of them on here sadly.

As someone who has the job of caring for them and educating them, I’ll happily slag of parents who send their children to school when they don’t need to. The OP does need to though, if she’s been classed as a key worker then that’s that, it’s not my place to judge. I might privately be of the opinion that the government has given shit guidelines, but I’m not too stupid to understand the difficult position that many parents are in. I save the slagging off for the parents who I know for a fact are sending their children in based on having one key worker parent when the other is a SAHP.

The threads I'm referring to are not about scenarios where one parent is a SAHP, they are scenarios just like this.

I work for a large retail bank. Although banks come under key worker, we’ve been told that only certain teams / individuals will be given key worker status. If you don’t fall within one of the main teams (eg branch workers) then you have to get special permission to get one of the key worker letters. Feels like absolutely the right thing to do

I wfh 80%, of the week but work will not allow me to look after / home school my 6yo as they say there is no requirement due to my KW status

They can't stop you from homeschooling, and they can't force you to send your child to school. But if you are homeschooling you also can't work, so expect to, as the very least, use your annual leave up or go without pay. Which is what others have to do.

@Tarararara

In light of your school's most recent communication asking parents to reconsider sending children in, I would call the school, explain what you've said here (worth doing anyway, in case the school already think you are taking the piss) and say that if they can send you a letter saying that due to oversubscription, they are changing their key worker criteria, and from the information previously supplied, your DD no longer qualifies.

If they can't/won't do that (quite likely) then you can send your daughter in, knowing that your hand has been forced.

This is a great idea

[quote Esmerelda01]@Littlepond I hope they're being understanding, well done for managing to achieve it.

I've never known guilt like it. I feel I could do some school work with her throughout the day and easily stay on top of my job. I would work longer hours to make up any lost time. But the fact of the matter is they won't allow it and no, I wouldn't expect a 6yo to go undetected as I have teams calls with my colleagues and managers regularly throughout the day. It wouldn't be fair to expect her to not be occasionally in the background getting on with her own thing[/quote]
With backgrounds on you could and I have!!!

They didn't know when lo had to isolate before for 2 weeks nor in the holidays!!!!

And my lo is 6 too!!!

@Mrsemcgregor while I totally understand what you're saying (I know what i do accounts for a lot of the profitability of the company) does that still mean that I should fall into the bracket of a critical worker, needing to work to keep the country going and therefore entitling my children to a school place?
I understand im critical to the business I work for but that's where it ends. They won't go under if i work from home with my dd. Especially as I've put myself up for working evenings and weekends. (Only to be told not to be daft, don't need to. Juwt put her in school).

I just think the key worker roles should be tightened up a lot to make it fairer and safer. If I wasn't classed as a kw they would have no issue with me working from home with dd there. It's because I am classed as 1 they said there is absolutely no reason for me to keep her home and I must utilise the school space im entitled to.

How can they make you take unpaid leave if your child stays at home? How’s it any of their business?

@Doris86. The OP says it's lying. She said she has been directly asked to lie and that her job isn't key at all. I presume she knows her role a lot better than random folk on the internet do.

@SweetLoveOfCod

How can they make you take unpaid leave if your child stays at home? How’s it any of their business?

Apparently they're not paying me to be in charge of children who are at school

Sorry, who are entitled to be at school i mean

It seems to me that the issue is more to do with you wanting to work out of normal working hours.

It doesn't suit them for whatever reason, so they want you to send your child to school?

In that case, can you manage to juggle your child and work within your normal hours, or would your work suffer?

You are a keyworker because under the current definitions most of the workforce are key workers.....which is why its crazy

@Thedarknightsaredrawingin

Why should it be that key workers cannot work from home? Some essential roles are desk based and location-independent, and wherever you happen to be working, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re available for teaching and childcare!

@WorraLiberty

It seems to me that the issue is more to do with you wanting to work out of normal working hours.

It doesn't suit them for whatever reason, so they want you to send your child to school?

In that case, can you manage to juggle your child and work within your normal hours, or would your work suffer?

Theyre allowing us to work till 10pm 7 days a week if we need to, eg if schools close fully or isolation etc.

It's just so wierd. I'm the only one in my team with dc which is really not helping as to the managers I appear to be the only problem. I'm sure if there were a few of us in the same boat they would maybe then take a different approach?

Could you put her in part of the week - so satisfying your employer but keep her home a couple of days so minimising the time she has in school?

Are you a member of a union? (if not, join one now).

Next thing would be to get as much as you can in writing, somehow drop it casually into an email in a manner that isnt likely to make them defensive.

Check your company's whisleblowing policy, then report to the HSE requesting whistleblower protection.

The government obviously needs to draw up an exhaustive list of who is a key worker and who isn't. They shouldn't be places to babysit the kids of the employees of greedy and non-essential UK plc. The closure of schools needs to bring case rates down or this shitshow will drag on even longer than it needs to.

@Esmerelda01 I was wondering if you were selling your contribution to your company and therefore “feeding the nation” short! But you know best how your role is balanced within the company.

I’m not surprised your bosses are pushing the boundaries to be honest, retail is brutally profit driven. Try not to feel too bad, you are doing what you need to do to keep a roof over your child’s head. No one should be expecting you to sacrifice your job or to put your job at risk. Ultimately it’s the government’s responsibility to be ensuring school numbers and key worker status.

@Esmerelda01 they sound like cunts to be blunt.

Why should they be party to your domestic arrangements? Who’s to say you don’t have family support or some other provision in place?

It sounds like they’re using loopholes to keep you off furlough in the interests of their own profits rather than because your role is genuinely that of a key worker during a pandemic.

This whole situation has shone a light on many exploitative employers who don’t give a shot about their workforce. I no longer buy anything from ASOS since the revelation in March they were forcing their warehouse staff to keep going over the first lockdown in what is quite clearly a non-essential business, and not only that but with compromised distancing and crap protective measures.

Can you give any clues about who these shysters are OP, as I would gladly boycott them too.

@WorraLiberty she dosen't have to explain anything, working from home at full capacity and having children at home dosen't mix. Her work will suffer, her kids and her mental health. Also I expect her work will want to talk to her or teams/zoom, how would you suggest that she deals with her kids walking in? Shouting? Generally being alive and doing things kids do. Can't you understand she's extremely stressed and feels really under pressure from her work, and idiots like you.