Will employers be allowed to force us back to unventilated offices?

[feelingcold3]

My employer seems to think everything will be back to normal and we can all come back from 21st June.

I am concerned because our office has no opening windows. At the moment I am doing half working from home half office so we are socially distanced, but if we are all back every day I will be working closely next to people with no ventilation.

Is my employer being reasonable

A lot of ppl seem to want to stay hidden away forever. If you've had the vaccine why are you worried? It's time to get back to work

My company has never closed

OP this is something I've been concerned about too. We know the virus is airborne and fresh air is SO important. Surely there must be regs coming out to ensure staff are not going in to workplaces which are unsafe!
Posters saying that if you are vaccinated you are okay are really not thinking this through. The virus can and is mutating. The vaccine is not 100% effective.
Fresh air is a small and very simple and inexpensive and very important requirement as far as I'm concerned.

I've actually just asked the gym where I was a member (Nuffield) what their air exchange is in their studios as I have no intention of returning unless I know the details of that.

I don’t think I’ve ever been in s supermarket that has windows that open.

Yes they can. We have to get back to normal. I have small children 2cm from my face most of the day (not complaining, it's my job) and my DP works in a packed factory with no ventilation at all. He has done throughout. How long do you want to stay at home for? Loads of people work in spaces with no ventilation

@BritWifeinUSA

I don’t think I’ve ever been in s supermarket that has windows that open.

They have ventilation systems.

i dont blame you for askign the question op, we have had ventilation, open windows, fairly recently H & S came in and said we needed screens, about a year too late!

Just get back to work! I think a lot of us who had to work throughout are getting a little cheesed off with people wanting to WFH forever.

And no, you may think you work productively but your employers may not. I am getting fed up of poor customer service and extremely long wait times due to Covid and WFH.

And if posters think you’re having a rough time on this thread I’ll direct you to the threads teachers made and you can see the verbal batterings we have taken when all we wanted was protection - and still do!

Do you have school age DCs OP? If so, have you been happy for them to attend school since March? Maybe ask their teachers and support staff what protections have been put in place for them. If it's anything like my school (primary), it probably comes down to a squirt of antibac gel. Can't open our windows as they have been painted closed by incompetent council decorators over the years.

@motherrunner

Just get back to work! I think a lot of us who had to work throughout are getting a little cheesed off with people wanting to WFH forever.

And no, you may think you work productively but your employers may not. I am getting fed up of poor customer service and extremely long wait times due to Covid and WFH.

And if posters think you’re having a rough time on this thread I’ll direct you to the threads teachers made and you can see the verbal batterings we have taken when all we wanted was protection - and still do!

Life is not a zero sum game.

I supported teachers having better protection.

Yes, they can require you to go back. The vast majority of the most vulnerable people are vaccinated and then some.

I am a very healthy 34 year old who has my girst vaccine booked for 3rd June. Those aged 33/32 can now book as well. So most will have at least some protection by June 21st.

Even though I and many other younger people won't have had two, or any vaccines, we are very unlikely to end up seriously ill with it. A colleague of mine who is 24 got it in Jan. He said he felt rough with it, as if he had flu, but nothing else. By his own admission, his diet and exercise are somewhat lacking so he isn't exactly the healthiest person but he was fine.

I work in a large secondary. We have had almost 2000 people in our building since Sept (fewer Jan-March) and have had very, very few covid cases. Any we have had have been mild. Some of our rooms have no opening windows and there are classes of 30 in them. It's been fine.

I do think we have to start getting back to normal now that we have effective vaccines. There will always be cases but if hospitals remain able to cope and there are very small numbers of deaths, we have to get on with it.

Plenty of us have had to carry on working throughout in unventilated buildings.

If you can WFH efficiently and want to continue doing so that's a separate issue but at this stage it's just a bit precious not to want to go in on safety grounds.

I’ve been back in the office since July last year. Small office. 6 staff members and no open windows.

Yes they are. If all restrictions are lifted on 21st June - then they’re being completely reasonable to ask you back.

A lifetime of working in offices tells me that even if you have windows that open your colleagues will be too cold / in a draft and they will remain firmly closed.

We were back to work from last June in classrooms with windows that didn’t open. Fair enough we ‘only’ had classes of 15 for that half term, but were back to classes of 30 in September. All unvaccinated until very recently and many teachers are still waiting for theirs. So yes, employers can tell you do get back to work.

It makes no sense to make people go back who can work just as well (or better) from home.

How many people really are working 'better' from home though? People insist that they are, but how much of that opinion is influenced by the fact that they hate the commute and are saving hundreds a month WFH?

Ultimately it will be up to their employers to decide. Some people are acting as though it's some massive human rights abuse to 'force' people back to the office, even though WFH was only meant as an emergency measure.

i continued to work throughout the pandemic, in an office, fighting to get ventilation,
other staff are wfh and the future is half wfh for those, but due to lack of space
and it seems to work.
meetings are so much easier when you dont need to factor in travel time/room bookings

Some people are acting as though it's some massive human rights abuse to 'force' people back to the office, even though WFH was only meant as an emergency measure.

Exactly. If your contract says you work in an office, then you were probably going to be asked to return to that at some stage. No matter how efficient you thought you were personally.

Of course they can't 'force you back'. You are free to hand your notice in and continue lounging round your house for the rest of your life.

You can’t work at home forever in most jobs. If they say you’ve got to go back and have risk assessed it all, then yes, you have to go back. Done of us have had to work in close contact with others, in unventilated spaces, throughout the whole pandemic. Think yourself luck you haven’t had to and have had the luxury of working at home. Get real and get on with it.

The short answer is that your workplace has to follow the law so it depends on what the law is at that time.

However, I think in the case of coronavirus we are suffering from an excess of information and a lack of real understanding. We demand more and more information but we aren't most of us qualified to really understand it. Basically the information is weaponised to keep us scared.

As for me, I don't want to have to worry about the technicalities of how coronavirus transmits or how the pandemic might progress. Other people are qualified and paid to worry about that. I will just follow the law and exercise common sense. A lot of people would be happier if they did that.

@feelingcold3
I totally understand your concerns.
I was going to say I am gob smacked by all the negative responses on here to a poster who is obviously worried about being forced back into an office environment working alongside people with no ventilation, but after all this is mumsnet isn’t it.
Sounds to me a lot of the posters who are all for going back into the work place sound pretty pissed off they were forced to work throughout and felt unsafe doing so. Also this fucked up idea that those wfh have had an easy ride!!! Now that is funny. Working double your hours every day for no thanks or extra payment is a great perk for missing the commute... also paying heating and electric costs that cost a fortune, yeah it’s been a breeze. And the home schooling while doing that has also been such a joy, not stressful at all.
It’s almost as if these people feel badly done to that the people working from home had it easy while they were forced to go out and work. Don’t get me wrong, throughout this whole thing I have thought it absolutely awful that people were forced into a work environment that they didn’t feel safe, I can only imagine the worry and stress involved in fear of catching the virus, must be horrific genuinely.
I don’t get how these people have had such a worrying time, much more so than those wfh, but will post on here how you should get on with it etc and go back into an unventilated office when the government have spent over a year putting the fear of god into you not to. We are told over and over to open windows, yet op gets negative comments because she is worried not doing this!
I have had both my vaccinations but have no immune system so it’s unlikely the vaccine will work on me, will they force me back into an unventilated office? Probably if they have the mindset of most of the posters on here.

I have had both my vaccinations but have no immune system so it’s unlikely the vaccine will work on me, will they force me back into an unventilated office?

You have 'no immune system'?

Really?

How have you survived into adulthood, being as an immune system is neccessary to stay alive?