People who wfh full-time - what do you do?

[Psm92]

I'm being pushed out of my current job (civil service, mid-management, policy role) due to having a disability which means I can only work remotely. At first, they allowed me to work full-time from home as a reasonable adjustment, but are now claiming it doesn't work - even though the rest of the team works from home 3 days a week. Not sure what I'm going to do if this happens. Most Whitehall depts/agencies don't seem to offer full-time remote working options, and obviously my skillset is quite specific. Looking for ideas. I earn around £45, have a mortgage to pay, etc., and worry about having to start again on a low salary. Just at a loss for what to do really. TIA.

I would’ve hoped that of all employers, if a genuine reasonable adjustment due to a disability is that you wfh that the civil service would be able to accommodate you! In my CS dept there are definitely people that do that (when others are in 3 days pw) whether due to disability or relocation they can’t feasibly come in.
What are the barriers to you attending the office at least sometimes?
would a transfer to another government department work?

I have long covid, which makes it really difficult - almost impossible - to travel in and be in the office, particularly with where my health is currently at. I've been really surprised too by the way I've been treated and expected better in the CS. Most of my friends work in the private sector and have been quite shocked at my experience. I'm not sure if a transfer to another department would work - in theory yes, if they accommodated the full-time wfh reasonable adjustment. But I'm not sure how to find this out. Barely any CS Jobs state in their job ads that you can wfh full-time - most state that it's a hybrid arrangement.

What is the particular reason they are saying it doesn't work?
Have you gone through Occ Health and submitted reports from your HCP about why you need this reasonable adjustment?

That's tricky though because what an employer offers as standard versus what reasonable adjustments they would make are two different things.

Had your current department specified why remote working isn't reasonable for them to accommodate? If you knew that, it might give you an indication of which other departments/ employers would have the same issue.

If you had an Access to Work grant to cover taxi costs, would you be able to manage time on site?

Most office jobs can be done from home, just depends on the firm whether it’s full time or not.

I wfh pretty much all the time, office days few and far between

I work in insurance

I'm sure you could easily move to a role in that industry

@coxesorangepippin isn't insurance quite a specialised, high-pressure industry? I'm assuming I'd need qualifications/experience etc and wouldn't be able to just walk in to a 40k+ job? I have a a degree and masters from a top tier uni but I don't imagine that would matter given my total lack of relevant experience...

Why that can’t let productive people work from home is beyond me. Just to prove a point. I’ve been working from home for 2 years and it’s transformed my life. Much sympathy with you.

Are you in a Union? Get advice asap. Or speak to a solicitor who specialises in employment law.

I know people in publishing who are 95% wfh. One office day per month or so.

I work in publishing and am entirely home based although I do sometimes go into the office just to see people.

(But that's entirely of my own volition, there's no pressure for me to go in or set days or anything)

I work for a government arms length body in a National team, our team charter is to go to the nearest office at least once a month and to meet in person 4 x a year but it is more for our own wellbeing and it wouldn't be the end of the world if you didn't do this.

£45k would be a grade 6 in my organisation. They are hot on well being and being inclusive and I can't imagine your scenario happening. I'm sure you have lots of transferable skills so I'd look at other government agencies and their arms length bodies.

Your problem isn't the job role it's the company - I'm a software engineer for a financial services firm and we are hybrid but do allow full-time WFH as as reasonable adjustment.

The Civil Service is usually one of the most accommodating employers, but in every company (even mine!) it's down to individual bosses too. Looks like your manager just wants you out, which is a different problem and shouldn't need a complete career change.

I'd look for similar in a different team/government body. Doesn't matter what the JD's say just see if they are wiling to allow FT WFH

I do InfoSec, Governance, Risk & Compliance.

I think GRC might be something for you to look into if a job change ends up being the route you need to follow.

ESG (environmental, social and governance) is huge right now, which means lots of private companies are having to put in place corporate Policies and frameworks around how they will act responsibly and how they will evidence that with tangible and practical reporting to enable them to set objectives etc

For a lot of companies it's literally starting at zero, understanding the risk appetite, the end point objectives, defining the policies, gathering the requirements, identifying the auditable elements.

GRC roles can be fairly generic where you are writing policies across a range of subject areas, or more specialised to IT a service management, InfoSecurity, Financial compliance, Environmental Sustainability..... so there is the option to find a specialist area if that holds more appeal.

Currently I work across InfoSec, Environmental, Quality & IT Service Mgt

I am 100% WFH.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime This sounds really interesting and potentially relevant to my skillset too. But is it likely I'd be able to successfully apply to a role like this with no prior experience, and expect to earn what I do now? Will have a look to learn more about this area for sure - if you have any pointers would massively appreciate!

Read this, it might help you to make a case: https://www.kuits.com/insights/expert-insight/burke-v-turning-point-scotland-when-long-covid-19-can-constitute-a-protected-disability/

Also this one, whereby if they can't make adjustments in your current role, they should consider another one, including at a higher grade:

https://www.foxwilliams.com/2016/10/03/positive-discrimination-archibald-v-fife-council/

If you're not in a union, look at the formal grievance website. Sam was a great help.

@Psm92 have you looked in the third sector? Lots of orgs have policy teams and many are entirely remote or flexi/hybrid.

Agree that's a super interesting post from @FatAgainItsLettuceTime.

I also work in legal/compliance stuff, mainly in education and consumer law and for ombudsman services. It's interesting and varied, and there are a lot of case review type roles that are essentially reaching a judgement on whether policies have been followed.

I'm also interested in finance and GRC as it is a better paid version of what I do 😀so starting to scope out some funded professional exams which would set me off. There are a lot of interim roles out there so once you've persued where you are to the limit, if it's the type of thing that interests you there are easy ins, and almost universally wfh.

Well I would understand if you want to run a mile from the CS, but can you look at being redeployed into one of the organisations that allow full time home working? There are a few, they tend to be smaller ALBs, I'm not sure if UKHSA are still offering remote contracts, they were doing a lot of recruitment earlier this year.

Most of the work from home jobs are call centres/customer service now.

I work for a local authority and am mostly at home but we do have to go into office 4 to 6 days per month.

Self employed roles or roles like teaching english, transcribing, copy editor etc can all be fully WFH.

@storminamooncup Thanks for your message. Sorry, which formal grievance website exactly? Who's Sam?

the website is called 'formal grievance' and it is run by sam stone.

Also in publishing, project management side.

What wage are you needing?