Can my NHS secondment require photos of my home working setup?

[StolenPineappleCup]

Currently on a secondment within the NHS. I don't have a concrete base - it can be any premises within the Trust - but like the rest of my team work remotely at least 2 of my 4 days a week (usually 3 even). The days I would go into a base would be to specifically meet in person rather than just to work from a hot desk. My team has no permanent set up anywhere, just hot desking rooms we can book.

Since Covid when we all moved to WFH we've had to complete an annual DSE assessment for health and safety - a quick, online form - done. This year however they want photographs of our set up at home! Apparently we have to have at least a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor. My work setup is that I sit on the sofa with a laptop table and use the laptop only - it works absolutely fine for me, and I have no MSK issues, etc.

Apparently if we can't have this setup at home we will need to be in a base permanently - even though I don't have one. I feel this would massively impact my work/life balance due to commuting and also the fact I was allowed to WFH before Covid due to ASD.

I don't see how it's fair that they want to police how people work in their own homes? Aren't we all grown adults? Yes they have a HSE/duty of care role etc. but surely if you can sign and agree you're happy with your way of working they surely can't force you to change?!

(I do have a desk and chair upstairs by the way but the desk is one of those stupid angled ones that doesn't adjust for me, and the room where it is is getting renovated - I will have a new one but not until the end of the year)

Can’t you set up the correct equipment they’ve given you on a cheap but larger desk, or even a pasting table with a cloth on it, in one of your unrenovated rooms? Add a good chair you can put in store until the room is ready? How bad are the spaces you have unrenovated? If you’ve got a room with four walls and a floor then surely there will be space to set up properly to photograph if you insist you are going to carry on as you are.

Sorry I’m a little confused.

have they not bought you a key board and mouse? Surely you should ask for that during the process? And slow it down by a few weeks…

Or ChatGPT, take a photo of your “office” and ask it to add in a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Done!

@SimonQuinlanksWeakLemonDrink there is no space in the room currently to put anything in - my existing desk (which isn't big enough anyway) is behind a ton of boxes at the back of the room. I am working my way through sorting it but I work approx 55 hours a week and it's taking time! Also, they haven't actually given me any equipment...

@WannabeMathematician they've only decided today that everyone must have them already at home... my worry is that by needing them to be purchased, delivered, etc. it will delay things by weeks but that in that time I will be made to go into an office every day

I do understand but ultimately, if you can't work safely at home you shouldn't be doing it. I do the DSE assessments for my team, and I wouldn't be allowing anyone to wfh if they didn't have the correct setup -I'm responsible for the h&s of these people, which includes workstations. Sitting on a sofa all day just isn't good for you - it increases the chances of MSK problems which could affect your long term health and performance/absence rates. Your employer isn't just doing this to be a bastard, it's a legal requirement.

I didn't buy my desk or chair either - none of us did. We bought them ourselves as we choose to wfh. If your employer requires you to work from home then they should fund this.

Why can't you go round to a local friends place during your next WFH day and take a pic of their desk with your laptop on it?

I've already answered this several times. Because none of my friends will have the correct equipment - it all has to be via NHS suppliers so are all the same design, brand, etc. None of my friends work for the NHS and I can hardly ask my colleagues can I...

@SirChenjins we've been working at home for over six years now, it's only today they've decided they want photographic evidence. And once I work out how to give them that evidence I will be back in my position on the sofa until I have my home office set up (by choice)

Maybe - but for the last six years you've been completing a DSE assessment, and the questions specifically cover the workstation setup. A sofa doesn't meet the criteria.

I don’t understand if it has to be specific nhs equipment surely they have to provide that to you? So you can ask, you might have to go in a few weeks but didn’t you say you had reasonable adjustments so you could probably avoid that too?
and since you hot desk from anywhere can’t you just say you’re in but not go in? Would anyone really know?

Nah I don’t buy this- your screen, mounts, keyboard, mouse and all the rest of it don’t have to be NHS specific equipment for DSE. Just make sure the chair has all the appropriate adjustable points, the screen heights are adjustable and the keyboard and screen can be moved to fit the person.

just chuck your laptop in the dock and it’ll all be good. Because if it HAD to be NHS specific equipment they would have supplied it ages ago.

I don't understand why they think you can provide a photo of your workstation with equipment they've never supplied? Surely they know you don't have this because of your previous assessments, so just ask for it to be supplied and take the photo on a friend's desk?

They haven't supplied it because we didn't know we were supposed to have it until today - they've supplied it to anyone who's asked for it. And believe me, I wasn't able to use my own headset, it had to be an NHS one. Bit of a moot point anyway because I have nowhere to currently set up the equipment.

@Workinggreen someone else pointed out that the adjustments then wouldn't be reasonable due to not meeting H&S requirements. They would know if I was in or not as the people I support do tend to go in every day as they are operational staff

Perhaps they are fed up with staff who are not telling the truth about their wfh set up

I doubt many organisations would be happy about someone using a laptop sat on a sofa

You’re mixing up the need for them to supply any IT stuff which plugs into your laptop and links to their network, with furniture which can be from anywhere as long as it’s safe. Request you monitor, keyboard and mouse today, and sort the furniture yourself, even if that means getting a new kitchen table at a decent height for work.

Or just accept you’re unwilling to comply and go back to being office based - it sounds like it’s best for you.

@SimonQuinlanksWeakLemonDrink I've literally said repeatedly that I will have a proper home office set up as soon as I can - why would I then spend money I don't have on a new desk/table before then?

I literally have reasonable adjustments that allowed me to work from home before Covid due to ASD, but yeah a busy, noisy office environment sure is the best for me I guess!

Borrow a desk from a friend for the photo. Or request the items and put them on a friend’s desk. Not hard.

Absolutely they need to see your set up. They have a duty of care to ensure that you comply with DSE requirements. Yes you can lie, send in photos of someone else’s equipment but you run the risk of being found out and disciplined & if you sustain an injury further down the line , you can forget about any compensation.
It amazes me that people think that working from home means that they aren’t answerable to anyone !

OP has already said their home office will be ready in a few months so it’s perfectly fine to lie for the moment.

Look, there comes a point where you have to take some responsibility - you want to continue to wfh, which is reasonable, but you have to hold up your end of the bargain and comply with homeworking setup. There just isn’t another way around it. You could try talking to your manager to see if they can waive the requirements until you get the space ready at home, but you risk being told ‘no’. I’m surprised it’s taken 6 years for them to enforce this, though.

Good God just message someone in HR or your boss or whoever it is explaining the situation and let them tell you what will happen. There is no point putting anything up here anymore because clearly no one has the right answer for you.

If you genuinely are getting a full office set up in a matter of months, can you not just explain to your line manager that you are undergoing some renovations on your house and as a short term temporary fix, you are working at the kitchen desk? Then send proof of your propper set up subsequently.

Noniissue. Set it up at your desk, snap a photo and send it off, then sit and work where you like. I have a proper set up in my home office but will also work from my sofa, bed, dining table, coffee shop, friend's house.

@StolenPineappleCup Have you considered emailing HR and explaining that a) They will need to purchase you the additional equipment b) Your set up photo will be delayed by some renovations and c) you cannot attend the office in the meantime due to asd and the reasonable adjustments you've previously had agreed for you? Make it clear how much stress this sudden notification has caused for you. If they were understand enough to make the adjustments in the past then surely they will continue to be so.

Didn't read any of the thread then?

@WonderingWanda the request has only come in today so I'm not going to be too proactive about asking questions just yet. But it wasn't HR who made the decisions it was my previous line manager who is so laid back he's horizontal and wouldn't mind if you worked from the pub (I haven't by the way!) as long as you got the work done. The new team, and specifically my new manager's PA who sent the request, are a different breed altogether...