Many of us are still working and going into the office but do you feel as though you could and should be working from home?
This BBC report details some of these situations (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55705798)
Jane works as an administrator for a private healthcare firm in Oxfordshire, a job she is expected to do from the office, even in lockdown. However, since she caught Covid-19 at work before Christmas, she has chosen to work from home because she feels safer – something that is causing problems with her boss.
“The office is so small and it is impossible to socially distance,” she tells the BBC. “My boss also didn’t follow guidelines when I got ill and no one was told to isolate. It was so irresponsible.”
Jane argues that her job, which is computer and phone-based, can be done easily from home. She feels that she is only following government guidelines. However, she says her boss wants her to come back in and she cannot hold out much longer: “I have a mortgage to pay, I can’t risk losing my home.”
George works in the office of a construction firm where social distancing rules “are ignored or undermined”. He is torn about whether to complain. He and 10 close colleagues could all do their jobs easily from home – and did so during the first lockdown – but that is not an option this time, even though half of them are over 60, with two people in the high-risk category. “I was given a template letter saying we are unable to work from home, despite all of us having done so easily for six months prior,” he tells the BBC. “There’s only one way to report this internally and doing that clearly flags you for redundancy.” He says the situation forces you to “weigh up having a job in the pandemic, or standing up for what you think is right”.
There are concerns that bosses are breaking Covid safety rules, with the head of the UK’s unions calling for tougher enforcement. Between 6 and 14 January, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) received 3,934 complaints relating to coronavirus and took enforcement action in 81 cases. That usually meant a verbal or written warning however, with only one company facing tougher action. Policing can be a problem as well, as some workers fear reprisals if they speak up
So what are the rules?
From 6 January, a national lockdown started across all of England. You can only leave home for work purposes where it is unreasonable for you to do your job from home.
Where people cannot work from home they should continue to travel to their workplace. This includes, but is not limited to, people who work in:
- critical national infrastructure
- construction
- manufacturing
- childcare or education
- essential public services
This is essential to keeping the country operating and supporting sectors and employers.
Where it is necessary for you to work in other people’s homes – for example, for nannies, cleaners or tradespeople – you can do so. Otherwise, you should avoid meeting for work in a private home or garden, where COVID-19 Secure measures may not be in place.
Employers and employees should discuss their working arrangements, and employers should take every possible step to facilitate their employees working from home, including providing suitable IT and equipment to enable remote working. Where people cannot work from home, employers should take steps to help employees avoid busy times and routes on public transport.
The risk of transmission can be substantially reduced if COVID-19 secure guidelines are followed closely. Extra consideration should be given to those people at higher risk.
But what is unreasonable?
This is the question that many are facing and what your employer might consider as unreasonable for you to work from home you might have different feelings.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) wants the government to strengthen enforcement and give the HSE more resources.
Some say nothing will change, unless the government changes the rules to ensure only people doing essential work go in and the rules are clearer.
To ensure that you are not putting your employers in danger we need to be really considering are we protecting our staff the best way possible. If there is no other option to have staff in their normal workplace then are we following the HSE Covid secure guidelines
https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#going-to-work