Working From Home - Forever

[Ric.ror]

I like working from home but I fear they may be going to make us all go back soon. They have made the building 'Covid Secure' but as I am type 2 and have to use public transport (that combined with the fact the area I work in will not be back up and running - i suspect - until 2021)
I would be more than willing to work in another department as long as I can from home.

Help

[Cloverjo]

What sort of work do you do?
My son has been working from home and there are no plans to get he and his colleagues back into the office.

[bednobs]

I don't really know how anyone can help except for your work. You only suspect they may be wanting you to go back. Get in touch with your line manager and carry out a personalised risk assessment. Is your job of the type that could be done long term from home?
My work have realised the benefits of people working from home - fewer overheads (their paper bill alone has reduced by 90%), no loss of productivity and so on. At the mo I am in the middle of completing a RA as I fall into the extremely clinical vulnerable group, but I am anticipating that with 5000 people to accommodate at 2m distance from each other, they will be pleased to let some people continue from home. For example 9 people usually work in my office, but with 2m SD, only 3 could safely

[MargoTester]

Talk to your manager to see if you can continue to work for home for the foreseeable future.

[tiggerblue10]

Definitely speak with you line manager given your health concerns which they must take into consideration.

Although our building is being made covid safe, we will not be forced to go back in. Luckily 90% of my work is IT based and rest can wait.

[Ric.ror]

All my work can be realistically done from home - plus it would certainly cut the paper bill
Trouble is I don't really trust our management. My line boss is ok but I suspect the big boss is on a power trip - I could and should have been furloughed which I would have loved - but no he would not allow that

[Theland]

I wish my son would stop working from home, his wheelbarrow gets in the way of the TV.

[bednobs]

if you can work from home why on earth should you have been furloughed? Wasn't furlough for people who couldn't WFH

[bednobs]

therefore not being furloughed doesn't seem to be a trust issue to me but rather common sense - why would someone want to pay you for not doing anything when you could be working?

[New Judge]

//I could and should have been furloughed which I would have loved..//

I’m sure you would, Ric.

//why would someone want to pay you for not doing anything when you could be working?//

They would not have been paying – the taxpayer would.

The furlough scheme needs to be wound up. There is no reason why the taxpayer should fund the risks which should be funded by companies’ proprietors or shareholders. All sorts of "unforeseen circumstances" arise all the time.

As for working from home, time will tell whether businesses believe they are getting the same productivity from their employees as they do when working in an office. My experience of it is that overall they probably will not. I spent some time managing about seven or eight teams where there was a mixture of office working and home working. I found it very difficult to manage some of those who were working at home and some in my teams found it very difficult to work with them. It wasn’t that I needed to “keep an eye on them”. My teams were spread all over the UK and I couldn’t possibly do that even if I wanted to (which I did not) and they were all office based. It simply didn’t work very well despite my best efforts.

Talk of permanent changes to accommodate something which will, for most people of working age, present quite a low risk, are a bit premature.

[Ric.ror]

The nature of my work means I will not be returning to that job until probably 2021, so I would be expected to work in another department- no problem with that but I don’t see why I could not do that from home as other workers in that department have been working quite successfully from home. I guess all I can do is wait and see

Thank you for your replies