Offices Reopening-Will you go?

ThewhiteJesus

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

i think it's time to stop the covid payment personally and get back to work.

Work v Covid payment seems to be a dilemma for some.
Work v JobSeekers or whatever might be less of a dilemma.

angela1711

Augeo wrote: »

Are they expecting you back at work 5 days a week on full pay?

Is it you or them saying you are needed 1 day/week?

The Covid payment won't be about for much longer I believe.

From my reading of it you seem to want to work from home on full pay doing a day's work a week or you want to remain on Covid payment if they expect you back at work?

Sorry I have a toddler stuck to my leg so apologies if my post is all over the place.

Two things, as I said i have a small child so what am I suppose to do with him. Can I just refuse to come back to work due to no childcare options?

Can my employer force me to physically come to my office if I can do the job from home ? Now i probably won’t be as efficient as I would still have to take care of the toddler but my job is very much target oriented so I can do evenings, weekends whatever to make sure that I meet the target.

I only work part time now. Used to work full time but had asked to be switched to part time partially because of childcare reasons and also because there was never enough work for me and I was getting fed up sitting in there with literally nothing to do. This is were the enough work for one day comes in. I know well that even in the busiest times I never had more then 3 days of work so it’s hard to imagine having more then a few tasks to do now with hardly any customers in the place.

angela1711

angela1711 wrote: »

................

Can my employer force me to physically come to my office if I can do the job from home ? Now i probably won’t be as efficient as I would still have to take care of the toddler but my job is very much target oriented so I can do evenings, weekends whatever to make sure that I meet the target.

I only work part time now. ..................

Well you've already said you can't work from home due to GDPR ........... Covid payment for part time workers was a huge fnck up and it results in situations like this.

If you can't go to work as you've no childcare then it sounds like you need to take leave from work.

Flyer1

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

i think it's time to stop the covid payment personally and get back to work.

Oh ya grand, what about those of us who's work possibly won't return till the end of the year at best. Just let us go broke is it :rolleyes:

angela1711

Augeo wrote: »

.

If you can't go to work as you've no childcare then it sounds like you need to take leave from work.

So are you saying that all these employees who have no childcare should go on an unpaid leave until they can return to work at the end of July at best ? What are people suppose to life off ? Some of my friends with school aged kids have no option but to stay at home with them until the schools reopen.

Is it the parents fault that the government is asking people to come back to work and yet keeping essentially all childcare facilities closed ?

Just on a side note you can actually get the covid benefit if you have to stay at home to mind children. When I was applying for mine that was one of the reasons to tick on the application.

Flyer1

Flyer1 wrote: »

Oh ya grand, what about those of us who's work possibly won't return till the end of the year at best. Just let us go broke is it :rolleyes:

I'd not let people's opinion bother you ........ as yet no decision has been made........https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0515/1138560-donohoe-on-reopening-of-economy/

If they structure it stop payments going to part time workers and fraudsters
( ........https://extra.ie/2020/05/17/news/irish-news/covid-19-welfare-payment-bogus ) ....

........ there might be provisions for folk beyond June.

Realistically folk will lose their jobs due to Covid19.

angela1711

angela1711 wrote: »

So are you saying that all these employees who have no childcare should go on an unpaid leave until they can return to work at the end of July at best ? What are people suppose to life off ? Some of my friends with school aged kids have no option but to stay at home with them until the schools reopen.

Is it the parents fault that the government is asking people to come back to work and yet keeping essentially all childcare facilities closed ?

Just on a side note you can actually get the covid benefit if you have to stay at home to mind children. When I was applying for mine that was one of the reasons to tick on the application.

I said nothing about unpaid leave.

You are telling us you are a part time worker on covid19 payment, it's generally accepted that the full payment shouldn't have been extended to part time workers.

It's lunacy giving part time workers the same Covid19 payment as full time workers.

What were your part time wages pre Covid? What were your child care costs? Are you better off now then before?

angela1711 wrote: »

.........

Just on a side note you can actually get the covid benefit if you have to stay at home to mind children. When I was applying for mine that was one of the reasons to tick on the application.

Tell that to your employer so. Simple. Hopefully the state will throw €350 a week at you for as long as necessary and you'll still have a job to go back to when it suits your situation.

ThewhiteJesus

Flyer1 wrote: »

Oh ya grand, what about those of us who's work possibly won't return till the end of the year at best. Just let us go broke is it :rolleyes:

Plenty of social welfare payments out there, by the sounds of it, you are well aware of that, and are taking full advantage ?

angela1711

Augeo wrote: »

I said nothing about unpaid leave.

You are telling us you are a part time worker on covid19 payment, it's generally accepted that the full payment shouldn't have been extended to part time workers.

It's lunacy giving part time workers the same Covid19 payment as full time workers.

What were your part time wages pre Covid? What were your child care costs? Are you better off now then before?



Tell that to your employer so. Simple. Hopefully the state will throw €350 a week at you for as long as necessary and you'll still have a job to go back to when it suits your situation.

Not all part time employees are better of on the Covid payment including myself. Not everyone is a cashier or a student on minimum wage. And I do agree that they should have taken the previous income from employment into consideration and not be giving everyone a flat rate payment.

lisasimpson

silverharp wrote: »

the date we have pencilled in is the middle of June with maybe half the floor week on week out (work from home) , I hope I still fit my work clothes

I can see some companies doing this. Wouldnt be a bad option either in large companies

lisasimpson

Augeo wrote: »

Work v Covid payment seems to be a dilemma for some.
Work v JobSeekers or whatever might be less of a dilemma.

Its a big problem in care homes too. Know of one nursing home where 4 careers stopped going in cause they were better of going on covid payment

jester77

Cyrus wrote: »

Really ? So how many people do you know that have changed jobs at the moment? Pretty difficult conduct interviews and onboard new staff

We have had 44 people join the company since the office closed in March. No issues with onboarding, they all received their hardware delivered in time for their starting date.

Interviews are continuing as normal, nothing changed there except for the final interview. Usually the person is flown in for an onsite interview, obviously that can't happen now, so it's done remotely like their previous interviews.

Stheno

GreeBo wrote: »

I was going to go back in but I'm pretty sure I left a half cup of coffee at my desk 9 weeks ago and I'm afraid to see it now...

I had an entire two foot long locker filled with chocolate/sweets/crisps/dried fruit and nuts, and I'm fairly sure some fruit on my desk.

I'm gonna need a hazmat suit just for that alone when I go back

JimmyVik

Last week, We got told to come into the office from 25th May.
Followed up a day later with an email to say noone is to come in until August.


The company stretched the spirit of the rules to get the staff back in. Im told someone sent proof of their stretching of the rules to the HSE and the a few other government departments. Day after that we get told not to come in until August.

Sounds like it's managed by a right pack of goons .............. "Anyone who can work from home should continue to do so" ............ there's not much to stretch there if the staff have all been WFH for the last two months it's obvious that they can WFH.

There'll be plenty other companies doing similar though, appalling.

thegetawaycar

lisasimpson wrote: »

Its a big problem in care homes too. Know of one nursing home where 4 careers stopped going in cause they were better of going on covid payment

Does the company not have to be closed due to COVID to get the payment?

GreeBo

Augeo wrote: »

Sounds like it's managed by a right pack of goons .............. "Anyone who can work from home should continue to do so" ............ there's not much to stretch there if the staff have all been WFH for the last two months it's obvious that they can WFH.

There'll be plenty other companies doing similar though, appalling.

I would read that as "can successfully" work from home.
There are plenty of people who are at home and not working successfully or efficiently.


Our offices has said that it is very unlikely that anyone will be back in the office in August. The logistics are too complicated (PPE for everyone, 1 way systems, what happens if someone becomes ill, how do you get them home, etc, etc)

H3llR4iser

jester77 wrote: »

We have had 44 people join the company since the office closed in March. No issues with onboarding, they all received their hardware delivered in time for their starting date.

Interviews are continuing as normal, nothing changed there except for the final interview. Usually the person is flown in for an onsite interview, obviously that can't happen now, so it's done remotely like their previous interviews.

Same - we had no less than 5 people joining since we moved to a WFH basis in March. It's pretty much average for this time of the year.

Santropay

Just wondering does anyone have a sense of whether many offices have re-opened yet - I'm particularly wondering about multi-nationals/IT companies?

I work for a small-ish IT company (about 120 people on-site) and our offices opened on Monday 18th. We are not being forced to come in, but it's clear from subtle communications and also unofficial updates from our managers, that senior leadership are expecting a full return to the office asap. A number of people have been happy to go in and this is effectively being used as a stick to beat the rest of us with.

Apparently our company have claimed they are an essential service because some of our customers are utility companies.

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

Cyrus

Santropay wrote: »

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

what pressure? has anyone directed you to return to the office?

if not id hold off on shopping your employer.

Jim Root

Santropay wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone have a sense of whether many offices have re-opened yet - I'm particularly wondering about multi-nationals/IT companies?

I work for a small-ish IT company (about 120 people on-site) and our offices opened on Monday 18th. We are not being forced to come in, but it's clear from subtle communications and also unofficial updates from our managers, that senior leadership are expecting a full return to the office asap. A number of people have been happy to go in and this is effectively being used as a stick to beat the rest of us with.

Apparently our company have claimed they are an essential service because some of our customers are utility companies.

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

In my place you can go in if you want; but only if you don’t have to rely on public transport. No pressure is being applied. Some people have been calling in to pick some bits and pieces/print document etc.

H3llR4iser

Santropay wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone have a sense of whether many offices have re-opened yet - I'm particularly wondering about multi-nationals/IT companies?

AFAIK, no - our company is similarly sized and pretty much in the same field, but even with the continuous mentioning in meetings about "being back in the office soon", I think pretty much everyone realized it's not gonna be before July at the earliest, most likely August. Friends who work for multinationals have been pretty much told straight on they'll be WFH until August at least.

Santropay wrote: »

I work for a small-ish IT company (about 120 people on-site) and our offices opened on Monday 18th. We are not being forced to come in, but it's clear from subtle communications and also unofficial updates from our managers, that senior leadership are expecting a full return to the office asap. A number of people have been happy to go in and this is effectively being used as a stick to beat the rest of us with.

That's underhand tactics - they should just say what they want to do. They're playing it this way so that if something happens (e.g. an employee gets the virus, or they spread it), the company can always say "not our fault, we left it to each indivudual's responsibility, we never said to go to the office" - which would technically be true.

The dumbos happily going to the office are an issue and the reason why in these situations it's not possible to just trust in "personal responsibility" but necessary to act via laws and regulations.

Also, for the life of me, I can't even imagine what kind of sad sack of meat despises their own home, children and spouse so much they prefer to spend the majority of their waking time at a dreary desk in a depressing building in company of strangers in order to make a few rich people richer still.

Santropay wrote: »

Apparently our company have claimed they are an essential service because some of our customers are utility companies.

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

It would probably be best to be honest and direct - ask your manager for a chat and put the question out - "Do you want us(me) to go back to the office NOW? Yes, no. No 'if you want to'..." - My guess is that they'll say "no no, you're fine to work from home" - again, rensponsibility avoidance.

ChikiChiki

Santropay wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone have a sense of whether many offices have re-opened yet - I'm particularly wondering about multi-nationals/IT companies?

I work for a small-ish IT company (about 120 people on-site) and our offices opened on Monday 18th. We are not being forced to come in, but it's clear from subtle communications and also unofficial updates from our managers, that senior leadership are expecting a full return to the office asap. A number of people have been happy to go in and this is effectively being used as a stick to beat the rest of us with.

Apparently our company have claimed they are an essential service because some of our customers are utility companies.

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

It's mad the variation between companies and leadership. Our offices are being made available in stages globally but company leadership are actively encouraging people not to come in in all regions.

It comes down to trust in a lot of cases I think and says a lot about the company leaders mindsets that they are asking staff to come in when they are as capable of working from home in the midst of a fooking pandemic.

Santropay

Santropay wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone have a sense of whether many offices have re-opened yet - I'm particularly wondering about multi-nationals/IT companies?

I work for a small-ish IT company (about 120 people on-site) and our offices opened on Monday 18th. We are not being forced to come in, but it's clear from subtle communications and also unofficial updates from our managers, that senior leadership are expecting a full return to the office asap. A number of people have been happy to go in and this is effectively being used as a stick to beat the rest of us with.

Apparently our company have claimed they are an essential service because some of our customers are utility companies.

If pressure gets worse I'm keen to complain to authorities somewhere but not sure where/how. I never expected any offices would open until August 10th at the earliest.

I'm in a smallish software company and general message we've gotten is that it's gonna be rare for us to be in the office even after August. It's easy for us to work from home.

From friends working in other much larger companies, they're not expecting to be back this year. Personally, I'm very apprehensive about going into an office any time soon. I have a condition linked to the immune system plus suspected lupus so I'm antsy about people in work having cold as is.

Santropay

H3llR4iser wrote: »

That's underhand tactics - they should just say what they want to do. They're playing it this way so that if something happens (e.g. an employee gets the virus, or they spread it), the company can always say "not our fault, we left it to each indivudual's responsibility, we never said to go to the office" - which would technically be true.

The dumbos happily going to the office are an issue and the reason why in these situations it's not possible to just trust in "personal responsibility" but necessary to act via laws and regulations.

I think you're right, as anyone who is going in has to sign some sort of declaration/waiver. What's really frustrating is that anyone I've spoken to who's now in the office was perfectly capable of remote working but they missed 'the craic' or 'seeing people's faces'. I can just see a situation where my manager will eventually go into the office and then say 'I'll be going in - it would be good to meet in person' and we'll be put into a position of having to say a hard no or go along with it to not be seen as difficult/unobliging.

It's really made me reconsider whether I want to stay here .

Un1corn

Not in Ireland but our office is partially opened in Germany and it is annoying. We are being forced to come in every second week. Two Teams A and B alternate. You are exempt if you have children or are in the risk group. But otherwise, they are trying to force us in. The want asses on seats according to my manager. I think it is a disgrace considering we are working in IT and have been able to work uninterrupted at home. Plus as half of the office is home anyway and we are not allowed to use the meeting rooms. The office has been rebuilt with desks further apart to allow social distancing.

I am in Team B for our room. It seats 30 and we are in two teams of 15. Due to social distancing there are now only 13 seats available and they have to be reserved online. It is really annoying. I have gotten so used to working at home. I can save 1 hour every day commuting.

It's basically a normality simulation for the sake of management.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote: »

....


Our offices has said that it is very unlikely that anyone will be back in the office in August. The logistics are too complicated (PPE for everyone, 1 way systems, what happens if someone becomes ill, how do you get them home, etc, etc)

Plenty offices in pharma plants are managing away without PPE once social distancing is possible

Stheno

Wfh indefinitely in my company

road_high

Un1corn wrote: »

Not in Ireland but our office is partially opened in Germany and it is annoying. We are being forced to come in every second week. Two Teams A and B alternate. You are exempt if you have children or are in the risk group. But otherwise, they are trying to force us in. The want asses on seats according to my manager. I think it is a disgrace considering we are working in IT and have been able to work uninterrupted at home. Plus as half of the office is home anyway and we are not allowed to use the meeting rooms. The office has been rebuilt with desks further apart to allow social distancing.

I am in Team B for our room. It seats 30 and we are in two teams of 15. Due to social distancing there are now only 13 seats available and they have to be reserved online. It is really annoying. I have gotten so used to working at home. I can save 1 hour every day commuting.

It's basically a normality simulation for the sake of management.

If working from home wasn’t part of your initial contractual arrangements then why should the company change it to suit you and because you like it. I’m sure if it’s that much of an inconvenience you can find another job, one that offers the flexibility you crave.

Un1corn

road_high wrote: »

If working from home wasn’t part of your initial contractual arrangements then why should the company change it to suit you and because you like it. I’m sure if it’s that much of an inconvenience you can find another job, one that offers the flexibility you crave.

Because the world has drastically changed since then and lots of people now think having a fully remote workforce is possible. There is no need to have people in the office during a pandemic. I think we might have a shutdown again in a few weeks due to the lack of social distancing let see.

We've more or less proven it's possible to work remotely. I think I could work from home indefinitely if I wanted to on an individual basis. One of my colleagues only comes to the office once per month. Flies in for a day or two to keep up appearances.