Are we the baddies?

[white_hart]

I spent most of my four days of work last week trying to work out how to manage the tension between the university being open and teaching going ahead in person and the government advice to "work from home if you can", when my team aren't completely back-office (we are responsible for teaching support, and also deal with general queries from academics and students which can be in-person as well as by email or phone) but most people's jobs can largely be done remotely (apart from dealing with in-person queries, though I think a lot of people don't necessarily see that as the core part of their jobs that I think it actually is). I ended up deciding that it didn't seem fair to try to pick and choose between people's jobs and say "this person supports teaching, and should come in; that one doesn't, and can work from home", especially as that would have ended up with the most junior people having to come in while more senior staff were able to work remotely, and have said that everyone should be in one or two days a week apart from the people who are clinically vulnerable. (I'm planning to be in three days, but might end up increasing that to four; I find it so much easier to focus in the office.) But I can't help worrying that that was the wrong decision, and I shouldn't be asking anyone to work on-site with case numbers as high as they are. And I miss last term when things had started to feel almost normal again. And mostly, I hate living through a pandemic and having to risk assess everything and make judgements I'm not remotely qualified to make. And I may have just had two and a bit weeks off, but after four days back I'm already utterly exhausted.

Comments

[caulkhead]

And mostly, I hate living through a pandemic and having to risk assess everything and make judgements I'm not remotely qualified to make.

Hugs. I feel this.

[white_hart]

It is just rubbish.

[redbird]

I think there's a meaningful difference between "some people have to come in, and the only way to be fair is to make everyone come in, whether or not that makes sense for their jobs" and spreading the burden of the X amount of work that really does benefit from being in person.

It sounds like what you're trying to avoid is the situation where Alice has to be in the office two days a week no matter what, so she gets stuck coming in every day to handle the in-person queries, while Bob's other work can be done remotely, so he doesn't have to do a share of the in-person stuff.

The only things I'm sure of are (a) if some people genuinely prefer working in the office, you don't have to send them home in the interests of abstract fairness, (b) you probably need a definition of "clinically vulnerable" that doesn't translate to "whoever complains loudest" or "whoever management likes." And that should probably be a university-wide guideline.

[white_hart]

Thank you; that's a helpful way of looking at it. There's also something about enabling at least a bit of in-person interaction between staff, particularly because we have a lot of really new people and trying to learn a job remotely is hard.

I'm definitely happy for anyone who wants to be in the office more (or simply can't work from their homes) to be in as many days as they want. And there are actually national guidelines on who counts as "clinically vulnerable", based on who was advised to shield in earlier stages of the pandemic - in our case, one person who finished cancer treatment last year and one with a blood clotting disorder. I had someone else who lives with elderly parents but as far as I know none of them have particular vulnerabilities, so I've told them that they do need to come in but we can move them to a single office if that would help.

[nanila]

after four days back I'm already utterly exhausted

It's not just me and the bloke, then. We both had to go in this week - only one day each - for teaching/research-related reasons and we were both totally wiped today. :( This is so stressful.

Many sympathies. Also, tea.

[white_hart]

And I haven't even done any of the things that were on my to-do list!

[nineveh_uk]

It all sucks. I was deeply unimpressed with the latest missive that oh, no masks required in shared offices as long as the desks are a mystic amount apart.

[white_hart]

Mystic and unspecified! I'm leaving that one up to th occupants of shared offices to sort out between themselves, as I think I trust my team not to be arses about it (and the main faculty office were masking all last term because C was in there), but it really is all hopelessly wishy-washy.

[nineveh_uk]

I suppose we shouldn't really expect a pandemic to be handled differently by the university than anything else, and yet....

[lnr]

Argh!

[lnr]

I totally agree about hating to have to make judgements without enough information or guidance! That's what I found so tough about cancelling things over Christmas.

I note that IT is obviously not quite the same line of thing, but even early last term we were strongly discouraging people from making initial requests in person - if they need in person help then they'll get it, but they should ask by phone/email first, to keep contact to a minimum. I can understand that you and your team may still want to offer in person support, but how much of it is easy to ask people to do remotely instead?

Mind you right now I have a sodding annoying (not-covid) cough, and no-one in their right mind would want me in an office with them!

[white_hart]

Part of the issue is that there is a feeling that if academics are having to come and teach in person, there should be admin staff on site to make the faculty a warm and welcoming environment. And a lot of our academics would very strongly prefer to talk to someone in person.

It really is so difficult.

[cmcmck]

'Work from home if you can' is all very well but in all the jobs I ever had before I became a self employed historian for the last few years of my working life I couldn't and many people can't (step forward my working class ancestors)!

[white_hart]

Well, quite!

[oracne]

Pandemics are when we NEED practical, knowledgeable guidance from the top down, and none of us seem to be getting that, anywhere in the world. AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[white_hart]

:-(

[mrs_redboots]

Very awkward for you; I agree with the person who said to find out who really wants to come in, and let them, and who really can't cope with coming in for whatever reason.... But I have to say, I'm glad I don't have to make that sort of decision. But, knowing you, I'm sure you will do it with your usual efficiency.

[white_hart]

I am just so tired of having to keep doing this.