Socialising with colleagues when WFH

[DelayRepay]

Hi

My company have requested that staff who are working from home do not socialise with colleagues. The reason for this appears to be business continuity; they are concerned that if a team meets up and all get infected, they will all be sick at the same time and there will be nobody to do their work.

They have also asked that those staff working in offices do not socialise with their colleagues outside of work.

This is a request, not an instruction. I doubt an instruction would be enforceable anyway. I personally am ignoring it and have regular lunches with members of my team (very small groups though, not even touching the 'rule of six' limits).

I am posting to ask whether other companies have also issued similar guidelines/rules to their employees, or whether my employer has gone out on a limb here?

 

[westv]

My office is 200 miles away so I doubt I'll be doing much socialising any time soon.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I doubt an instruction would be enforceable anyway.

I hope you don't have to test that one out.

They may regard it as a reasonable request in terms of business continuity. As we've seen with people being dismissed for various activities and social media posts etc (even if it doesn't directly relate to the employer), just because anything is out of work time doesn't mean you have carte blanche.

 

[nlogax]

Flew down to London for a day for a face to face planning meeting the other week, five of us in a rented hotel meeting room as our offices are still closed for the foreseeable. It was a buzz.. actual people and interaction that didn't need Zoom. With restrictions tightening up again I doubt that'll be possible again for months.

 

[Ianno87]

Flew down to London for a day for a face to face planning meeting the other week, five of us in a rented hotel meeting room as our offices are still closed for the foreseeable. It was a buzz.. actual people and interaction that didn't need Zoom. With restrictions tightening up again I doubt that'll be possible again for months.

An employer does need to balance the (fairly low) business continuity risk with the benefit of social interaction / team building. I fear a few (not mine thankfully) are only seeing one side of the equation...

 

[bengley]

I hope you don't have to test that one out.

They may regard it as a reasonable request in terms of business continuity. As we've seen with people being dismissed for various activities and social media posts etc (even if it doesn't directly relate to the employer), just because anything is out of work time doesn't mean you have carte blanche.

Rubbish. Your employer can't stop you from meeting friends outside of work time. If those friends happen to be colleagues then that is unfortunate for the employer.

 

[nlogax]

An employer does need to balance the (fairly low) business continuity risk with the benefit of social interaction / team building. I fear a few (not mine thankfully) are only seeing one side of the equation...

They do. Zoom or Teams fatigue is a real thing when it comes to meetings or calls that go beyond 2 people. I have other issues with office closures that I won't go into on a public forum, but needless to say, -hacked off-.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Rubbish. Your employer can't stop you from meeting friends outside of work time. If those friends happen to be colleagues then that is unfortunate for the employer.

In the first instance, it depends what their contract or the company policies and procedures say. Then a court would have to judge on what a court deems a reasonable request or if it affects the ability of someone to do their job.

ACAS guidance says " Employees' activities outside work - including those resulting in criminal offences - are not grounds for dismissal unless they affect employees' ability to do their job, which could be because they affect relations with their colleagues, suppliers or customers or bring the business into disrepute. They must amount to 'some other substantial reason' justifying dismissal. "

It's certainly not something that I've ever heard of happening. My point was that the idea that once you clock off and you can do what you like is a misnomer.

 

[kristiang85]

I socialise in person at least once a week with colleagues, and sometimes even at weekends too. Its absolutely invaluable for our sanity.

However, our bosses do encourage it, so I can't see that being an issue (and I work in public health, so they know what they are doing).

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Doesn't bother me - I live miles from where I work and I certainly would not wish to socialise with many of my immediate work colleagues