Many public service employers are flouting official Government restrictions on workplace attendance under Level Five of Covid restrictions, according to the State’s largest public service union.
Fórsa today (Tuesday) said the national effort to bring the coronavirus under control could be undermined by widespread management failure to properly identify which workers need to attend their work premises to undertake essential functions during the emergency.
The national effort to bring the coronavirus under control could be undermined by widespread management failure to properly identify which workers need to attend their work premises.
The union says guidelines issued to public service managers fall short of official Government advice to employers across the economy, with the result that there has been no significant reduction in the numbers of public service staff being instructed to travel to work since the country entered Level Five restrictions last month.
The official economy-wide Government advice at Level Five is that employees should work from home unless they perform “an essential health, social care or other essential service,” which “cannot be done from home.”
But the guidelines issued to public service employers by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), most recently on 23rd December, are substantially weaker. They say: “Home working will continue as and when deemed appropriate by the employer, having regard to the changes that may be required at each level.”
Far too many public servants are being required to travel to work to perform roles that can and should be done remotely.
Fórsa spokesperson Bernard Harbor said far too many public servants were being required to travel to work to perform roles that can and should be done remotely at the height of the pandemic.
“The public health advice is clear: Staff should be working from home unless their attendance in the workplace is absolutely necessary to provide essential services. Yet there are many more public servants being ordered into the workplace now than last March, when infection rates were lower and the pressure on our health service was considerably less severe.
“The letter and tone of the HR advice to public service managers is at odds with official restrictions deemed necessary to bring the virus under control. This is contributing to a form of macho-management, which fails to put public safety first by properly distinguishing between those who need to be in the workplace right now and those who don’t.
“Fórsa is speaking out because we believe staff and service-users are being unnecessarily exposed to potentially virus-spreading interactions in workplaces and on public transport, and that this will likely impede the national effort to contain the virus,” he said.
We believe staff and service-users are being unnecessarily exposed to potentially virus-spreading interactions in workplaces and on public transport, and that this will likely impede the national effort to contain the virus.
Mr Harbor applauded the contribution of hundreds of thousands of workers, across the private, public and voluntary sectors, who continue to be needed in workplaces to perform essential tasks that can’t be done remotely. But he said they were being put at higher risk by the failure to restrict unnecessary workplace attendance.
In the NPHET briefing of Monday 4th January, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan emphasised that employers should only ask staff to only come to work if their presence was needed. “As an employer you have a basic duty of care to your staff. Only bring them to work if that work is essential in its nature, and if their presence is essential,” he said.
The following day (5th January), Tánaiste Leo Varadkar issued a statement that said: “I’m asking employers to encourage and accommodate their employees to stay at home unless they are essential workers. I want to urge everyone who can work from home to do so.”
Listen back: Fórsa’s head of communication Bernard Harbor spoke about how public service employers are flouting official Government restrictions on workplace attendance on Tuesday’s edition of Kildare Focus on Kfm Radio Kildare.