The reaction of your employer to Ophelia

lawred2

I'm curious as to the various reactions of employers to Ophelia and its implications for their employees across the country..

My wife and I had polar opposite experiences with our employers..

We're both Dublin based. The extension of red warning nationwide on Sunday saw an email from my CEO telling us to make our own call in the morning and not to take any risks but silence from her employer. I worked from home with the kids while my wife traveled in. She works in one of the well known private hospitals in Dublin in an outpatient department.

Monday morning saw another email from our management telling those who traveled in to go home before the last remaining public transport shut down..

At my wife's work.. no such communication. No such consideration. Staff had to force the issue with their own line managers and some traveled home early.. otherwise hospital management were perfectly happy for staff to be stuck in town with no public transport options for the rest of the day.

Yesterday saw an email from her management stating that another repeat of such carry on will see people being docked annual leave.

Now while they might be within their rights to issue such a communication.. just why? It was a once in 50 year event.. all public transport was off, it was a moving event where people had no idea what was going to transpire. It's not like this was setting a precedent. Why not just let such an event slide? Instead they've angered and belittled staff for simply being concerned for their own safety and well-being.

Our employer on the other hand has just taken this one on the chin.

Guess which workforce feels the more valued and motivated this morning!?

Anyone similarly disenfranchised by their employers in the last few days?

BattleCorp

My employer closed all 22 of our locations.

Got an email and a phone call at 7am on Monday morning that everywhere was closed.

Good call by my employer too because a canopy over one of the doors collapsed. If that came down on an employee or customer, it would have been curtains for them.

andekwarhola

My office was closed for the day although some of us were able to work from home.

To be fair, somewhere like a hospital would be more likely to require staff to show up.

thelad95

OSI wrote: »

I think working in a hospital of any kind would call for a certain level of expectation that staff turn up regardless of the expected weather conditions, no? If your wife was an A&E nurse would you be just as upset?

It was an outpatients department and I bet loads of appointments were cancelled, effectively rendering the department closed?

I came across an 83 year old mother who was driving to collect one of her children who were stranded because of no public transport.

AustinLostin

OSI wrote: »

I think working in a hospital of any kind would call for a certain level of expectation that staff turn up regardless of the expected weather conditions, no? If your wife was an A&E nurse would you be just as upset?

She was working with outpatients though, so I would imagine most weren't attending travelling to their appointments that day, and would have expected non-essential hospital facilities to close.

If his wife was an A&E nurse, that makes it a wholly different context and not really relevant to this discussion.

rainbow kirby

My sister works in a bank call centre in Dublin and only found out at 7 on Monday morning when she had already started getting ready for work that she didn't have to go in.

My mum did actually go in (works for M&S) but was sent home at 9:30am, which isn't terrible considering the worst of the storm didn't hit Dublin until much later.

I'm in London so all we saw was a funky orange sky on Monday afternoon and an unusually warm day for October (23c at lunchtime).

s4uv3

I was working semi outdoors on Mon morning and the message we got was to basically "work your asses off to get the job done and be out the gate and home by 2pm". Storm was to be at it's worst from 3pm on here.
But by 10pm we had to finish anyway as trucks and flights needed for the job were all cancelled.

I love Sean nos

lawred2 wrote: »

I worked from home with the kids

Ophelia to one side, your employer seems unusually lax on child labour laws. :pac:

I'm let manage my own work location with little to no oversight. Sunday night I decided that I was staying home on Monday. Email from the company arrived Monday morning advising all to stay home. Email from client location arrived slightly earlier, advising people to stay home, or if they'd already travelled in, to go home.

I stayed at home yesterday to make sure it was done and to allow debris to be cleared from the roads. In the client office today.

cfuserkildare

Our HR manager sent a mail around telling Team Leads Not to sent in our staff,
However, My TL told Me to go in???

lawred2

OSI wrote: »

I think working in a hospital of any kind would call for a certain level of expectation that staff turn up regardless of the expected weather conditions, no? If your wife was an A&E nurse would you be just as upset?

100%. I didn't mean to imply that I thought the hospital should close. Far from it.

What I might have expected was some sort of communication to staff detailing what the expectations were for inpatient, ED and outpatient departments.

The HSE were very quick with such an announcement on Sunday.

As it goes - a direct consequence of management's inaction a large number of people scheduled for appointments turned up at my wife's particular department only to be told to go home. For a 'caring' industry that showed a serious lack of care for the very people they were supposed to be caring for.. Never mind the employees.

I would have found their lack of consideration over Sunday/Monday to have been disappointing enough but a circular yesterday saying that similar behavior from staff in future would see annual leave or pay docked would have sickened me really.

s4uv3

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Our HR manager sent a mail around telling Team Leads Not to sent in our staff,
However, My TL told Me to go in???

Aw man. I'd batther that fecker.

al87987

Accounting office was closed, got a text on Sunday night. Lovely lie-on in the morning.

lawred2

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Ophelia to one side, your employer seems unusually lax on child labour laws. :pac:

I'm let manage my own work location with little to no oversight. Sunday night I decided that I was staying home on Monday. Email from the company arrived Monday morning advising all to stay home. Email from client location arrived slightly earlier, advising people to stay home, or if they'd already travelled in, to go home.

I stayed at home yesterday to make sure it was done and to allow debris to be cleared from the roads. In the client office today.

lol

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kunst nugget

thelad95 wrote: »

It was an outpatients department and I bet loads of appointments were cancelled, effectively rendering the department closed?

The HSE had cancelled all outpatient appoinments for Monday on Sunday night. That is really crappy behaviour on the part of the private hospital.

Mooooo

mariaalice wrote: »

I came across an 83 year old mother who was driving to collect one of her children who were stranded because of no public transport.

What son/daughter in their right mind would get their 83 year old mother to drive in a storm?

B-D-P--

SAP CEO sent mail Sunday eve, If you have laptops home with you use them if not talk tuesday.

I would have been surprised if they didn't. they have good Employee Interaction.

Herself's company text at 8 in the morning, when half the employees were already in.

Cantona's Collars

Absolute clusterfook in my place.I wasn't due in until the afternoon and got a text telling me not to come in but found out that nobody would make a call earlier in the day until staff forced the issue and started to leave about midday.
Then one of the line managers made a comment that we could have came in "because the power never went".... despite the fact our region bore the brunt of the storm with every second road blocked. To cap it all they want us to either take the time out of our holidays or work in the lost time.

Mooooo

Mooooo wrote: »

What son/daughter in their right mind would get their 83 year old mother to drive in a storm?

This was in the morning the storm was not bad where we were but I did think it was a bit odd.

Cee-Jay-Cee

lawred2 wrote: »

At my wife's work.. no such communication. No such consideration. Staff had to force the issue with their own line managers and some traveled home early.. otherwise hospital management were perfectly happy for staff to be stuck in town with no public transport options for the rest of the day.

Yesterday saw an email from her management stating that another repeat of such carry on will see people being docked annual leave.

If it were me receiving that email I would immediately forward a screen shot (names redacted of course) to the newspapers, they love taking a swipe at the HSE/State bodies and it might give whatever ignorant f*** sent it something to worry about. A national warning was issued which people heeded, some ignorant thick supervisor in the HSE has no right to threatening people in such fashion.

My wife is a teacher and so got a text on sunday and Monday night saying the schools were closed.

I went into work on Monday but we were all sent home at lunchtime.

valoren

In our company we normally see group wide emails from the various locations in the hurricane belt, there are offices in the carribean and florida and during the season we see many emails delivered i.e. office operations will be impacted, communication may be down etc.

When the same email is sent for the Cork and Dublin offices it was taken as seriously as it should have and we were told not to take the risk of coming in. Hurricanes (even ex Hurricanes) are not normal here and it called for such measures.

Lau2976

I'm an employer. I called my staff Sunday at 6 to tell them not to come in. OH also owns his business, he made the call a little earlier because he had been told a supplier couldn't deliver anyway so would have had nothing to work with.

Sisters place sent them home at 12 the day of. Thy were told that it may come out of their flexitime.

lawred2

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

If it were me receiving that email I would immediately forward a screen shot (names redacted of course) to the newspapers, they love taking a swipe at the HSE/State bodies and it might give whatever ignorant f*** sent it something to worry about. A national warning was issued which people heeded, some ignorant thick supervisor in the HSE has no right to threatening people in such fashion.

My wife is a teacher and so got a text on sunday and Monday night saying the schools were closed.

I went into work on Monday but we were all sent home at lunchtime.

It wasn't the HSE. The HSE acted as they should have. This was a private hospital in Dublin.

Sunny Dayz

I got text Sun night saying that due to red warning we had been advised not to travel so we should heed that warning. I live near work so I nipped in first thing and got whatever I could work on from home and actually got a decent day's work done at home away from the interruption of company emails and phones. I doubt the Revenue Commissioners are going to extend the income tax deadline by a day so the work had to get done!

etselbbuns

"Isn't Ophelia pretty!"
"Ophelia's coming in to work, so you'd better too"

ToxicPaddy

Employer identified key staff who had to stay in the office and put them all up in a hotel across the road. Regulatory obligations meant some had to be in the office, but we were well looked after.

All others told not to come in or of they did come in before the messages were sent out, to go home before the public transport shut down. Everyone was gone by 10am. Dublin didn't really see any major impact from the storm until well after mid day so everyone got home safe well in advance. I was in the office very early that morning so told any of my team who had to travel any sort of distance to stay at home and stay safe, the rest who live locally were gone home by 10.

On Tuesday, with schools and creches closed, any employees who were facing difficulties with child care were told to work from home.

No complaints from anyone here that I know of, it was handled pretty well.

El Weirdo

lawred2 wrote: »

For a 'caring' industry that showed a serious lack of care for the very people they were supposed to be caring for..

lawred2 wrote: »

She works in one of the well known private hospitals in Dublin in an outpatient department.

lol

ace_irl

We went in to work on Monday morning and our boss advised me to leave at 12pm, I have to travel from one side of Dublin to the other so I had to make sure I got on the roads before it got too bad.

Personally, I think the office should have been closed because if I didn't drive to work I would have found myself with no way home with no public transport running.

I think if you're employer requires you to work in these situations then the employer should have a plan in place for people who end up stuck.

Your wife's employer has some cheek sending an email like that. It's a terribly unethical response from a hospital.

_Dara_

The man who was killed in Louth was driving home from work in Dublin. Wonder what the story was there with his employers? It highlights why it was dangerous for employers to bring their workers in on the morning of the storm when sending them home a few hours later could have been very hazardous. My husband left work at 10:30am on Monday as did a few others. His boss was desperately trying to get people to stay (I posted elsewhere about that in more detail) but relented and left everyone home by 11:30am. After public transport had stopped. Good man. :rolleyes:

DaeryssaOne

On Sunday night we were emailed and told to give ourselves plenty of time for our commute due to potential adverse weather conditions.
Obviously the roads were almost empty the next morning.
Then we received an email mid-morning saying we could basically decide ourselves on whether we should stay in or not. I decided I valued my safety over my job and took off home but I know many others stuck it out because they were confused over how it would look if they left and wanted to look good in front of the bosses - as if any of them even noticed.

Cee-Jay-Cee

lawred2 wrote: »

It wasn't the HSE. The HSE acted as they should have. This was a private hospital in Dublin.

Makes no difference to be honest, its disgraceful behaviour and I'm sure they're receiving plenty of state funding. Send it to the media and watch them squirm.

lawred2

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Makes no difference to be honest, its disgraceful behaviour and I'm sure they're receiving plenty of state funding. Send it to the media and watch them squirm.

100% - it's disgusting behavior. I just didn't want this becoming a HSE bashing thing. They were on the ball this time.

Galadriel

thelad95 wrote: »

It was an outpatients department and I bet loads of appointments were cancelled, effectively rendering the department closed?

Yes, but staff would still be required in case people turned up and to also officially cancel the appointments, it does suck but I can see how staff are needed when working in hospitals.

etselbbuns

But but the Taoiseach told all us early risers to stay at home!

Cee-Jay-Cee

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No, Force Majeure is perfectly acceptable in this situation especially if you have children. The schools were closed and so people found themselves having to try and make alternative arrangements, nobody expected them to have to ferry children off to child minders and so they were left in a position where there was no one to look after the children. That is an emergency situation and no employer could argue differently.

The same goes for someone relying on public transport, if there is no way of getting to work and the person cant be expected to walk or cycle in storm conditions then FM covers it as its an emergency where the person has been left with no alternative.

I deal with FM applications in my workplace and while you can challenge some to a certain extent, anyone applying in the above situations will be granted it without any questions asked.

Ms Doubtfire1

The company i work for (private sector automotive) did nothing. The shift workers end their shifts at 4pm and 12am and no-one was sent home. people simply left on their own accord but you had to take it as a holiday or sty in. Irresponsible and greedy and it really really annoys me.And they wonder why there is little loyalty in the employees.

blue note

Many employer sent a text the night before telling us to "exercise caution" coming in tomorrow. Which I took to mean in case you weren't sure, yes we are open tomorrow, but if something should happen to you, we can say we texted you telling you to exercise caution.

Then on the day half the office didn't come in and when public transport started you shut down they sent us home.

A friend of mine works in healthcare, but with out patients. They were told to come in but the patients told not to. Work that one out!

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joe stodge

I'm a civil servant.
My office was closed all day Monday, found out on Sunday night about 10;30pm via twitter.

Cee-Jay-Cee

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I'm glad I don't work in such a rigidly ridiculous organisation where everything is fought and questioned.

Answer me this, where a person has no annual leave remaining, no alternative childminder when the schools are closed and relies on public transport to get to work, what does that person do?

frag420

mariaalice wrote: »

I came across an 83 year old mother who was driving to collect one of her children who were stranded because of no public transport.

You're sick!!:pac::pac:

Lia_lia

I work in a big company in Cork. We all got a text at 10pm Sunday saying not to come in and the office will be closed. Told to work from home if we could. Most people could not work from home as power was gone.. Still all getting paid anyway!

lawred2

lawred2 wrote: »

For a 'caring' industry that showed a serious lack of care for the very people they were supposed to be caring for.. Never mind the employees.

El Weirdo wrote: »

lol

note the single quotes..

either way - profit taking or not they have a duty of care to patients.

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Lt Dan

al87987 wrote: »

Accounting office was closed, got a text on Sunday night. Lovely lie-on in the morning.

At least they bothered to let you know on Sunday.

It was 10 am before they bothered to tell us, and we knew that there was no chance of the boss coming in

Funny enough, it was the first time in years, that I was in the office before 9am (to be fair to me, I make it up by leaving later)

BillyBobBS

Text Sunday night telling me out to even think of going in Monday. Wife got a phone call on Sunday at 5pm telling her the same.

_Puma_

Got a text @9 30 on Sunday night from direct manager, work from home if possible. Email from office manager at 8 the next morning, office is open but don't put yourself at risk. One person in the office, who lives close by, walked into to work to discover doors locked. Had to walk home when the storm was kicking up. The rest of us stayed put. It is still up in the air if we are getting paid for the day.

OH didn't receive any communication from here managers, Didn't show up as buses weren't running. About 1/4 of the staff showed up altogether. They all decided at 11am to go home after management wouldn't give them an answer if they should leave or not. Company manager who is based in the North of the country called them all into a meeting yesterday and gave them all a bollocking. Not clear yet if they are being docked a days wages.

Pinch Flat

I had the day off, so a bit of a waste....anyhoo.

We have a WhatsApp group in work. Unofficial and for banter only. One of our directors is a member. There was all sorts of banter going around on the Sunday about stocking up on beer, spam, Waterford Whispers articles etc. But no decision was made whether or not to close the office Monday. Even after the red alert was issued for the whole country on Sunday. I was surprised, given that a lot of our staff travel from outside Dublin in rural areas (some commute from Northern Ireland).

Anyway, D-Day came and the lads showed up for a normal Monday morning. The MD gave some sort of wishy washy thing about the red alert, requested everyone works as normal, staying safe and requested everyone stays in our building for the day. We've about 30 staff. Not sure what the plan was for lunches etc. Things changed suddenly at 11.00 ,when everyone was told via email they could go home. A waste of 2 hours and effectively putting staff in twice the risk sending them home. Would have been rightly p!ssed off if I had of trekked in to go home again. Some of the lads got delayed getting home, as public transport was disrupted.

The tragedy in Louth was as a result of someone driving home and being hit by a falling tree. How someone can live with this as an employer, well maybe there's questions to be asked.

I think it's poor. The employer is essentially putting getting the job done above their staff H & S, despite all the corporate BS you try and spin.

Mrs pinch flat works in the health service, non front line in a hospital. Was told be her direct boss it's business as usual, to take annual leave if she couldn't make it in. With schools off Monday and Tuesday, people with children and little child care options had no choice.

Caliden

I told my employer I was working from home. They made no decision so took it upon myself to keep safe.

Herself had to go in but were sent home as phones/internet went down.

I would've called in sick if I didn't have the ability to work from home. I need my job but I wasn't risking my life over fecking work.

Nerdlingr

Was off Friday. Email went round the office Friday not to come in on Monday unless absolutely needed to. Obviously never saw the email. Emailed the boss Monday morning to see what the story was. Got no reply. Had a look out the window and though "fu*ck that". Stayed in bed.