Reply to: Being forced onsite.

[fidot]

Actually that's a pretty good point to be fair.

I think someone has hacked NLUK's account

[MonkeysUncle]

Apologies I havent replied sooner.
So I am now wfh 5 days till the end of lockdown.

Luckily for me, i didnt need to go down the contractual or IR35 route.
The CEO of the trust alongside the Chair of Trustees do a weekly broadcast/webinar to the whole organisation giving them an update on COVID, the Trust etc.

In their webinar, they said, we recommend that anyone who can work remotely, should do so unless they feel it will affect their mental health (We are a mental health trust after all), in which case you are more than welcome to come into the office. Where departments need to have someone onsite, management need to work out a rota to ensure as minimum staff are in as possible.

So with that statement ringing through the trust, the director of IT cant really go against his own bosses . So no he has to work out a rota for IT Support to keep just skeleton staff onsite.

To answer some of the questions, even when in the office, all meeting were held on teams. We dont have big offices or meetings rooms so to have more than 2 in our meetings rooms contravenes social distancing rules.

Most of the work for the project I am doing is being handled by another supplier/consultancy. They are all remote (even from their own offices).

Training is being done remotely over Teams
Comms Officer is working remote
(Both report to other departments)

Its just the service desk and infra engineers who had to be onsite, but that is being changed now as well.

[WTFH]

Correct. Guess it comes down to how bombproof they feel. I'd be doing what's best for business, so long as it keeps the contract outside IR35.

One of these days someone is going to come on here saying that attending an interview puts you inside IR35 because you are accepting direction and control from the client.

If it is about attending a meeting, the client can ask you to attend. You show that you are in control by suggesting dates, times and venue. But always remember they are your client and you are supposed to be a professional business so you show flexibility to meet your client's needs

[LondonManc]

True, and maybe this goes back to the first post - perhaps they are being used to go on site to meet to discuss how to handle things, but if they are refusing to even attend a meeting, that's not going to help deliver any project.

Correct. Guess it comes down to how bombproof they feel. I'd be doing what's best for business, so long as it keeps the contract outside IR35.

[WTFH]

I'd take that a step further and say that the project manager should decide who needs to be onsite and when including themselves. They're managing the delivery of the project after all.

True, and maybe this goes back to the first post - perhaps they are being used to go on site to meet to discuss how to handle things, but if they are refusing to even attend a meeting, that's not going to help deliver any project.

[LondonManc]

In those cases, if anyone it should be the project manager on site, calling in team members as required

I'd take that a step further and say that the project manager should decide who needs to be onsite and when including themselves. They're managing the delivery of the project after all.

[WTFH]

I'd argue that the fewer non-essential people you have on site, the safer it is to deliver projects. A significant number of one team all catching covid is a big risk to project delivery. Indeed, it only needs one member to catch it and everyone has to isolate anyway, so the whole teams ends up working from home anyway.

In those cases, if anyone it should be the project manager on site, calling in team members as required

[northernladuk]

I'd argue that the fewer non-essential people you have on site, the safer it is to deliver projects. A significant number of one team all catching covid is a big risk to project delivery. Indeed, it only needs one member to catch it and everyone has to isolate anyway, so the whole teams ends up working from home anyway.

Actually that's a pretty good point to be fair.

[fidot]

... in emergency situations it's all hands to the pumps. The delivery of projects is also in enchanced support. It's arguable but better to be safe than sorry and get everyone on site..

I'd argue that the fewer non-essential people you have on site, the safer it is to deliver projects. A significant number of one team all catching covid is a big risk to project delivery. Indeed, it only needs one member to catch it and everyone has to isolate anyway, so the whole teams ends up working from home anyway.

[northernladuk]

Now is he too busy to respond because he's on site and people can see what he's doing or is he too busy to respond because he's working on his CV?

[TheDogsNads]

[Paralytic]

I am a PM, not it support. Not customer facing or patient facing.

Is the team you are PM for onsite?

If so, then there is an obvious benefit of you being there too (I know some might argue otherwise) and I can see the clients point.

If not, and you don't want to be there, I'd say this would be your best bet for pushing back - what benefit does it bring? You almost want to ask the client "don't you trust me?" without using those words, or unless you think he does not trusts you.

[ComplianceLady]

MSP doesn't shift IR35 determination responsibility - MSP generally is where the Agency takes more responsibility in the contract i.e. manages other parties in the supply chain but it's not consultancy / statement of work where the agency takes responsibility for delivery.

In the run up to IR35 there was a lot of confusion around this but MSP in Agency language is the former, SOW is the latter.

The contractual argument to my mind is never the one to use, it's the safety net to deal with legal action. The argument should always be 'I can deliver the services effectively this way' - if you win the argument you win, if not it doesn't matter what the contract says.

[WTFH]

Are you in the middle of a single project, working on multiple ones, or about to kick off a new one?

[LondonManc]

Confirm that it's essential travel. Go in, if it's not COVID-secure, raise it.

Is it simply that you don't want to be in the office because of the money and routine?