Employers prefer Covid positive staff to continue working from home

March 11, 2022

With guidance around Covid testing and self-isolation changing again from 1 April – over half of employers would still recommend that staff who test positive should work from home.

While the self-isolation rules have now been lifted, individuals who test positive are still advised (although not required) to stay at home for at least five days.

But despite this Government guidance also coming to an end from 1 April, employers voting in an online poll conducted by Peterborough-based recruitment agency Anne Corder Recruitment, look set to keep the working from home advice firmly in place.

In a recent survey, employers were asked what their advice would be to members of staff who tested positive for Covid. A massive 63 per cent felt they should continue to ‘work from home’ while around a third (31 per cent) suggested only working if they felt well enough to. Six per cent would suggest to the employee that they not work at all, but none of the respondents said they would ask the individual to come into the office.

Anne Corder Recruitment Managing Director Nel Woolcott said: “Despite the rules being scrapped and guidance changing again, many employers continue to have their employees’ best interests at heart.

“We know that a healthy and happy workforce is a much more productive one, and for the many employees who continue to work from home – the lifting of the self-isolation rules won’t necessarily impact on their everyday working life. The poll results show that employers are not suddenly going to change any arrangements that are working well.

“However, we do understand that for those who are unable to work from home, there may be financial or other implications if they are too unwell to come into the office. In these instances, it is vital that employer and employee agree a solution that is satisfactory to both parties.”

The ACR findings are a contradiction to those of a recent survey* of 250 business leaders in England, which suggested that 31 per cent had already decided to scrap their self-isolation policies for Covid-positive employees once the requirement was dropped.

It found that less than half (48 per cent) of businesses planned to continue requiring employees who test positive for the virus to work from home once the rules change, while 21 per cent admitted they were still unsure.

The survey found that employers with a predominantly desk-based workforce were more likely to continue with their self-isolation requirements when compared to employers with a home-based workforce (58 per cent and 37 per cent respectively).

* Survey conducted by software company CIPHR Feb 2022