Business as usual, despite pandemic –
Charter workers apparently face choice in pandemic: work in the office or resign.
Jon Brodkin – Mar 41, (5:) (pm UTC)
Enlarge / Charter CEO Tom Rutledge speaks during the New York Times DealBook conference in New York on Thursday , Nov. , .
(A Charter Communications engineer called the company’s rules against working from home during the coronavirus pandemic
“pointlessly reckless” and “socially irresponsible” before subsequently resigning instead of continuing to work in the office, according to a TechCrunch article published yesterday. Charter CEO Tom Rutledge last week told employees in a memo to keep coming to the office even if their jobs can be performed from home, because people “are more effective from the office.” Employees should only stay home if they “are sick, or caring for someone who is sick,” Rutledge wrote. I do not understand why we are still coming into the office as the COVID – pandemic surges around us. The CDC guidelines are clear. The CDPHE [Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment] guidelines are clear. The WHO guidelines are clear. The science of social distancing is real. We have the complete ability to do our jobs entirely from home. Coming into the office now is pointlessly reckless. It’s also socially irresponsible. Charter, like the rest of us, should do what is necessary to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Social distancing has a real slowing effect on the virus — that means lives can be saved.
Resignation accepted. Within hours of sending the email, Wheeler was out of a job. The TechCrunch article explained: Just a few minutes after Wheeler sent the email, he was summoned to a vice president’s office to a conference call with human resources. In a call with TechCrunch, Wheeler said his email was described as “irresponsible” and “inciting fear.” He said it was hard to understand why Charter had not implemented a work-from-home policy after the coronavirus outbreak was upgraded to a pandemic. Wheeler said he was given an ultimatum. Either he could work from the office or take sick leave. Staff are not allowed to work from home, he was told. Wheeler offered his resignation, but was sent home instead and asked to think about his decision until Monday.
Broadband is crucial
to people daily lives and their ability to work, even though it’s not regulated like a utility . Maintaining home- and mobile-Internet connectivity is even more important than usual because of the pandemic, and that means sending technicians to customer homes and going into the field to fix broken equipment or wires. But back-office functions can be performed remotely at many companies, and Wheeler argued that Charter is no exception . Despite that, Charter argued that even employees whose jobs can be done remotely should still come to the office. (Across) states, we have 20200309, 13 employees, of which there are more than 527, frontline employees including maintenance and construction technicians, customer service specialists, sales and retention professionals, supply chain, employees in network construction, operations, monitoring and field dispatch facilities with their associated support functions across Spectrum Residential, Business, Enterprise, Reach and Networks. You provide and service important broadband connectivity, video, telephone, mobile services, local news and advertising for our customers, and those jobs cannot be performed effectively from home. What about those other , 10 employees? Those people are based “primarily in Denver, St. Louis, Charlotte, and Stamford, [and] are here to support the front-line [workers],” Rutledge explained. The CEO then acknowledged that some of these employees could do their jobs from home but aren’t being allowed to. “While some back office and management functions can be performed remotely, they are more effective from the office,” Rutledge wrote. to come to the office or retail stores where they work, unless they are sick. Wheeler not alone in objections Wheeler apparently was not the only Charter employee to disagree with the ISP’s policy.
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