‘My Company Is Forcing Me To Work In An Office With 50 Other People In Malta’
Mark’s* mandatory 14-day quarantine finished after returning to Malta from abroad – however, his biggest worries may just be beginning.
Though he’s been working from home without any interruptions and completing all his daily tasks, his employers wanted him to return to work in a large office with around 50 people as soon as his quarantine ended.
Now, Mark is stuck choosing between his job, and his physical and mental wellbeing.
“I was expecting my employer to understand the severity of the COVID-19 situation and be a bit compassionate,” Mark told Lovin Malta.
“But instead of allowing me to continue my work from home, they are denying the request and forcing everyone to go to the office,” he continued. “Police are fining groups of three people together in public spaces…and then you walk into this office and there are 50 people together. How is that safe?”
He lamented the difference in the advice being given by Malta’s health authorities and the behaviour of his bosses.
“We are being told that any work that can be done from home, should be done from home. But my employer wants us to report to the office. What am I going to do? Is this how much my life is worth?”
Worried that he might get sick or transmit the coronavirus to his family when he returns home, Mark wondered how a company could fathom forcing employees to crowd together in a closed space during a pandemic that’s been described as “the greatest test” the world has faced since World War 2.
“I wish they’d be more responsible right now – this is not just about the company or money, it is about our collective health,” he said. “You’ve got 50 different people coming in day and night, going back home, seeing people and their families…. Are they understanding how dangerous this could get?”
“This is not about the company – this is about our nation and families’ health. I can’t understand why they’d make us do this – why endanger employees?”
Feeling scared and with little other option, Mark was left wondering how many other people are in a similar situation to his – both in and out of his company.
“It’s not just me,” Mark said. “Everyone’s worried about this. But we have no option, we have to go to work.”
With the pandemic adding to society’s anxiety and making more and more people feel uncertain about the future, Mark aptly described his situation: “Every day I go into the office, it’s like I’m playing Russian Roulette”.
*Names have been changed.
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