Call centre staff’s fears over safety
Death at home of Virgin office employee prompts
WORRIED members of staff at a Virgin Media call centre have accused the firm of putting their health at risk after it emerged one of their colleagues who had been self-isolating with coronavirus symptoms had died on Thursday night.
The woman, aged in her 50s, had been away from her work at the media giant’s Concord House office in Wythenshawe since March 23.
But she died on Thursday night, prompting the temporary closure of the office for a deep clean.
Chief operating officer Jeff Dodds told shocked staff about the death in a conference call at 9am on Friday in which he confirmed the office would be reopening on Saturday.
It prompted scores of worried staff members to contact the M.E.N. to express concern about an alleged lack of social distancing at the office and another office in Baguley, alleging they were being asked to carry out nonessential work like convincing customers not to leave them.
Virgin has denied allegations, insisting they were doing more than was required to keep their staff safe and roll out home working for anxious call centre staff following the death.
They insisted work being carried out at the office was ‘essential’ and kept customers, hospitals and emergency services connected during the crisis.
One employee at Concord House, who did not want to be named, said: “They don’t apply the two-metre rule. It’s overcrowded. It’s not safe. If you’re not well, the managers aren’t saying ‘get yourself home.’ They are saying it’s down to you. It’s not being pushed enough that if you have symptoms, you leave immediately. It doesn’t seem that there’s any urgency in getting people working from home. People are desperate for the money so they are coming in.”
Another member of staff said: “They’ve given me a phone and a laptop to work from home but they won’t allow us to work from home. They are telling us to come into the building but it’s not safe and it’s not clean. People are sitting across from each other and next to each other. The social distancing guidelines are not being followed. Now someone has caught the virus and ended up dying.
“I feel neglected. I feel my health and safety is not being looked at. It’s not a priority for Virgin. If it was, they would be telling us to work from home. It’s a bit of a joke really.”
An employee who works at the Baguley office said: “I’ve worked for this company for a long time and it’s a petri dish here at the best of times. I find it incredible a technology company cannot find a way for us to work from home.”
The Government has deemed communications workers as ‘essential’ and a spokesman for Virgin Media insisted the work going on at its Wythenshawe office was to ensure people remained ‘connected’ during a time of crisis.
The spokesman insisted social distancing was in operation as well as other hygiene measures, and ‘floor splitting’ to help people stay apart from each other.
A statement said: “It’s with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have been informed one our team members who worked in Wythenshawe has passed away. We do not know the full facts, but we believe the individual may have passed away from underlying health issues related to coronavirus as the person was self-isolating at the time.
“We send our deepest sympathy and condolences to the individual’s family and friends.”