“Waist 40 men, 34 women” Standards for British employees to work from home

Controversy is arising after the British Driver’s License Agency said it would determine whether to work from home based on the waist circumference of an employee.

According to the Daily Mail and The Mirror on the 15th (local time), the UK Driver’s License, located in Swansea, southern Wales, recently sent an email to several employees with questions about waist size.

The driver’s license office said in an e-mail that it is examining the waist size to determine whether or not a telecommuter returns to the office. He added a request to “reply as soon as possible.”

It was controversial when the UK Driver’s License Office sent an email asking about the waist circumference as one of the items deciding whether to return an employee who is working from home due to Corona. [트위터]

According to reports, the UK Driver’s License Service measured and scored’risk factors’ in case of corona 19 infection, such as body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy status, and has decided whether to work from home accordingly.

However, it is said that there was no case of asking about the waist size like this.

The threshold mentioned by the Driver’s Licensing Office is 40 inches for men and 34 inches for women, which is similar to the figures viewed by the UK National Health Service (NHS) as’having a serious health problem’.

In the end, it is said that the employee who is below that dimension is judged to be “good for health” and tried to hurry to return to the office. “I think asking about the waist size is an excuse to get the employees back to the office,” said a driver’s license officer who requested anonymity.

Employees who received e-mails with this content responded with embarrassment.

“The e-mail asking for waist size is very offensive and an attempt to force employees into the workplace,” said Mark Serwartka of the British Service Association.

It was controversial when the UK Driver’s License Office sent an email asking about the waist circumference as one of the items deciding whether to return an employee who is working from home due to Corona. [트위터]

In September-December last year, the number of corona confirmed by the UK Driver’s License Office reached 535. There have also been deaths recently.

However, according to the BBC, the agency still has 130 employees working on one floor. Employees are complaining that their offices are not properly equipped with hand sanitizers and wipes, and that quarantine measures such as disinfection are not being thoroughly performed. In this situation, accusations of trying to force employees to go to work come from everywhere.

In the controversy over the’waist-sized mail’, a high-ranking official from the UK Department of Transportation said, “I can’t believe that this is happening in government agencies.”

It was controversial when the UK Driver’s License Office sent an email asking about the waist circumference as one of the items deciding whether to return an employee who is working from home due to Corona. [트위터]

Reporter Seo Yujin, Researcher Jang Minsoon [email protected]