Legal Considerations When Working From Home in England and Wales

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have had no choice but to work from home. As the pandemic has continued, working from home has become the norm for many. Both you and your employees have had to adapt to this. The move towards home working might be something you and your employees have become accustomed to, and in some circumstances, it might suit you both better than working from the workplace. However, when you have employees working away from the office, there are points you need to be aware of and procedures you should have in place. This article will explain what you need to know when your employees work from home. It will cover a range of issues, including managing employees and treating employees who work from home fairly.

What is Working From Home?

Working from home (WFH) is where your employee works remotely and carries out their work for you from their home. It is the most common type of remote working. Some people split their time between working at the usual workplace and at home. This flexible arrangement is termed a hybrid working.

Working From Home Policy

You should have in place a policy about home working or hybrid working, particularly if it is becoming the norm for your business. A policy will allow your employees to understand what you allow regarding home working or hybrid working and how to request to do so. 

As part of creating a working from the home policy, you should consult your employees and their representatives. A WFH policy should be:

• reflected in other related policies and procedures where both will require updating; and
• under regular review to improve it.

Additionally, your WFH policy should contain information on how:

• an employee should request to work from home or hybrid working;
• you will respond to any of these requests;
• you will make decisions about home working; and
• an employee will be introduced to and set up for home working.

Employment Contracts

You may need to make changes to your employees’ employment contracts if they work from home depending upon what they say about:

• where your employee works;
• the hours worked; and 
• how they are managed at work.

It might be the case that you do not need to change your worker’s employment contract when they start to work from home. However, you should still put any changes regarding WFH in writing.

Health and Safety

When your staff work from home, you still have a responsibility towards health, safety and wellbeing in the same way you do for your staff working in the workplace.

Indeed, your employees also have responsibilities towards their health, safety, and wellbeing when working at home. They must let you know about any physical or mental health risks. They should also let you know if they need to change work arrangements due to, for example, their caring responsibilities.

Managing Staff Remotely

When your employees work from home, you may need to rethink managing and supporting them. This can include:

• managing and monitoring performance; 
• providing training and development; 
• managing time;
• finding ways to maintain motivation; and
• encouraging work-life balance.

For example, when thinking about managing and monitoring performance, you will need to agree with your employee whether you will assess their work quality or their time spent working. Likewise, you may want to consider additional training so your staff feel competent and supported when they work from home.

Equipment Needed 

Additionally, when your employees work from home, you will need to think about the equipment they may need. Notably, you are under no legal obligation to provide any equipment. However, the government does advise that employers do what they can to assist with home working. This could be in terms of:

• what equipment is needed;
• who will pay for it;
• who will install the equipment; and 
• security issues.

Treating Staff Fairly 

When your employees work from home, you are still required to treat them fairly. Indeed, you must ensure that they get equal:

• support;
• access to representatives;
• opportunities for development, training and promotion; and
• communication.

Discrimination and WFH

Discriminating against your employees in certain circumstances is illegal. For example, you cannot disadvantage an employee because they have a characteristic protected by law from discrimination. Therefore, you must ensure that you do not refuse a request to work from home based on a protected characteristic where you allow others to work from home. 

An example of this would be where you refuse to let a female employee work from home because you believe her children will distract her, yet you have allowed a male employee who also has children to work from home.

Expenses and Benefits

If your employees work from home, you must report specific tax and national insurance issues concerning their home working expenses. Home working expenses can include the equipment you provide to them and any extra domestic fuel they need to use.

Key Takeaways

If you do not already have employees working from home, COVID-19 related lockdowns have likely affected the way your staff work. When considering the move towards flexible work arrangements, there are policies you need to put in place. For example, you should have a homeworking policy that explains what employees need to know about home working with your business. You also need to think about providing equipment for home working. In addition, as an employer, where your employees work from home, you are still under a legal duty to ensure their health, safety, and well-being and not to discriminate against them.

If you need help understanding employees working from home in England and Wales, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions