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With the recent Coronavirus pandemic forcing many workers to work from home, you may find that this has become a preferred way of working. Therefore, if you have staff who work from home or hybrid workers who work from home for part of their working hours, there are legal considerations you must be aware of and adhere to, as well as good practices to abide by. This article will explain how to manage:
- your obligations to your employees’ health, safety and wellbeing;
- a home working policy;
- your employment contracts; and
- your staff and treating them fairly.
Health Safety and Wellbeing
If you have staff working remotely, you are still responsible for their health, safety and wellbeing. However, your employees are also responsible for this when working from home.
Your legal requirement towards your staffs’ health, safety and wellbeing when working from home involves that you:
- conduct a risk assessment for working from home;
- ensure you meet insurance requirements;
- be aware of the physical health of your staff;
- be mindful of the mental health of your staff, including stress levels which can include work-life balance;
- be wary of bullying and harassment taking place; and
- look out for signs of domestic abuse.
Home Working Policy
If you allow your staff to work from home or hybrid work, you should have a workplace policy in place. Whilst, not a legal requirement, it is certainly good practice and advantageous to have one. Furthermore, a home working policy will give your employees an idea about how working from home works and the rules relating to this. Therefore, it will aid you and your employee when discussing requests for flexible work arrangements.
A policy may detail:
- how an employee can request home working;
- how you decide when an employee asks to work from home;
- how you will support your employee working from home;
- what happens if equipment gets lost or stolen; and
- who staff should speak to should they have a problem.
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Employment Contracts
If your employees start to work from home or hybrid work, you will need to ensure that their employment contract allows for this. You need to check information about their:
- place of work;
- hours of work; and
- how you manage them.
Therefore, you may need to amend these parts of your employees’ contract to allow for flexible working arrangements. If you do not need to amend your employees’ employment contract, you should still provide them with something in writing to set out the new arrangements. You could state:
- why the change is made;
- how temporary it may be;
- the pattern of work where all of it takes place as home working;
- the supply of and use of equipment for home working; and
- what your business will pay for; and
- that your employee must comply with health and safety requirements when working from home.
Treating Working From Home Employees Fairly
When your staff work remotely, you must ensure that you treat them fairly and equally to staff not working remotely. They should not be disadvantaged as a result of working from home. Therefore, you must:
- ensure they do not get a worse type of job because they work from home;
- offer them the same support as you do those working from the office;
- ensure they can still access their representatives;
- offer them the same training, development and promotion opportunities; and
- ensure that managers still regularly communicate with their staff.
Managing Your Homeworking Staff
Regardless of whether your staff work from the usual workplace or at home, you are still responsible for supporting and managing them. Hence, you must consider:
- how you will manage their performance which requires you to consult with them and their representatives on how you will do this;
- what training they may require which may involve adding in further training such as managing work-life balance;
- how to monitor their performance; and
- how you will support them such as in terms of managing their time and motivating them.
Key Takeaways
If your staff work from home, you must be aware of relevant legal considerations. Firstly, you have legal responsibilities towards their health, safety and wellbeing. Secondly, there are good practice suggestions you may wish to take such as producing a home working policy. A policy makes working from home clearer for your employees and acts as a guide for both of you when wishing to discuss remote work.
Finally, you must also ensure that you treat your staff when they work from home equally and fairly. Discrimination amongst employees is illegal when it is based on protected characteristics, whether it is in the workplace or when employees work from home.
If you need help understanding the considerations for your staff that work 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
As an employer, you are still responsible for the health, safety and wellbeing of your staff whilst they work at home. However, your employees are also responsible for it.
It is not a legal requirement for an employer to have a policy on homeworking. However, it is good practice to have one if you offer home working as it enables you to set out your rules regarding this.
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