Working from home, a right, not a privilege

Recent surveys of staff benefits have seen “working from home” as no longer in the top of the list of what staff perceive as benefits.  And this is not because they no longer value being able to work from home, but rather they perceive it as their right!

The reality is that working from home does have some major benefits:

1. Less commuting = less traffic = less pollution and less time spent sitting in your car
2. Flexibility to…. Pick up kids; do shopping when it is quieter; go to the gym when it is quieter; etc
3. Peace and quiet to get on with your job without the distractions of the office
4. Ability to work at times that you are more productive – early morning, or late evening

Working from home doesn’t work for every person or every job
Some jobs simply have to be done in the workplace (receptionist, barista, etc.), while others can be done remotely (bookkeeper, solo project worker). But even though the job can be done remotely, not everyone is good at working productively from home.

Some key considerations in remote working arrangements?

1. Do they have a dedicated office at home?  Working from the kitchen table with hoards of kids running around will never be fully productive, nor is this likely to be good from a H&S perspective (workstation set-up, and stressors of this working environment)
2. Remote workers will not sit at their desk from 8.30am to 5pm, so you need to consider what is acceptable e.g. they have to be reasonably available for “core hours’ of (e.g.) 10am to 3pm
3. What is “reasonably available”?.  I define this in the HRtoolkit remote worker employment agreement as “with access to your computer and immediately contactable by phone, or phone calls returned within 60 minutes”
4. Security of information and equipment:
   1. Who is in the household, and are you confident that the wrong people can’t access confidential information?
   2. Is equipment stored securely, or is there a risk of theft?  And who is responsible for insuring the equipment
   3. Could someone accidentally delete all the computer files (e.g. the exuberant toddler, playing on daddy’s keyboard!  Fortunately that company had good backup systems, but about half a day’s work for the whole team was lost before the issue was discovered!)
5. Health and safety – who is responsible?:
   1. Ergonomic workstation set up?
   2. Workplace environment safety?
6. Team interaction – though this may be last on the list, it is certainly not least

HRtoolkit resources
In the HRtoolkit we have 2 main resources for use with remote workers:

1. Universal Remote Workers Agreements template
2. Working from home policy

Free Webinar
This month’s free webinar is on Virtual Working Arrangements, and what you need to consider, and this is on Friday 11^th October at 10am.  Click here to register, and, if you can’t make that time, register and the recording will be sent out later.

Here to help
We are here to help with any staff queries, so feel free to call me on 021 741 544 or 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 8665).  Or sign up for our DIY document library for only $399 + GST per annum, or our DIY expert package which gives you access to the document library and unlimited phone and e-mail support for only $129 + GST per month (minimum 12-month term)

Cheers

Lisa Mackay
Founder HRtoolkit