Homeworking Policy Template
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, employers adapted by transitioning many employees from office to remote working. Whilst some organisations continue to bring their employees back to the office, or work in a hybrid way, many continue to work 100% remotely as they find it an effective working model for their business.
For organisations that continue to allow their employees to work from home, a remote or homeworking policy is crucial.
In this article, we look at:
- Why organisations need a homeworking policy
- What a homeworking policy should include
- Flexible working and a homeworking policy
- Risk assessments and homeworking
- Communicating with employees who work from home
- A homeworking policy template for you to download
- How we can help with your approach to homeworking
Why do we need a homeworking policy?
Home working, done well, can increase productivity, increase the mental and physical wellbeing of your workforce, and create a greater sense of work/life balance.
Having a homeworking policy in place will enable you to provide your remote workers with clear guidance regarding important aspects of employment and business including health and safety, data protection, costs and insurance.
What should a homeworking policy include?
You may want to include some, or all, of the following in your Homeworking Policy. Don’t forget, our homeworking policy template is available for you to download, also known as a ’employee remote work policy template’, ‘working from home policy template’ or a ‘work from home policy template’.
Skills and attributes
Carefully consider the skills and competencies you expect your employees to have to work from home effectively.
For example, you will probably require them to have good organisation skills, to be able to work without direct supervision, and to plan their work effectively. Detail this in your policy so that your expectations are clear when employees are considering making a request to work at home.
Working hours
Be clear about how working hours will be affected by homeworking. Will you have set or core working hours? Will there be some flexibility homeworkers’ working hours? How will you monitor working hours?
Rest breaks
Consider for rest breaks and how these will be managed. It is useful in your policy to refer to the Working Time Regulations 1998 and be clear that employees must take breaks in line with this legislation.
Visits to company premises and to the employee’s home
Consider the purpose of the visits, and how frequently these will be arranged. Stipulate in your policy your requirements for office and home visits.
Stationery and equipment
Set out everything that will be provided by the organisation and what you expect the employee to provide. For example, you may provide computer equipment and a phone, whilst requiring the employee to have their own office furniture.
Internet and telephone connectivity costs
Set out in your policy who will pay for these and if/how the business will contribute to the costs incurred.
Data security
Specifiy in your policy the steps you require home workers to take in order to protect the data of your employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Health and safety
Consider the health and safety of your employees and and how they may be impacted by homeworking.
Insurance, mortage and rental agreements
Be clear in your policy about how you expect employees to deal with their insurance, mortgage and/or rental agreements if they are working from home.
Requests for homeworking
Set out clearly in your homeworking policy how employees should ask to work from home as part of a flexible working request.
Don’t forget to download our Homeworking Policy Template.
The right to request flexible working
All employees, from day one, now have the right to submit a flexible working request and you have a legal obligation to consider the request. (However, flexible working is due to become the ‘default’ under the Labour Government – so, watch this space)
For the purpose of this article, flexible working may be an employee requesting to work from home on a permanent basis, temporary basis or on selected days.
There are many benefits of flexible working for employees as well as for employers, but you need to consider the request against the needs of the business, as well as how it might impact other staff.
If you have a flexible working request and you are unsure whether you can accommodate it you should consider the following.
- Will it add additional costs to the business?
- Will it have a detrimental impact on performance, quality or the service that you offer?
- Will it require re-organising day to day amongst the staff?
- Is there sufficient work for the employee during the hours they will be at home?
Risk Assessments
Health and safety isn’t just in the workplace, it’s at home too. As an employer you have a duty of care to your homeworking employees and the HSE advises that as an employer you must consider the following:
- How will you keep in touch with them?
- What work activity will they be doing and for how long?
- Can it be done safely?
- Do you need to out control measures in place to protect them?
If an employee will be working from home on a long term basis then it is recommended that you complete a workstation assessment.
Communicating with homeworkers
Many employers are quite used to communicating with their employees using electronic devices, via platforms such as MS Teams and Zoom. However, if you are struggling to keep in contact then we recommend the following.
- Consider scheduling a video conference meeting on a weekly basis.
- Arrange regular team meetings and one-to-one check-ins to keep your remote worker engaged.
- Share updates on the company regularly – perhaps through a weekly newsletter
Download our Template Homeworking Policy below to give you a head start on drafting your home working policy.
Homeworking Policy Template
How we can help
If you would like advice on the implementation of a homeworking policy, or further guidance on our homeworking policy template, please contact our team on 0330 223 5253 or office@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk. We would be delighted to help you.
We hope you found this guide useful. You may also find the resources below helpful:
