One of the strangest things we’ve been hearing this past week, from employees who are being asked to work from home, is that their employers are not providing them with so much as a laptop to use. Many are also falling down when it comes to agreeing to support the expenses incurred by their employees who are working from home. The message is clear from this, employers are not taking their new responsibilities seriously.
Companies need to create a written policy that covers home-working, clearly setting out the expectations in terms of hours worked and reporting mechanisms to be used by each employee. That way everyone understands that working from home means carrying out the work that would ordinarily be handled in the office from a remote location and being every bit as accountable for performance and attendance. Working from home is not a licence to ‘slope off’ and do everything but work. Nor is working from home going to be suitable or appropriate for everyone.
Where in the workplace an employee can realistically be expected to be provided with the basics of a desk space, a computer, a phone, a chair to enable her/him to work efficiently – many are literally ‘on their own’ when it comes to equipping a makeshift workspace at home, with the most basic of purloined kit. Not everyone has a spare room or large enough accommodation to dedicate a space to work in. Many will have children, pets, partners, sharers, who will have to adapt their routines to accommodate the needs of a full time home-worker.
More than that, it will cost the employee extra money to light and heat their home workspace for 8 hours a day, it costs money to power plug-in equipment, it may well cost more for a faster broadband connection & service, money to make calls from a personal mobile or landline. Some may also have to extend their home insurance policy to cover equipment used for home working, and in some cases get approval from their mortgage lender or landlord.
Smart companies will have developed an expenses ‘package’ to cover the reimbursement of the reasonable additional costs which are being incurred by the employee. This may often be a regular monthly allowance which will not attract taxation and will cover the true costs. Smart companies will also ensure that their home working employees have access to VoIP telephony or a smartphone so as to be able to continue to have ongoing dialogue with colleagues, customers and suppliers. Smart companies will also fund the cost of laptops and software licenses on the basis that a fully equipped home working employee can function proficiently (the equipment, of course, remaining in the ownership of the company).
For many employees and employers, this may be the first time that home working has become the norm rather than the exception. For many, it may well provide to be a good test for the future. For others it will only be a short term measure but, whichever, the best result will come from the best managed businesses which dot the i’s and cross the t’s for their employees and equip them to succeed.
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