Work From Home policy HR Policies

Table of Content

• Time to Make a Work from Home Policy. Where Should You Start?
• Request process
• Communication, availability, & responsiveness expectations
• What to include in a work from home policy
• How to Create Work From Home Policy in India 2022 (Template)
• What is a Work From Home Policy?
• REMOTE AND HYBRID WORK ARRANGEMENTS

Here are some tips on what to include, as well as some technology considerations that will help keep your remote employees—and company data—safe. If your employees do not telecommute full time, then you will want to explain the procedure for requesting remote work days. Your company might require staff to submit a written request at least twenty-four hours in advance. Employees should know who to ask for approval, and whether any managers or other departments need to be cc’d. Depending on the job duties assigned, employees are allowed to work from home. Employees who need to be in direct physical contact with clients and customers are not eligible to telecommute under this policy.

Culture is just as important to maintain online as it is in an office. To help remote workers feel like part of the team, make sure to provide them with information about when and where all-hands meetings, departmental gatherings, and other events are occurring. A simple calendar gives them an opportunity to plan whether they attend in-person or virtually—and ensures that no one is left out. A work from home policy establishes guidelines and expectations for team members who work outside of the physical office.

Time to Make a Work from Home Policy. Where Should You Start?

Streamlined talent management to attract, develop, and empower employees every step of the way. Technology evolves rapidly, and global situations constantly change. You should revisit the document to refresh security protocols, reconsider default programs, and adapt rules to fit to new circumstances. Explaining meeting best practices sets attendees up for pleasant and productive online conversations. Online conversations allow employees to ask questions, give updates, and brainstorm ideas from entirely different buildings.

Employees working remotely remain eligible for promotion and skills development programs. Employees are to be online and accessible for 8 hours, Monday to Friday. They are expected to check-in with their managers at least once a day.

Request process

Everyday, dividing their schedule between being present at the office and working from a remote location. This company work from home policy applies to all our employees who prefer working from home. The policy should also include reminders on basic security protocol, such as refraining from using public Wi-Fi networks and logging off from the computer when the employee is away. You should also state the preferred mode of communication, be it through email, text or call. Lastly, you may also wish to state how frequently the employee will need to report his or her progress to the manager.

With ProjectManager, teams can share the responsibilities and the tasks in a project so everyone is working in one central workspace together. Kanban boards can be turned into collaborative workflows so that everyone knows exactly what’s going on inside the team’s project. You’ll need to define key performance indicators to measure your team’s performance. Each role has different responsibilities, goals and deliverables that can be measured with KPIs. Team managers should be able to outline the KPIs for their team members.

Communication, availability, & responsiveness expectations

It should act as a guide for both management and the employee and must be signed by the employee to acknowledge they read through and understood the details herein. Unless required by law, staff members are typically responsible for costs related to the setup of the designated workspace. Staff members are also responsible for compliance with any tax implications of a remote workspace. Business or work units are responsible for determining if positions are eligible to be remote or hybrid based on their operational and business needs. Schedules for on-campus, hybrid, and remote work may vary depending on business needs and should be determined in consultation with the manager. Office-based employees may also revert to permanent remote working in cases of relocation.

The purpose of your company’s Work From Home Policy should be to optimize for the benefits while limiting the risks, ultimately setting up your employees to be as successful outside the office as they are in it. Here’s what your policy should include to ensure it does just that. Before employees can begin working from home, they need to know whether they’re eligible to do so, and how they should inform the rest of their team that they’ll be outside of the office. Do they need to fill out a form, put a request through your company’s HR platform, or speak to their manager?

What to include in a work from home policy

While working remotely, employees must adhere to all the conditions in the Employee Handbook. All company policies around conduct, confidentiality, sick leave, etc., continue to apply, regardless of location. Expectations for timely completion of work, meeting attendance, responsiveness, and other performance criteria are the same for remote, hybrid, and on-campus staff members. Business or work units are expected to apply the same performance standards to staff members regardless of work location. Another financial consideration is that a remote staff doesn’t require the same amount of spend on things around the office. If employees work from home, the company will spend less on utilities, internet, snacks, equipment, etc.

Performing the most basic communication and job functions require working IT. Providing IT support is both more important and logistically more difficult for a dispersed workforce. Especially if you are engaged in remote onboarding, you’ll need to ensure new employees and IT can communicate with each other effectively. Hourly, non-exempt employees will still need to accurately record all hours worked and submit these records to their managers. Make sure hourly employees have a way to accurately record their time while working remotely. Clearly lay out which teams are eligible to work remotely, and which have to be in the office so that your hybrid work model is clearly available to all workers to examine.

REMOTE AND HYBRID WORK – STAFF MEMBER ELIGIBILITY

The policy should also clearly state when and how often employees will be allowed to work from home. For example, you may offer certain fixed “work from home days” in the week. If you do so, you should state in the policy whether employees can request to work in the office on their work from home days. The policy should state which employees will be allowed to take advantage of such a policy. For example, it may be appropriate to include employees in charge of backend processes, but not employees in charge of office reception who need to manage visitors in person. There are certain situations where employers are legally required to offer work from home arrangements.

Employees still need to follow labor laws, so you should remind workers to take required breaks and monitor the time-cards to catch and correct any issues. DavidsonMorris’ employment lawyers can help with all aspects of workforce management. Working closely with our HR specialists, we offer a holistic advisory and support service for employers encompassing both the legal and people management elements of flexible and hybrid working arrangements. Where this needs to be set up or provided, you will be responsible for making this happen, together with any necessary training and support to work from home or to use any remote working systems. Different employees and roles have different responsibilities based on their job description.

This part of a work from home policy should break this information into clear, simple steps. You may want to create a checklist that employees can use to inspect their remote work environment and ensure it meets your standards. You may also require photographs of the employee’s work from home setup to ensure the employee is complying with your policy. Remote work can help you reduce the cost of rent, utilities, internet, and other necessities in your office. Businesses save an average of $11,000 annually for each employee who works remotely at least half of the time. If you take your office fully remote, just be sure you have a complete HR solution to manage your people and processes efficiently.

There are chances some of the employees will have access to confidential data about the company. Thus, it becomes critical for the employee and especially the reporting manager to consider the impact on the company for such employees to work from home. Staff members should discuss concerns about accommodation-related questions with the EOA office or their HR Consultant.

You should ensure that homeworkers store and save all online files in the central cloud storage for your company or organisation, and not locally on their own device. Your work from home policy should also include rules such as ensuring employees protect their own devices with antivirus software where necessary. You may need to offer a financial contribution to cover this cost.