A Work from Home Policy to Deal with Coronavirus at Work

Having a work from home policy in place now that most companies have switched to working remotely is really important. With the growing concerns surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19), there is no doubt the notion of working from home has been banded around offices across the nation. Although there are multiple drawbacks of the coronavirus, including death it is also giving businesses worldwide the opportunity/ forcing them to test working from home. There are multiple benefits of remote working, and there are lots of different ways you can make it work, however in this extreme case, it may well be worth your time to create a work from home policy to distribute to those employees who are working from home either voluntarily or due to self isolation.

This policy is the first step in the most fundamental aspect of remote work – Communication. There is lots of different aspects you will need to consider when drafting this policy. For example, there are certain jobs where working from home just is not possible, for example working in a bar, on retail. Therefore, your policy will need to specify which roles in your business are viable to work from home. These will by in large be the roles which have the duties that can be completed via a laptop.

One question that may arise is the question of ‘is there a working from home law?’. In short, no. Although after 26 weeks of continuous employment an employee has the right to request flexible working, as an employer you have no legal obligation to accept the request, unless for specific medical/personal reasons. However, it would be advisable to have a discussion with the employee understand why they requested it, and if in turn in may well increase their productivity. By accepting their request, you may be helping them manage an illness, or family commitments. This in turn will show the rest of the staff that you are committed to their wellbeing.

Nonetheless, there are risks to consider when drafting your working at home policy. For your staff working at home, they will usually need:

• A laptop/computer
• A phone
• A good internet connection
• Access to software the organisation uses
• A suitable working environment

If you are planning to allow your employees to use their own devices, you will need to consider a way for them to keep any important data safe and private. Therefore your policy should include rules such as:

• Employees must protect their own devices with antivirus software where necessary. (Offer to pay for this)
• Employees must store and save all files in the company’s central cloud storage, not locally on their device.

Or alternatively you can use the template we have provided below:

Work from Home Policy Sample

This Work from Home Policy example can be custom-made to your organization's needs and should be used as a beginning stage for building up business strategies on remote working. This example strategy ought to be altered in line with your organization's particular qualities. A Work from Home Policy may likewise be alluded to as a Telecommuting Policy or Home-Based Work Policy.

Policy brief & purpose

We planned our work from home arrangement to ensure that telecommuting/digital communication is advantageous to our employees and organisation.

What this covers

This organization telecommute arrangement applies to every one of our employees who are working remotely. Click on the template below to view and download the work from home policy sample: