WORK FROM HOME POLICY SAMPLE

WORK FROM HOME POLICY SAMPLE

This Work from Home Policy template can be changed as per company’s needs. A Work from Home Policy may also be referred to as a Telecommuting Policy or Home-Based Work Policy.

 This sample policy should be modified according to your company’s specific values.

Policy brief & purpose

We designed our work from home policy to make sure that working from home is beneficial to our employees and company.

Our Employee remote work policy outlines our guidelines for employees who work from a location other than our offices. We want to ensure that both employees and our company will benefit from these arrangements.

A decision will be based on the assessment of work activities, skills, competencies as well as health and safety considerations.

Scope

This policy applies to employees whose primary work location is not at our offices. Working from home may be combined with any overall working pattern, whether full or part-time.

DEFINITIONS

A home worker is someone who undertakes a significant proportion of work from home on an agreed regular and predictable basis. An individual undertaking of occasional or ad hoc working is not considered to be a home worker.

Are employees allowed to work from home?

Employees are allowed to work from home only if their job duties permit it. For example, people who are obliged to come in direct physical contact with customers are not eligible to telecommute under this policy. But, employees who carry out most of their work on a computer can occasionally work off-site.

PROCEDURE

Assessment of work activities, skills and compentencies

The Business Unit Director shall also assess that the work itself is suitable for home working:

How much face to face interaction is required with other task holders in the team or on the project?

Is there a frequent need to refer to documents not available at home?

Is there a constant need for access to resources or other colleagues?

These issues may present obstacles – but there may also be ways of overcoming them, so the Business Unit Manager will need to look at reasonable ways of dealing with these issues without summarily dismissing the possibility of home working.

If an employee has a reason to request working flexibly they must put this request, formally, in writing to their line manager and HR Consultant in the first instance.

The employee’s HR Consultant will then arrange a meeting with all parties to discuss the options available.

If agreed the employee will receive a written agreement, which they will be required to sign.

Policy elements

Employees work from home or telecommute when they complete their work at a place located outside of our company’s premises. They may work from home:

• Full-time
• On certain days
• Everyday, dividing their schedule between being present at the office and working from a remote location.

Work from home arrangements can be occasional, temporary or permanent.

Reasons that could demand telecommuting include but are not limited to:

• Parenting
• Bad weather
• Emergencies
• Medical reasons
• Work-life balance
• Overlong commute

Other reasons for working from home depend on employees and managers’ judgement.

How to determine whether an employee can work from home

We advise both employees and managers to consider these elements before asking/approving work from home:

• Is the employee eligible by nature of their job?
• Are there any cybersecurityand data privacy concerns?
• Will collaboration with the employee’s team become difficult?
• Do employees have the necessary equipment or software installed at home?
• What are the conditions of employees’ home or alternative place of work (noise, internet connection)

Requesting Work from Home Procedure

When employees plan to work from home, this procedure must be followed:

• Employees file a request through email or a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) at least [two days] in advance.
• Their managers must approve their request considering all elements we mentioned above.
• If the work from home arrangement spans for more than a week, managers and team members should meet to discuss details and set specific goals, schedules and deadlines.

Employees who need to work from home for unforeseen reasons (e.g. illness or temporary difficult commute) should file their request as soon as possible, so managers can consider and approve it.

Indemnity

The staff member indemnifies the University against all loss or damage to the staff member’s property and all claims by third parties in respect of personal injury and property damage except to the extent caused by the negligent act, error or omission of the University.

Equal Treatment:

Where employees are working at home for a significant proportion of their time, line managers must ensure that they keep in frequent touch with the employee, and employees and line managers must ensure that all the requirements of the Performance Track system are met.

Employees should be treated no less favourably than those working within an office. line managers must also ensure that the training needs of the employee are fully considered and that they are offered training opportunities in the same way as those working in an office/site.

Compliance with Policies

Our remote employees must follow our company’s policies like their office-based colleagues. Examples of policies that all employees should abide by are:

• Attendance.
• Social media.
• Confidentiality.
• Data protection.
• Employee Code of Conduct.
• Anti-discrimination/Equal opportunity.
• Dress codewhen meeting with customers or partners.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation is determined by job role. Health insurance, PTO and other individual or group benefits are not altered by a remote working agreement.

Remote employees will also receive [$100] per month as a remote-working allowance to cover office-related costs (e.g. electricity and rent.) Occasionally, we may pay for our remote employees to visit our offices.

Requirements for home based work

Staff responsibilities

Staff approved to work from home must:

• adhere to all the University’s policies and procedures
• be contactable during the normal span of hours
• ensure fitness for work requirements are met. If staff members are unwell or unable to work due to other reasons, then leave entitlements are to be accessed
• ensure home worksite complies with health and safety requirements at all times
• report any health, safety and wellbeing hazards, near misses and incidents
• maintain accurate and up to date records of hours worked at home within normal span of hours
• by agreement, provide authorised University staff or other approved parties with access, where necessary, for matters such as WHS inspections, and retrieval of any University-supplied equipment
• take reasonable precautions necessary to secure the University’s equipment.

Supervisor responsibilities

The Supervisor must:

• ensure the staff member is working in accordance with their Working from Home Agreement and adhering to USC policies and procedures,
• review and sign off on records of hours worked (timesheets) as required
• monitor and review the WFH agreement on a regular basis as recorded in the WFH agreement
• schedule communication meetings including methods of disseminating information to staff who are working from home
• where practicable, provide equipment and tools required to perform the tasks required (does not include workstation furniture, additional services or costs)
• accurately document the ownership and usage arrangements of the equipment and assets.

Time Zone difference

Sometimes, managers and their team members are in a different time zone. When employees need to work from home for unforeseen reasons, they may not be able to get their request approved in time. In this case, they may stay to work from home and notify the HR department. We advise employees to check in with their managers as soon as their manager clocks in.

Computer Equipment and Support:

….will not procure any desk top computer equipment (computer, printer etc).  The employee can however put in a request to their manager to be supplied with a laptop, which they will be required to use on any occasions that they also work from an ______ office.

If home broadband has been purchased by a staff member who wishes to connect their ____ laptop to it, the Customer Support Desk (CSD) should be contacted who will advise on a standard router and send through an instruction sheet for configuration of the router.  The router should then be purchased by the individual staff member or through their business unit if the business is funding it.  ……….. are not responsible for the procurement, configuration or support of the router.

If home broadband has been requested and is being funded by the company for an individual, that staff member has responsibility for ordering the broadband through an ISP advised by the CSD.  The CSD will also advise on the router to be procured through the relevant business unit.  In this situation where the company has requested and is paying for a broadband connection to allow someone to work from home, ……… will not procure, but will configure the router before giving it to the staff member to connect, and support it there after.

Any day to day IT queries would need to be sent to the CSD in all instances as per normal office workers.

……. will not visit the employee at their home address to resolve any such issues unless in a pre-authorised arrangement with the ____  Director.

Please see the following  policies for further information:

____ ____ Laptop Policy

Cost of ____ Devices Providing Mobile Internet Connectivity

Laptop User Guidelines

Attendance at any ____ offices:

Despite any pre-authorised home working arrangements if the employee is required to attend an ____ office for internal/external meetings, office briefings etc they will be given advance notice and expected to attend.

If the employee’s pre-authorised Working from Home agreement stems from the employee’s need to be working at home due to illness or disability then attendance at an ____ office will be reviewed on an individual basis.

Compensation and benefits

Usually, work from home arrangements don’t affect employees’ employment terms. If working from home has any effect on compensation and benefits, then HR is responsible to create a new contract.

Disclaimer: The Article is based on the Relevant Provisions and as per the information existing at the time of the preparation. In no event I shall be liable for any direct and indirect result from this Article. It may not take into account all relevant local, state or federal laws and is not a legal document. Neither the author nor Workable will assume any legal liability .This is only a knowledge sharing initiative.

The Author – CS Deepak Seth (Associate Partner at Helpinghands Professionals LLP) and can be reached at contacthhpro@gmail.com or 9910248911.