You cannot legislate for the right to work from home. The minute you make it law; it will all fall apart. There are a number of factors that have to be in place in order to make working from home possible. If these factors are missing, then it simply won’t work, no matter how much you are in favour of the concept.
The first question that has to be asked; is it possible to actually work from home. Do you have the necessary infrastructure to be able to work from home, such as reliable and fast internet, a space that you can dedicate to work, what home life distractions are there and can you actually do the work from home. These are just some of the questions that need to be addressed.
This is a very important question, because you might like going to work and meeting your colleagues and using work facilities. If you don’t like the idea of working from home, but legislation is passed, then legislation cuts both ways. Currently the main focus is on the benefits for the employee, which override the concerns of the employer, but what happens if your employer insists upon you working from home; and you don’t want to, then what happens. And don’t fall for the trap that it’s the employee’s decision only. With legislation there is a term called equity, which means that a law and any subsequent contract have to be equitable to each party, in other words, it has to be fair. How long before an employer challenges the law to argue, that the law should be fair and under a contract of employment the employer should also has the right to ask you to work from home, against your wishes.
Working from home has many benefits, but remember you are an employee and whilst you are working you are bound by your employment contract and your employer has the right to contact you at anytime during the working hours. Basically, your employer can enter your home electronically, which could include zoom monitoring and visual contact and communications. If you designate a spare room for your work, then that room ceases to be your home and becomes your place of employment. In other words, your employment becomes part of your home; which may not bother you, but your family may not be best pleased.
If you are using work equipment and systems, then your employer has the ability, through the back end of systems, to monitor your every move, down to every key stroke. Now, not many small businesses would bother or have the technical knowledge to access this information, but large corporations have the technical capacity to do it; and if they want to monitor you, they can. They will know how long you were not typing, so no sitting in the garden on a hot day. Also, if they want to sack you, without paying any benefits or redundancy, then it will be a case of giving you enough rope to hang yourself.
It is so easy to internet surf when you are working from home and you are using your own computer. So, if you are surfing parts of the internet, during work hours, which contravene your employment contract and your employer can prove this, then you will be permanently sitting at home, just not working.
To be able to work from home properly and efficiently you must have the appropriate amount of equipment. Will this be provided by your employer or are they expecting you to use your own equipment. If it is to be done properly, then the employer should provide you with all the necessary equipment, including a desk, chair, computer and telephone. This is important to maintain the security integrity of your employment systems. Using your own equipment can lead to also sorts of security system breaches, which could jeopardise your employer’s business. If the employer will provide all the equipment, then this is an additional cost for the employer. Depending upon which operating system the company uses, i.e. you log straight into the company server or you log into your desk top work computer, it will mean the employer having to double up on equipment, something some companies will not want to do or simply cannot afford to do.
Working from home is great until the sun shines. When you are at your employer’s office, you can look out the window and dream of sitting in your garden; when you are at home you can actually go and do it. The draw of the garden can become unbearable and once you concede to this, you will spend more time in the garden than working. At this point productivity drops and work begins to pile up. But don’t worry you can catch up after dinner, just do an extra hour and all will be well. What this turns into is, you working the same hours, but spread over a longer period, which will take a toll on your home life. Working from home demands discipline.
Working from home has to mutually beneficial for both the employer and the employee, get it right and it’s a win-win for both; get it wrong and it won’t work and end up a disaster. This is why working from home has to be on a case-by-case basis and it must work for both parties or don’t bother.
Friday 5.00pm is magical, you leave work and for 48 hours you don’t have to think about it until Monday 8.30am. Work from home and Friday is just another day, there is no disconnect. Yes, you may turn off the computer leave the spare room and shut the door, but you never ever really leave work. If the phone rings or you get an urgent email, the temptation or pressure to jump back in and just knock it out, means that you can never really switch off. Keeping work life and home life separate is so important.
At work you can stop for a tea break, use the washroom or have a chat to a colleague; and all at the expense of your employer. Work from home and that expense becomes yours. You will have to use your tea, coffee, toilet paper, soap, electricity to boil the kettle or put on the lights. In a cost-of-living crisis, these little things all start to add up.
This is by far the most tempting reason to work from home. The thought that you won’t spend two hours a day travelling to and from work, is fantastic. The savings in petrol or public transport fees is quite substantial and is an important factor. But how much does it really cost you; and will the savings in travel and time outweigh the loss of your home life freedom. Money isn’t everything and having a good home life free of work is worth its weight in gold.
From the employer’s perspective, working from home results in a significant drop in sick days. Feeling a bit unwell may prompt you to call in sick, because the thought of travelling to work is too much, but when you work from home you tend to soldier on and work, even if you are not 100%. On a positive note, being unwell and not wanting to take a sick day, means that working from home is a blessing.
It would be unwise for the employer to agree to a new employee working from home, especially during probation. You want to monitor your new employee to ensure that they are right for the job. With them at home you have very little to monitor. Also, from the new employee’s perspective, they want to meet and get to know their work colleagues, working from home makes this near impossible. Working from home should be reserved for the prerogative of your long-standing employees, those that have earned your trust and have the runs on the board. People who can work unsupervised and can be relied upon to do their job without shirking off. For these staff, working from home is mutually beneficial to both and can be a great success.
As a guide, if you are thinking of allowing working from home, then employers should work on the two-year rule. After the employee has worked for you continuously for two years, the relationship should be very good between the employee and employer. If the employer doesn’t trust their employee after this time, then something is wrong generally. The two-year rule means that employees have something to earn and strive for, working from home becomes a reward for good work and behaviour.
Unfortunately, working from home is just not possible for some industries. The work that you do simply cannot be transferred to your home. So, working from home only really benefits office work type businesses and not factories.
If you don’t have fast internet at home, then don’t bother. Logging into your employer’s systems, eats up band width and slows down progress. It can be the most frustrating experience for the employee, where there work keeps stopping due to internet lags. Laptops are a bad idea, you are better off using a desk top computer, with some grunt, if you want to work unimpeded.
Workers Compensation
Workers Compensation covers employees whilst they are working and on work business. However, not all State Workers Compensation legislation is the same. Some States exclude cover for employees traveling to and from work and on lunch breaks. What happens if you get injured at home, there will be questions asked exactly how you were injured. Sitting in the garden and tripping over the garden hose and breaking your arm; even if it was during work hours, it could be argued that you were not working, so no cover.
Business Insurance or General Property
Who’s insuring the employer’s equipment in your home. Your home insurance won’t cover it, because it’s not your equipment. The employer would need to note the different locations on their business insurance policy, which all adds to the cost, and factors like security and fire risks could be a problem. To get around this problem the employer would need to take out a general property policy to cover all the equipment that is away from the main office. More expense for the employer, and do they even know about this.
Most employers are reluctant to agree to work from home, because they fear losing control. But once their fear subsides and their confidence grows, it will cross their mind, that if an employee can work away from the office 50km away, then why can’t they work 500km away or in a different State. And if they can work in a different State, then why not in a different Country, where it is considerably cheaper for the employer to employee people. Be careful that doing your job working from home, doesn’t end up doing the job working from the Philippines, just not by you.
There are pros and cons for working from home for both the employee and the employer. Do it right and the benefits are enormous, do it wrong and it will be a disaster. Keeping it optional and not legislating for it means that every employee will benefit. Those who want to do it and can will be happy and those that don’t will also be happy. Non-legislation makes it optional, which will always end up with the best outcome for all concerned. If you legislate for it, you can guarantee that at some point there will be a legal challenge and then the whole system will become a compliance nightmare, ruining it for everyone.
The above is not a political statement, it is information gained from practical experience. It is written to give you an idea of the issues, concerns, costs and benefits. So, if the hat fits wear it, if not, don’t, but whatever you do, don’t allow it to be legislated, especially by people who haven’t got a clue and have no practical experience; and are only doing it just to win votes.
