News Article

Flexible working has become increasingly popular in recent years and as more and more employees work from home, employers must bear in mind their responsibilities in these situations. Homeworking allows employees to have a better work life balance and for employers to have a more loyal and motivated work force, better productivity and reduced overheads.

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While the benefits are certainly numerous, employers must also consider implications of such working arrangements including line management, costs of setting up homeworking, changes to employment contracts and health and safety. Employers would be responsible for health and safety, carry out risk assessments and ensure employees have all the right equipment to enable them to work remotely. Any arrangements must be confirmed in writing and a regular review of the arrangement should be carried out.

An effective way of managing staff would be to set clear core hours of working, and setting up regular meetings either in the office or off-site so that the employee does not feel cut off from the office. Further employers must ensure that employment handbook and policies are easily accessible to staff and include homeworkers in work related aspects such as promotions, trainings, office events. Lastly to ensure clarity, having a homeworking policy that confirms arrangements and expectations would be useful.

For any further advice or information please contact the team here at SFB Consulting. Our offices are based in Bishop’s Stortford and London, but we offer our services and consultancy UK wide. 

T:01279 874 676 

E:info@sfb-consulting.com