Managing working from home

How to help your staff get the most from remote work.

As result of the pandemic, working from home has become an increasingly popular option for businesses across the country but adapting to such significant change has implications for employers and their staff.

There are issues to deal with relating to communication, health and safety, productivity, work-life balance and effective management, to name a few.

This guide looks at some of the main concerns around working from home and what businesses can do to help their employees work to the best of their ability when away from the workplace.

What your workforce might need

A remote workforce needs to be supported in a whole manner of areas. These include the following:

• the right tools for the job. A broadband connection, a decent laptop and a quiet workspace are the essentials.
• regular check-ins. You might arrange daily meetings with the whole team and weekly one-on-ones with individuals. Working from home can be very lonely and frequent check-ins will help build camaraderie and maintain focus.
• a variety of communication channels. Email is essential but a video call or even a Skype phone call can be good ways to keep in touch. Use instant messaging (IM) for urgent queries.
• emotional support. Make time to talk with your staff, in a relaxed manner, to find out how they're coping. Be open: we all have insecurities, family pressures, and so on.
• an awareness of stress and how it can damage mental health. It's important to try and reduce employees' stress, while coping with your own. Anxiety is apparently contagious, so mindfulness training could be something to promote internally.
• training. Whenever you identify gaps in skills, try to put training in place.
• IT support. Good support from an IT team can both reduce stress and boost productivity.
• fun. Strive to maintain an element of fun throughout the business, through self-deprecating humour or a themed Zoom call once a month, for example? It's a cliche, but laughter can be the best medicine.

Providing working equipment

Supplying equipment and technology

Employees who are working from home may need equipment (or additional equipment) to do their jobs.

It's your responsibility, as their employer, to provide whatever equipment and technology they need to work remotely. This might include:

• laptops
• monitors
• peripherals such as keyboards, mice, laptop stands and headsets
• phones
• office chairs and/or desks

Discuss with each employee what they require, and tell them how you'll go about providing it.

Also make sure you have a way to help them set up the equipment, if they're unable to do it themselves.

Read the ICAEW's guidance on considerations around technology and home working.

Advice for employees on making a workspace at home

Remote working will be new to many businesses and their employees, and not everyone will have the perfect home environment in which to work productively.

In these situations, consider advising your employees on how to create a suitable workspace at home.

There are tips you can share around:

• designating a specific area as a 'home office'
• setting up chairs, desks and display screens so they're positioned for comfort
• avoiding distraction
• establishing a proper balance between work and home

Communication and staying in touch with employees

Home working makes communication between employees that bit more challenging.

There are now numerous platforms for colleagues and their managers to keep in touch.

Without the opportunity to speak in person, regular communication via these channels is crucial, and employees, their teams and managers should make calls or meetings a frequent feature of their calendars.

It's also worth acknowledging that if this virtual communication is new to the people involved, things might not go smoothly to begin with.

Looking after employees' mental and physical health

Employers' responsibilities

As an employer, you're legally responsible for your employees' health, safety and welfare.

This duty applies whether your staff are working at your premises or from home.

Normally, you'd carry out a risk assessment to identify and control the risks throughout your workplace that could put your employees in harm's way.

Having a workforce of people all based in their own homes makes this very difficult.

Despite this challenge, there are still things you can do to look after your employees' health. You can:

• check that they're comfortable with the work you're asking them to do at home
• make sure there's nothing at home that could jeopardise their health or safety when working
• stay in regular contact with them, particularly making sure that they don't feel isolated
• make reasonable adjustments, if they have a disability that makes working from home difficult.

Employees' responsibilities

While employers should do everything they can to protect their staff, it's important that they remind their employees of their responsibility to:

• look after themselves - for example, by taking regular breaks and maintaining a good work-life balance
• report any concerns around their health, safety and welfare
• tell their manager if they need to make adjustments to their home-working arrangements.