Working from Home

[John McJannett]

Can anyone help me with a policy/agreement that covers all aspects of consenting to an employee "officially" working from home?
I have a Working from Home Risk Assessment form which covers HSE related matters and establishes the safety of the home work environment. I would like a "parent agreement" type form/letter which could be signed by employer and employee covering all necessary matters.

[kevinh]

We need one as well, and I'm sure there are others who would be interested.

We could develop a generic one on here simply by sharing ideas in this thread.

Do you have a list points that need to be addresses ?

[kevinh]

Unfortunately there are many things to consider when allowing an employee to work from home.

Here's a few headings to flesh out;

1. Occupational Health and Safety
What OH&S policies apply. How will OH&S standards be ascertained. Should the employer provide any training or material to ensure the working environment is safe (e.g a first aid kit). Who is responsible for any OH&S compliance costs.

2. Equipment
What equipment is to be used, who is it owned by and who is responsible for it’s maintenance. Ditto for software and consumables.

3. Security
What steps or precautions must the employee take to ensure the security of the employer's assets and information?

4. Conditions of employment
These may need to be varied to accommodate working from home.

5. Hours of work/overtime
How many hours work will be done at home, at what times and how will it be recorded. Do overtime rates apply? Do any other allowances apply which might normally apply in the normal workplace?

6. Communication
How and when will the employee be available for communication with the office.

7. Performance
Will the employee’s performance be monitored while working from home and if so, how.

8. Termination of the home based work arrangement
The employer may wish have the option to withdraw the right to work from home with a reasonable notice period.

[aking]

One of the first things in drawing up guidelines for working from home is to identify the difference between someone logging in remotely from home on occasions and the employee whose majority of work time is at their home location - telecommuting.

Companies and employees need to fully understand the difference between the 2 and what each entails, ie a separate area that is considered the office and should not be utilised as a room for the general household, if it is a working mother what arrangements are to be agreed to in relation to the child. This link from the Vic government has a good 12 page booklet that covers off telecommuting and could be used to draw up something in addition to current list.
www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pdfs/work.pdf

[NicoleL]

Hi all

I have some documents which I will be able to forward to you if you email me directly.

They include a Home Based Work Policy, a Home Based Work Checklist, a Home Based Work Safety Audit Checklist and the Home Based Work Agreement if you are interested as I am not sure how to attach documents to this thread.

Drop me a line but in essence the principles around the policy include:
 There must be mutual agreement between the Employee and Manager about Home Based Work and neither is obliged to agree.
 Either party may terminate the agreement, subject to reasonable notice, including justification.
 There is sufficient flexibility in the application of the policy such that arrangements can be tailored to best suit local needs.
 There must be expected over the long term that, at best, a net benefit accrues to both parties and, at worst, no net disadvantage occurs to either party from the arrangement.

Cheers
Nicole

[kevinh]

Hi Nicole,

If you are happy to share these documents publicly (which would be great!), please send them to HR Buzz using the Document Upload form ( click here ) and we will post them in the HR Buzz Document Repository and link to them from this thread.

Kind regards,
Kevin

[kevinh]

Nicole has kindly provided a policy document and several agreements/forms which others may be able to use as a basis for similar documents or their own.

These have been uploaded to the HR Buzz Document Repository and for convenience we have linked to them below. NB: You need to be logged in to view/download these documents.

Click here to view the policy document

Click here to view the forms/agreements

[John McJannett]

Many thanks Nicole and Kevin for your assistance.