Homeworking policy

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• Homeworking policy

Homeworking policy

1. GENERAL STATEMENT?
   1. The Employee is sympathetic to the idea of occasional homeworking. This is especially so where an employee’s work can be carried out more effectively at home. In addition, The Employer recognises the environmental benefits (i.e., less commuting to the office) of homeworking. However, there are some categories of our employees who, by the nature of their work, are required to work at The Employer’s premises.
   2. , The Employer will monitor the effect of the home-worker’s absence from the workplace. Namely, the loss of face-to-face interaction.
   3. There may be occasions where staff regularly work at home for all or part of their working week. Where this applies, it is our policy to safeguard the individual’s health, safety, and welfare, so far as is reasonably practicable.
2. WHAT IS HOMEWORKING?
   1. Home working is when:
      • your contractual place of work is at home, for either some or all of your working week
      • you work from home on an ad-hoc basis (remote working)
      • you work away from your contractual base (mobile working)
   2. The Employerwill also consider any requests for working at another location.
3. IS HOMEWOKRING RIGHT FOR YOU?
   1. The role should be one that can be carried out just as well at home as in the office. Staff working from home should also possess certain attributes:
      • Happy to spend long periods on their own
      • Self-disciplined and motivated
      • A resilient personality who doesn’t let setbacks get them down
      • Confident working without supervision
      • Able to separate work from home life
4. PROCEDURE
   1. The prospect of working from home may be raised by managers or employees; either individuals or groups. Employees who consider that working from home is an option should discuss this with their line manager.
   2. Working from home, by its very nature, is often individual to the job and the employee concerned. Accordingly, appropriate arrangements should be decided between the employee and manager and a timescale for implementation agreed.
   3. Consideration should be given to the guidance within this policy to ensure that everything is in place. Particular attention is drawn to matters relating to health and safety, ICT, confidentiality, contact, training and support and the contract of employment.
   4. Consideration should be given to different approaches to managing employees who are working from home, such as managing outputs and deliverables. This relies on collaborative working between the employee and the line manager and regular review of performance targets and workload levels.
5. EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
   1. The Employer will provide any equipment we deem to be reasonably required to work from home. This could include the cost of installing, repairing, maintaining, or replacing equipment in your home. Equipment never ceases to be our property, and you must:
      • Ensure it is used exclusively by you and only for the purposes we provided it for
      • Use it in accordance with our other policies
      • Take reasonable care for it

   OR

   2. It remains your responsibility to ensure that you have appropriate equipment whilst working from home. We are not responsible for the cost of installing, repairing, maintaining, or replacing equipment in your home.
   3. We are not responsible for associated costs of you working from home, such as internet access, heating, lighting, electricity, and telephone calls. You must also ensure that your workspace is adequately lit, in line with health and safety requirements.

   AND

   4. If you are disabled, we will bear the cost of any reasonably necessary equipment that allows you to carry out your work properly.
   5. Any equipment provided by us must be returned either on the termination of your homeworking arrangement or on the termination of your employment.
6. TAXATION AND INSURANCE
   1. Employees working at or from home are responsible for any tax or mortgage implications arising out of their homeworker status. It is strongly recommended that employees investigate any likely tax and mortgage implications before they commence any homeworking arrangement. Staff may also wish to take advice from their recognised trade union.
   2. The Employer has Employers’ Liability Insurance which covers its legal liability for personal injury to employees while acting in the course of their employment. This cover extends to situations where the employee is working at or from home.
   3. Incidents which may result in claims against The Employer’s insurance cover must be reported to the member of staff’s line manager. Major incidents must be reported immediately by telephone to the member of staff’s line manager or as soon as is reasonably possible if the incident occurs outside office hours.
7. DATA SECURITY
   1. Homeworkers must comply with The Employer’s GDPR, Data Retention, and Communications policies.
   2. Homeworkers are responsible for the security of all data, whether held on disc/encrypted memory stick or paper and must ensure it is stored securely to maintain confidentiality of information from members of the family or visitors.
   3. Sensitive material or personal data must be disposed of by recognised methods using office based shredding equipment or other means. Further information on data protection is held within The Employer’s GDPR policy.
   4. It is the homeworker’s responsibility to ensure that the following points are adhered to at all times:
      • Users must take due care and attention of portable computer devices when moving between home and another of The Employee’s sites
      • Due to the high incidence of car thefts, laptops or other portable equipment must never be left unattended in cars or taken into vulnerable areas
      • Users will not install or update any software onto a The Employer owned portable computer device
      • Users will allow the installation and maintenance of The Employee’sinstalled Anti-Virus updates immediately
      • No family members may use any equipment provided by The Employee. Equipment provided by The Employeris supplied for the staff members’ sole use
      • The Employermay at any time, and without notice, request a software and hardware audit and may be required to remove any equipment at the time of the audit for further inspection. All homeworkers must co-operate fully with any such audit
8. VISITS TO THE HOMEWORKER
   1. Arrangements should be made to permit an appropriate manager to visit the homeworker at home for purposes connected with work. This should be by prior arrangement and at a mutually convenient and reasonable time.
9. CONTRACTUAL TERMS
   1. If the employee is an occasional or regular home worker, there will be no requirement to issue a variation to the substantive contract of employment.
   2. The contracts of employment for permanent home workers will need to reflect the fact that their normal place of work is home. It should be noted that employees whose normal place of work is home may still be expected to attend one The Employer’s offices from time to time (e.g., to attend team meetings).
   3. All other terms and conditions of employment remain unchanged by a home working application.
10. EXPENSES
    1. For occasional and regular home workers, car mileage expenses will only be paid for those miles travelled which are over and above the number of miles which the home worker would previously have incurred by having to travel into the office and return home on a daily basis, i.e., their normal commuting journey.
    2. For permanent home workers, car mileage expenses would be payable for work related journeys beginning and ending at the home base.
11. HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELLBEING
    1. Manager’s Responsibilities
       • Managers have a general duty regarding health and safety of employees and others, under the relevant legislation.
       • Many of the health and safety issues around homeworking are no different from those of conventional office working, including issues around the workstation, seating, display screen equipment (DSE), electrical wiring, lighting, heating, ventilation and slipping or tripping hazards. For example, work with DSE can give rise to back pain or repetitive strain injury (RSI), stress or visual discomfort if adequate precautions are not taken. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations require managers to assess and reduce risks, ensure workstations meet minimum requirements, plan breaks or changes of activity, provide eye tests on request and provide health and safety training and information.
       • As part of that general duty, managers must ensure that risk assessments, including DSE self-assessment are undertaken.
       • Managers should be particularly vigilant regarding signs of isolation, anxiety, and stress likely to be experienced as a result of lockdown and homeworking. This should be discussed at regular 1 to 1 meetings and where appropriate support and learning resources should be signposted. We would also encourage managers to review the frequency of both 1 to 1 meetings and team meetings to help maintain working relationships.
    2. Employees’ responsibilities
       • assess their workstation by following the guidance
       • take regular breaks
       • take reasonable care of their own health, safety, and wellbeing and that of others who may be affected by what they do or do not do
       • co-operate on health and safety matters and use work items and equipment correctly
       • report any issues which may be a risk to their own or others’ health
       • discuss as soon as possible with their manager any disability or any other special circumstances where an adjustment to working arrangements is required
       • keep in touch with colleagues to avoid feelings of isolation and tell their manager if they are feeling stressed or anxious
12. REVIEW OF A HOMEWORKING AGREEMENT
    1. Any home working arrangement should be reviewed periodically (at least once a year). This will allow both parties to assess whether the arrangement is still appropriate.
13. TERMINATION OF A HOMEWORKING AGREEMENT
    1. The Employer reserves the right to terminate the homeworking agreement if it reasonably considers it to be ineffective. A notice of one month shall be given.