Paul Kelly, Head of Employment at Blacks Solicitors, discusses what employers need to be aware of when it comes to a remote workforce, and what businesses can do to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
Since the Coronavirus outbreak was first reported in China, over 185 countries have been infected and this has led to a significant international impact.
Despite lockdown restrictions beginning to ease, the latest government advice encourages the UK’s workforce to again work from home if possible, and limit mixing between households. This has had a further impact on many businesses across the UK, and led to employers struggling to offer the required care and support to employees as they move back to remote working.There are a number of things that employers need to be aware of when it comes to a remote workforce, and should implement to mitigate the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on a business and its employees.
Duty of care
All employers have a duty of care to provide their staff with a safe working environment, even if the employee is working from home.
There are several things that employers can do to ensure they comply with this duty.
Employers have a responsibility to conduct a risk assessment to check whether the employee’s home is safe and suitable, and ensure that staff working from home follow the law on working hours (48-hour weekly limit unless they opt out).
Employees working remotely should have the right tools to enable them to work safely. Employers can ensure this by identifying what equipment or technology is required and either providing it, or assisting the employee in obtaining the tools they need and offering ongoing technical support.
Employers should put a home working policy in place to deal with how staff working remotely will be managed, and to ensure that any required work is able to be carried out safely from home.
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The rights of remote workers
As home working becomes more popular in the wake of Coronavirus, employers will need to update existing home working policies to ensure there is no ambiguity as to how home working will work in practice for both the employer and employee. Employees especially want clarity on issues such as expenses incurred when homeworking (think WiFi cost, equipment, electricity, printer paper etc.) and insurance (does the employer’s current insurance cover an employee working from home).
There has been talk of enshrining a right to work from home in law. The Conservative’s 2019 manifesto specifically addressed the point and stated that flexible working should be encouraged and be the default unless employers have a good reason not to permit it. An interesting example of how this works in practice would be Finland’s Working Hours Act 2020 which came into effect in January 2020 which allows employees to not only decide their working hours but also their place of work.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has already said the Government would consider legislation requiring employers to make the option of remote working mandatory, as there is an acceptance that working from home has been made the ‘new norm’ thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mitigating the impact of COVID-19
There are a number of things that employers can do to not only mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their business, but also on employees, especially when they are working remotely.
Employers should keep in regular contact with staff who are working from home so that they don’t feel forgotten about, or second class to any employees who are still working on site. This separation of colleagues can also lead to low morale, so quizzes and social evenings over conference calling apps are a brilliant example of keeping spirits up.
Employers should have a plan in place for reintegrating their staff when the government begins to recommend the workforce returns to their place of work. There is a risk of creating an ‘us and them’ environment when remote staff in particular return to work, so employers need to plan ahead to avoid this.
In terms of employees, a business should also begin considering whether a restructure or redundancies will need to take place once the pandemic slows down so that a plan can be put in place if required.
As with all crises, there will inevitably be business failures and significant impacts on the UK’s workforce including recession and mass redundancies. However, there will be opportunities for both business leaders and employees, if the right precautions are taken. Hopefully the bounce-back in the economy and the end of the pandemic will arrive swiftly, and will have a greater effect than that of COVID-19.
For more information on the rights of remote workers and an employer’s duty of care, or for any other employment matter, please contact Paul Kelly on PKelly@LawBlacks.com.
