Has full-time office working gone for good?

The Pandemic has forced a number of businesses to close their doors to their staff over the past year, seeing a large majority of staff in the UK and around the world, working from home. 

A year on and we are still being advised to work from home, so is working from home going to become part of “the new normal”? 

In a recent survey conducted by the BBC of 50 of the largest UK employers

a whopping 43 out of the 50 that participated in the survey said that they will not be bringing their employees back to the office full time. 

Instead, they confirmed that they are going to adopt a hybrid way of working, introducing a mix of home and office working. It is anticipated that staff will work from home for 2-3 days a week and be in the office for the remainder of the week. 

This news come has come alongside Google’s plans to allow 20% of their staff to work from home permanently and the financial firm KPMG, announcing that their employees will be asked to return to the office for only 2 days per week. 

It is evident that we are seeing a shift in approach to office working. The home working forced upon us has demonstrated that contrary to the belief that home working would see a decrease in productivity, home working has in fact seen not only a more productive workforce but also provided individuals with a better work life balance. 

If you are considering your options in relation to home or office working, now is the best time to do it. The key to making it work for your business is to engage with your workforce now, involve them in the decision-making process and make sure that you put the necessary arrangements in place to facilitate it.

If you are adopting a hybrid way of working within your business, it is important to consider the following things: 

  • Ensure that your policies are up to date and have rules which set out rules surrounding home working, data protection and monitoring employees where necessary. 
  • Provide your employee with the resources and equipment that they need to enable them to do their job from home (workstation including desk, chairs, laptop, mobile phone and a printer)
  • Consider how any insurance may become affected.

If you need any advice about homeworking, or any additional support, please contact us by emailing us at support@guardianlaw,co.uk

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