What was once seen as a carrot to lure employees to a business, flexible working arrangements are now an expectation of employees.
Last year Brokerwise considered the data protection implications for remote office workers. But there are so many more risks to be aware of.
People are more relaxed at home, and not just in relation to their dress (PJ pants on the bottom, business shirt up the top), but also their environment, and even things such as their posture. Working from home has given rise to claims for workers’ compensation made by employees as a result of their foot or leg ‘falling asleep’, while they were sitting at their desk at home (as a result of poor posture and seating), resulting in a work-related injury when they stood up and fell over. Sure, such an injury could happen at work, but employees are more likely to have appropriate posture and seating while at work, and if they don’t, their employer can have oversight and direct them to sit appropriately. Such monitoring and ease of corrective action is difficult in remote working situations.
And while home offices might start off pristine and professional (and some might stay that way) without supervision or peer pressure (don’t underestimate the power of Karen from accounting’s judgmental stares), there will be some home offices which quickly descend into looking like what happens when you give a toddler a box of cereal and an open bottle of milk, but no bowl … and then let them loose with an open jar of vegemite and call it ‘paint’. Speaking of toddlers, employees are far less likely to trip over a wandering toddler in the office than they may be at home. Pets too for that matter.
And it is not just the home office. Unless there are restrictions in place, employees can remote work from anywhere – from the stands at their child’s basketball game, the local café, poolside with a cocktail ….
Expecting people to work from an office full time is so 2020, and as such, flexible working arrangements are almost unavoidable in today’s job market. However, it exposes your business to a new, previously limitedly chartered territory in terms of risk. If you do not identify and control those risks (which will be different not only for every business, but every employee within that business) the risks will control your business.