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14 Work From Home Policy Best Practices in 2024

You found our list of work from home policy best practices .

Work from home policies are documents that outline rules and guidelines for remote workers. For example, this document might include information on tech packages, password sharing, time tracking, expense management and more. The purpose of these policies is to support remote teams in doing their best work, and providing for smooth operations.

You can learn best practices in books on remote work and team management books . These policies should be informed by remote work data .

This article explains:

• What is a work from home policy
• What are the types of work from home policies

What to include in a work from home policy

Work from home policy best practices.

So, let’s get started!

From working hours to communication guidelines to security protocols, here is a list of items that every remote work policy should include.

1. Working hours

Traditional offices tend to function on a 9-5 basis, but virtual offices hours are at the discretion of the employer. Some organizations prefer employees to stick to a set schedule, while others adopt a “work whenever” approach. There are also workplaces that fall somewhere in the middle by allowing staff to choose shifts or stipulating certain hours that all employees must be online. For example, organizations with offices across the country might designate a window of time that fits within all timezone’s workday so that meeting scheduling is less of a headache.

Working hours are one of the most important points to clarify within your work from home policy. You should specify whether employees must be available during set hours and whether employees can choose hours. You might also mention how staff should communicate availability, for instance by blocking time on a cloud-based calendar or setting an away status on Slack.

You may use employee scheduling software to support this policy.

Regular work hours may be part of an employee wellness program.

2. Timekeeping and hourly reporting

Because remote working hours are more flexible, timekeeping can be more complicated. Many remote managers turn to time clock software to ensure that offsite employees put in the expected hours. Programs like Toggl, Time Doctor, or Workday can track your offsite staff’s time. For simplicity’s sake, you can use the same time clock software for in-office and remote employees. Recording hours can keep remote employees accountable to focus and work for the full period, so you may want to consider asking salaried employees to log hours as a way to track time too.

In your remote work policy, you should provide instructions and deadlines for submitting hours, and clarify the approval process. Employees still need to follow labor laws, so you should remind workers to take required breaks and monitor the time-cards to catch and correct any issues.

Here is a list of the best employee time tracking platforms .

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3. Communication guidelines

Remote collaboration cannot happen without communication. Online conversations allow employees to ask questions, give updates, and brainstorm ideas from entirely different buildings.

For best results, you should provide communication guidelines in your work from home policy. These procedures outline how and when staff should respond. Teammates should know what platforms to use. For instance, perhaps internal instant messaging is the default method of remote contact, but employees should call a video meeting to discuss any formal customer complaints. Here at TeamBuilding, we give all employees a list of best practices to employ on Slack, including tagging users in appropriate threads and reacting emojis when possible to avoid cluttering feeds.

Employees should also understand response time expectations. For example, perhaps you want all teammates to answer instant messages within three hours and reply to emails within one day.

4. Technology usage

If your remote employees use company laptops or other employer-owned equipment at home, then you should set rules for technology usage. Standards for appropriate use can vary from company to company. For instance, some organizations might not mind if employees binge Netflix on the company laptop during off hours, while others may prefer that staff use the computer strictly for work.

Of course, you want your staff to use the laptop strictly for your work. Hustling on the work laptop, even tasks as innocuous as listing items on an eBay store or writing a novel, can cause conflicts of interest and other legal issues down the line. Better to make this point crystal clear up front.

Technology is imperfect and issues are bound to arise. All remote employees should know how to reach the IT department.

A thorough remote work policy will also outline which party bears responsibility for lost or damaged equipment. For example, perhaps the company will not cover theft, but battery replacement is part of the warranty.

Outlining repair procedures is also extremely helpful. You may want to clarify whether an employee can use any repair shop, should visit a certain approved vendor, or must mail the equipment, with a tracking number, to the central IT office. Also, explain whether the company will pay up front or reimburse employees for a third party repair. Should something break, your employee will not have to ask you these questions, making a stressful day slightly less stressful.

5. Security protocols

Cybersecurity is a major concern in virtual offices. Within your remote work policy you should outline security protocols to ensure that all organization, client, and employee data remain secure.

Because there is no way to confirm the security of every employee’s WiFi connection, you may want to use a business VPN . Sensitive information like trade secrets or customer payments definitely call for a private network. Confidential virtual meetings should use a secure virtual meeting software ; you can password protect your room to deter interference. Also, employees should store work files on company computers, not personal drives.

Addressing behavior is also advisable. For instance, you can discourage healthcare employees from accessing patient information in crowded coffee shops where the laptop screen is in full view. You might also advise employees not to write down or repeat customer credit card numbers in shared homes, even if alone.

6. Virtual meeting etiquette

Virtual meetings are still meetings, and meetings call for professionalism. Attendees can often relax more on Zoom calls, but there is a fine line between donning sweatpants during the weekly team call and playing Barbies with a five year old during a shareholder meeting.

By outlining virtual meeting etiquette tips , you save your team embarrassment and prevent uncomfortable conversations.

You should recommend tips like:

• Mute your microphone upon entering the call
• Use headphones to minimize noise
• Keep your webcam feed on
• Broadcast from a clean space or use a neutral background
• Limit virtual meetings to one hour or less

Explaining meeting best practices sets attendees up for pleasant and productive online conversations.

7. Approval procedure

If your employees do not telecommute full time, then you will want to explain the procedure for requesting remote work days. Your company might require staff to submit a written request at least twenty-four hours in advance. Employees should know who to ask for approval, and whether any managers or other departments need to be cc’d.

Even if employees can take unlimited remote days without asking permission, you may want to provide general guidance. For example, communicate whether there is a monthly or weekly maximum of work from home days, or whether there are days when employees must work from the office.

8. Expenses

In virtual offices, employees cannot just call down the hall or pop into a boss’s office to ask permission to make a professional purchase. Instead, teammates will probably send a message or an email, which takes time to answer. The employee may be on a tight buying deadline, so general guidelines are useful.

You can include expense procedures in your work from home policy, mentioning whether items such as office furniture, meals, subscriptions, or mileage are recoverable costs. Some companies even supplement internet or phone bill payments for telecommuters. You should also explain the expense submitting and approval process and relay deadlines.

Here is a guide to employee benefits that may help.

9. Boundaries between home and work life

Recently, I saw a cartoon that read, “Do I work at home or live at work?” Boundaries blur in home offices . Washing the dishes between meetings is a temptation, and might even be a productivity-booster for some folks. Childcare can interfere with work tasks, especially on days when children are home from school. Though your employees are human and home-life may bleed into the workday from time to time, separating the two environments is in the best interests of your company and your employee. Switching between tasks too often requires extra time and brainpower, and affects overall productivity.

Your remote employees may struggle to set boundaries while working from home, so you may want to suggest boundaries in your work from home policy. For instance, you may devise a classification system for meetings so your working parents know which Zoom calls are welcome to tiny party-crashers, and which video conferences your employees might want to take in the car or at the office. Also, some work from home professionals feel the need to always be on the clock. You may want to set cut off hours so that your employees do not check emails after midnight or engage in other overworking activities that can lead to burnout.

You can consider introducing Virtual Take Your Child to Work Day to support your team.

10. Team building

Employees tend to be more enthusiastic about optional remote team building exercises , so you should not force attendance. Still, remote workers often admit feeling lonely or disconnected, and virtual social hangouts can prevent those feelings.

Though you do not need to make all events mandatory, you may want to add a requirement that remote workers attend one social event per quarter, or that new employees join one event within the first two months. Activities as simple as scheduling a ten minute virtual coffee break with a colleague can be an effective way to ward off isolation.

Perpetuating teamwork and community are strong benefits of team building , and just as essential to the job as technical tasks. So, you should ensure that offsite employees take time to connect with colleagues.

You can do team building with executives too.

Here is a list of best practices that will make your work from home policy relevant and effective.

1. Use clear and specific wording

Writing your work from home policy is not the time to be vague. When your entire workforce is remote, this document is employee’s main form of instruction. Spelling out your rules and expectations in straightforward language with concrete examples will ensure that all employees can understand and follow your standards.

2. Enforce rules equally

Though your staff’s home work environments may be unique, rules must still be uniform. You should enforce work from home policies and regulations equally among staff. Home workers should deliver the same quality and quantity of work as in-office staff, and you should hold team members in all locations accountable.

If remote work is only available for certain positions or extenuating circumstances, then you should explicitly state this fact in the policy. Otherwise, granting only some employees the permission to work from home could seem like favoritism. According to the Harvard Business Review , flexible working and work from home options are among the most sought employee perks and benefits, so employees may be extra sensitive to fair treatment in telecommuting decisions.

3. Strive for office and home office harmony

Buffer’s 2020 State of Remote Work report found that fifty percent of professionals who did not recommend remote work belonged to companies with a mix of remote and non-remote employees. This data suggests that these companies might face communication and collaboration challenges that come with switching between in-office and offsite work.

Providing the same guidelines, procedures, and programs to all employees eliminates many of these struggles. Your centralized employees can still use time clock software and communication platforms like Slack. In fact, these programs can save time by eliminating the need to track down a colleague within the building. When all employees use the same programs, employees will not need to guess how to contact colleagues or adapt to a new system when working remotely. Streamlining your technology and procedures will make for a more natural integration.

4. Adapt with the times

Technology evolves rapidly, and global situations constantly change. As a result, your work from home policy will need updating. You should revisit the document to refresh security protocols, reconsider default programs, and adapt rules to fit to new circumstances.

If you do not have a work from home policy at all, then now may be the time to write one. Though some companies might consider virtual work to be a temporary situation, a recent survey from PwC found that 72% of US workers would like to continue to work remotely at least two days a week. The pandemic crisis of 2020 showed that many workers could perform jobs effectively at home, making many workers question the traditional routine. Acknowledging this fact and embracing remote work can help organizations remain competitive with flexible companies and achieve better employee retention rates.

Final Thoughts

Remote work is still a relatively young concept, and there is no definitive telecommuter Bible. Regardless, the items and tips on this list provide an excellent starting point for your remote work rule book. Your main aim is to maintain standards across all work environments, ensuring that employees are as careful, focused, and connected as they would be if seated down the hall.

Next, check out our article on how to manage remote teams , this list of team management skills and these remote work location ideas .

We also have a list of ways to beat work from home fatigue .

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FAQ: Work From Home Policy

Here are some of the common questions and answers about work from home policies.

What is a work from home policy?

A work from home policy, also called a telecommuting policy or a remote work policy, is a set of rules that permits working offsite under certain conditions.

The policy clarifies which situations are acceptable reasons to work from home, for example, illness, inclement weather, or family emergency. A more lenient work from home policy might not require a valid excuse or formal process, but may specify the maximum amount of days per week, month, or year that an employee may work remotely.

More importantly, a remote work policy sets standards and expectations for staff behaviors. A manager cannot directly observe a remote staff member, so virtual work requires deeper levels of trust. Telecommuting policies outline rules so that employees understand how to act. For instance, a policy might outline instructions for how to use company equipment or what hours to be available.

What are the types of work from home policies?

There are two types of work from home policies: 100% remote, and hybrid remote. The former describes companies whose employees work from home full time. In these organizations, certain roles may be remote, or all positions may telecommute. In these situations, the work from home policy and the employee handbook are typically one in the same.

Hybrid remote models allow office-based employees to work from home upon occasion. These organizations may permit employees to telecommute anywhere from a few days a year to a few days a week. In the past, businesses were strict about in-office attendance, but an increasing number of companies now allow employees to work from home more liberally.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Team building content expert. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Creating or updating policies - Home and hybrid working policies

Creating or updating policies.

• Treating staff fairly
• Arrangements
• How to structure a policy

As an employer, you should create a policy for working from home or hybrid working. A policy can help you to consider requests and explain the process to your employees.

You should also:

• update any related policies or procedures
• regularly review your policies and check if they can be improved
• consult your employees and their representatives
• check whether you need to make changes to employment contracts

What a policy is

A policy is a document that:

• outlines how things work
• sets flexible limits

This allows managers and employees to discuss and agree specific arrangements.

For example, Sal's employer has a hybrid working policy that says employees can usually work remotely up to 3 days per week. Sal wants to work from home 4 days a week.

Sal discusses it with their line manager who explains the policy. Their line manager agrees they can work from home every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They both agree to review how it works.

Outlining how things work

You should explain how someone can request working from home or hybrid working, and how you will respond.

You should include in your policy how to introduce, set up and support an employee.

Setting flexible limits

A policy should say what types of working from home or hybrid working are available in your organisation.

It should also say how:

• roles will be assessed
• you will consider employee needs
• decisions will be made

Review and consultation

You might need to review things because of changes to the needs of:

• the organisation
• individual employees

You might also be reviewing the outcome of a trial period.

You should regularly review your policies and consult your employees and their representatives. Discuss how things are going and if any changes could be made.

Find out about consulting employees and their representatives

Making changes to employment contracts

When you're creating or updating a policy, you should check whether you'll need to make a change to employment contracts.

Things to check in a contract include:

• where it says employees work
• what hours employees work
• how employees will be managed

Find out more about making changes to employment contracts

If you do not need to change an employment contract

If you do not need to change a contract, you should:

• agree any arrangements with staff
• put in writing what's been agreed, for example in an email or letter

If you like, you can tell us more about what was useful on this page. We cannot reply – so do not include any personal details, for example your email address or phone number. If you have any questions about your individual circumstances, you can contact the Acas helpline .

How To Create The Perfect Work From Home Policy For Your Company In 2024 [With Template & Samples]

In our technology-enabled, ultra-flexible modern world of work, a thoughtfully considered Work From Home Policy is becoming a must-have at progressive companies.

Welcome to the age of remote work. Laptops, smartphones, messaging apps, and WiFi everywhere mean that most office workers can do their jobs virtually anywhere. Add to this a growing expectation among employees that they should be able to do their job wherever they happen to be – at a cafe, while traveling in a foreign country, or from the comfort of their couch.

It’s also important to remember that even as we enter a new, more flexible era of work , the office will continue to be the place where your team can do their best work. Honing a workplace experience that fosters community, collaboration, and the serendipitous encounters that lead to innovation will continue.

Ideally, remote work complements this elevated workplace experience. The key is to create a Work From Home Policy that sets the right expectations and creates channels and infrastructure that not only supports working from home, but that mitigate the many pitfalls that spring up when you take employees out of the office. With the right preparation and communication, your team can be just as happy, connected, and productive at home as they are in the office.

Our favorite Work From Home resources and tools to consider: Bambee – will help you create a customized WFH policy Bonusly  – free culture building and employee appreciation monday.com – team collaboration and productivity Caroo – employee care and appreciation packages Awardco – digital spending cards for employee

In this post, we’ll lay out exactly how remote work can benefit your business, the potential pitfalls you must take care to avoid, and why a thoughtful and complete Work From Home Policy is the single biggest factor in setting your team up for success. Use this article to guide you as you develop the Work From Home Policy that’s right for your team. We also recommend signing up for The Assist , a free weekly newsletter that provides workplace culture, productivity, and leadership inspiration, for ongoing Work From Home support and updates. 

Page Contents (Click To Jump)

What Is A Work From Home Policy?

A Work From Home Policy is an agreement between employer and employee that clearly defines the expectations and responsibilities for employees who work from home. It may also define who is eligible to work from home, the process for requesting work from home privileges, as well as the approval process.

During mandatory Work From Home situations, it helps ensure that employees are set up for success and that they can continue to remain healthy and productive.

What Are The Benefits Of Working From Home?

Empowering employees to work from home or remotely is a sound practice that can benefit your employee wellbeing and your business. Maximizing these benefits ought to be top of mind as you design your company’s Work From Home Policy. Here’s why a Work From Home Policy is good for your company:

It signals trust. By now we all know that employee engagement drives performance; the more personally invested employees are in your company’s success, the more willing they are to go above and beyond to hit their goals. Demonstrating that you trust your employees to work from home helps cement the emotional bond between employer and employee that enables engagement.

It gives employees their time back. One big benefit that most employees discover when they first work from home is the lack of a commute. The average American commute is more than 52 minutes each day . Employees will have more time to dedicate to themselves, their families, their hobbies – or their jobs if they so choose.

It supports focused work. The other obvious advantage to working at home is the absence of common workplace distractions. That’s why many companies (including SnackNation) have designated remote days dedicated to focused work. Team members are encouraged to schedule the tasks that require intense focus (like writing, planning, or strategizing) on these days to maximize efficiency.

It curtails absenteeism. When you give employees the option to work from home when they begin to feel sick, they are less likely to spread illness to the rest of the team. The result is a healthier, more productive team. You can really see the effect of this phenomenon during annual cold and flu seasons.

It can make for well-rounded employees. Employees with healthy family lives, social lives, and who have time for passion projects and hobbies are better workers. Working remotely can mean that your project manager is able to pick up his child from school, can commit to weekly happy hours with friends, or is finally able to enroll in that programming class he’s been wanting to take. When employees are fulfilled in other areas of their lives, they tend to show up better at work too.

What Are The Potential Risks Of Working From Home?

Working remotely is not without potential downsides. Be sure to guard against the risks we’ve laid out below as you create your Work From Home Policy.

It can be hard to establish boundaries. Not having to commute (or shower) is great, but one thing we hear again and again is that it can be hard to turn off your work brain and relax. Some employees find themselves working or checking email from the time they wake up to the time their head hits the pillow. That’s a surefire recipe for burnout .

It can be isolating. Being around people is good for us. Our bodies release the feel-good chemicals oxytocin and serotonin when we see people we care about – like friends, coworkers, and family members. Too much time spent alone can lead to a depressed mood. Additionally, being away from the office can also erode the bonds between an employee and the company itself. An office – especially one with a thoughtfully designed Workplace Experience – gives your employees a sense of identity and connection to your company and its values. This declines when you spend too much time away from it.

It eliminates serendipitous encounters. One of the biggest benefits of an office – especially one with an amazing breakroom – is that it provides opportunities for spontaneous interaction between people from different organizations. ( Steve Jobs famously advocated for this when designing the Apple and Pixar office layouts.)

It may come with other distractions. While working from home eliminates typical office distractions (like chatty coworkers), the fact is that employee homes are rarely optimized for work and can help to promote workday procrastination . Often, remote employees end up working on a couch or bed because they simply don’t have a suitable desk or table. Or they may turn on a TV for background noise… and end up watching it throughout the day. Companies with amenities like meal, snack, or coffee programs might see employees running out for lunch or coffee multiple times throughout the day because employees are unaccustomed to planning for meals, snacks and coffee .

What To Include In Your Work From Home Policy

The purpose of your company’s Work From Home Policy should be to optimize for the benefits while limiting the risks, ultimately setting up your employees to be as successful outside the office as they are in it. Here’s what your policy should include to ensure it does just that.

Define who is eligible to work from home. Not all job functions can be conducted remotely. Clearly lay out which teams are eligible to work remotely, and which have to be in the office so that your hybrid work model is clearly available to all workers to examine. 

You may set eligibility criteria – i.e., only those employees who have been at the company for 90 days and hit 90% of their goals can work remotely. 

Establish an approval process. Likewise, once you establish eligibility criteria, clearly outline the personnel and process for approval. Employees should know how to request work from home privileges, who will be approving, and the timing for approval.

Set regular working hours. Your Work From Home Policy should clearly state when employees are expected to work, and when they should call it a day. If you value flexibility, this might mean setting a total number of hours (i.e., employees are expected to work a total of 8 hours per day).

More likely it will mean establishing a range of working hours (i.e., employees are expected to be working and available from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.). A best practice is to mirror your standard office work day, which may vary by team.

For salaried employees , this policy isn’t just about making sure your team stays on task. The bigger benefit is to empower employees to establish their own boundaries so they don’t feel pressure to be “always on,” which will prevent burnout in the long run.

For hourly employees , remember that federal non-exempt rules apply. Make sure employees understand they must continue to track their time and request manager approval to work overtime.

Provide guidance on timekeeping for hourly employees. Hourly, non-exempt employees will still need to accurately record all hours worked and submit these records to their managers. Make sure hourly employees have a way to accurately record their time while working remotely.

Create attendance and availability standards. One challenge you’ll find working remotely is that you can’t just pop by someone’s desk to get their input on a time-sensitive project. Sometimes, it will feel like you’re constantly hunting people down, hitting them up on Slack, email, and text message. Minimize this by setting standards around when and how team members will be available.

Streamline communications channels. With in-person communication no longer an option, your internal comms must be dialed. This means auditing existing communications channels and designating the primary purpose for each. This might also mean sunsetting redundant channels. For instance, if your company uses both Slack and G-chat, you should require team members to stick with one or the other to reduce inefficiency.

A typical breakdown might be:

• Slack for rapid, lightweight, informal communication, and as a second touch for timely announcements.
• Email for longer communications, team-wide announcements, and internal programming (like news digests).
• Nextiva for meetings.
• monday.com (or other project management software ) for project management and online collaboration .
• Company intranet for frequently asked questions, company policies, and HR resources.

Provide IT support. While working from home, employees will rely on technology more than ever. Performing the most basic communication and job functions require working IT. Providing IT support is both more important and logistically more difficult for a dispersed workforce. Especially if you are engaged in remote onboarding , you’ll need to ensure new employees and IT can communicate with each other effectively.

Create a helpline and ticketing system specifically for remote employees, and outline the procedure that employees must take in order to escalate technology issues.

Maintain security standards. You may want to invest in an encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect all system users. Likewise, instruct employees to avoid vulnerable public Wi-Fi. Instead, encourage them to use hotspots or provide encryption software. Lastly, make sure employees keep work data on work computers, not personal ones. Most commonly, this will mean that employees should only answer emails on work devices.

Continue internal communication programs, including all-hands meetings. Constant communication is key. Email newsletters and Slack updates should continue. Your weekly or twice-monthly all-hands will be more difficult to continue, but you should make every effort to do so, even if the format changes. A weekly email from company leadership or shared slide presentation can be just as effective.

Maintain a connection to your culture. Continuing perks and amenities as much as possible will help maintain a sense of normalcy and continuity with your employees .

This is especially important in scenarios where employees are forced to work from home over health and safety concerns.

Create a dress code. While wearing sweats throughout the workday seems like it should be a perk of any Work From Home situation, employees may still have to interface with customers, clients, or partners via video conference. A note about acceptable wardrobe in these situations is appropriate.

Record acknowledgement of receipt. Remember, this is an agreement between employer and employee, subject to revocation if terms are not met. Use a digital e-signature solution like DocuSign or PandaDoc to record employee receipts.

Gather feedback and iterate. You won’t get everything right the first time. Create avenues for feedback from managers and individual contributors alike. Anonymized feedback is best. Most importantly, implement changes where appropriate.

Finally, whether you realize it or not, implementing your Work From Home Policy will require change management. Your goal might be business as usual, but achieving that means widespread adoption of new behaviors. Use these tips to set the right expectations for your employees and help ensure their success.

Tips For Employees Working From Home

1) maintain your morning routine..

Just because you’re not going into an office doesn’t mean you should skip the things that ordinarily set you up for success. Wake at the same time, and continue the routine that works for you.

2) Repurpose commute time for self-care.

The average American commute is almost 27 minutes each way. Don’t let this reclaimed time go to waste. If reading, meditating, journaling or practicing yoga aren’t currently part of your routine, now is a great time to try them out.

3) Dress for success.

Just because you can get away with wearing your PJs doesn’t mean you should. You may still be interfacing with colleagues, partners, or customers via video. Plus, dressing comfortably yet professionally helps get you in the right mindset to stay productive.

4) Focus on nutrition.

Maintain focus and energy by avoiding foods with sugars, artificial ingredients, or empty calories. SnackNation’s Work-From-Home Wellness Boxes  contain a curated mix of healthier bars, chips, jerky, granola, trail mix, and sweets to keep you properly fueled throughout your remote work days.

5) Designate a dedicated workspace.

Find an environment that fosters productivity. It should be quiet, comfortable, and free of distractions – and different from where you usually eat or relax.

6) Take time to go outside.

Taking breaks is great for your focus and well-being. Recharge by walking around the block or stepping outside on a patio or balcony.

7) Conduct as many video meetings as possible.

Face-to-face interaction doesn’t have to be a casualty of remote work. Conduct daily stand-ups or virtual team meetings via video conferencing software to maintain that personal connection.

8) Set regular work hours.

It can be especially easy to let your workday creep into early mornings and evenings while working remote. Avoid this by setting work hours and sticking to them. Don’t watch TV. Working near a television inhibits our ability to concentrate. Resist the urge to have the TV on, even if it’s just for background noise.

9) Don’t watch TV .

Working near a television inhibits our ability to concentrate. Resist the urge to have the TV on, even if it’s just for background noise.

People Also Ask These Questions When Creating A Work From Home Policy

Q: how do you ensure team productivity in a work from home setting.

• A: Start by giving employees the information, tools, and communications channels they need to be successful at home. Working from home involves a degree of change management, so arm employees with best practices so they can quickly adapt to the new circumstances. Increase accountability with morning and end-of-day check-ins via video conferencing.

Q: Why work from home policy is important?

• A: A work from home policy is important for several reasons. First, it helps to ensure that employees have a clear understanding of the company’s expectations regarding working from home. Second, it can help to prevent misunderstandings or conflict between employees and managers about what is expected when working from home. Finally, having a work from home policy in place can help to protect the company from legal liability in the event that an employee is injured while working from home.

Q: How do you maintain company culture with remote employees?

• A: Signal to remote employees that they are cared for and appreciated, even when they are working outside the office. Stay connected via multiple touchpoints and channels. When planning all-hands or other company-wide events, find ways to include remote employees. Where possible, extend in-office amenities like healthy snack delivery or catered meals (via food delivery credits or gift cards to remote employees ). SnackNation’s Work-From-Home Wellness Box  makes it easy by shipping a curated snack selection directly to employee homes.

Q: What makes an effective Work From Home Policy?

• A: An effective Work From Home Policy sets employees up for success by clearly communicating expectations, responsibilities, and conduct. It should be accompanied by tactical tips to help employees optimize their work from home environments.

Q: What is the best way to maintain communication with remote employees?

• A: While multiple channels are useful, designate a primary communication channel for timely information like company-wide communications and availability. A lightweight, flexible enterprise messaging app like Slack works well for this purpose.

Q: How do you monitor hourly employees that are working remotely?

• A: Use a mobile attendance system like this time tracking tool  to ensure that hourly employees are accurately tracking their time (and are therefore accurately compensated). Increase the frequency of progress check-ins for additional accountability.

Q: How do I start a Work From Home Policy with my team?

• A: (1) Establish eligibility. (2) Create a request and approval process. (3) Use one of our templates to tailor a Work From Home Policy that’s right for your team.

Q: Should I let my employees work from home?

• A: Yes! Empowering employees to work remotely comes with a host of benefits, including increased engagement. However, it is important to guard against potential risks like lack of boundaries and decreased connectivity with your organization. Additionally, not all employees are able to perform essential job functions remotely. Clearly delineate who does and doesn’t qualify for remote work.

Q: How do I measure the success of a Work From Home Policy?

• A: Measurement ultimately depends on the goals of your Work From Home Policy. If your goal is increased engagement, KPIs like employee turnover rates, ENPS (employee net promoter score), and employee happiness are good metrics. If your employees are working remotely due to a health emergency, success can be measured primarily by their overall health, as well as the maintenance of topline goals like revenue and productivity.

Q: What are some tips to give employees transitioning into a remote position?

• A: See our list of tips, which include maintaining your morning routine; repurposing commute time for self-care; dressing for success; focusing on healthy nutrition; designating a dedicated workspace; making time to go outside; conducting all meetings via video conference; setting regular work hours; and resisting the temptation to watch TV.

Q: Is there a good example of a work from home policy that I can reference?

• A: Yes – download our Work From Home Policy Template for ideas and inspiration.

What has been your experience with creating a work from home policy? Do you have any tips/tricks that worked well? Perhaps somethings that didn’t? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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With more prospects in the freelancing field, it has become quite evident that work is more about activity and not location. That’s the main reason working from home has proved to be a great option for every person who wants to set his career while in his comfort zone. This post is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

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What an excellent Work From Home Policy. I think many companies will need to start implementing a WFH Policy as part of the new norm, whether they want to or not. I actually, quit my job because the company told me that they don’t have a work from home policy even though I had a sick note requesting that I work from home this cold and flu season, because my Asthma has flared back up after not suffering from it since I was a child. And yet back in March we were all forced to work from home and then it wasn’t a problem nor was there a policy in place. What an idiot company…lol They even told me they need to consult with there lawyer. I was like WOW…ok. You know what nevermind, packed my things and left after 7yrs of working for the company.

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Legal Templates

Home Business Employee Policies Work From Home

Work From Home Policy Template

A work from home policy outlines rules and guidelines for remote workers.

Updated April 24, 2023 Reviewed by Brooke Davis

Many businesses are moving more employees to “work from home” status. Not only has COVID-19 changed the landscape of how business gets done, but increased digital and remote ability has also made it easier to work outside of a traditional office.

A work-from-home policy can help you create the policy you need.

If your business allows  employees to work from home , you should have policies to govern their actions and protect your business. In this article, you will learn how to make a work-from-home policy for your employees and give you the tools to create your own guidelines.

• Sample Work From Home Policy

This work-from-home policy sample will show how a template can help you create your agreement.

What is a Work From Home Policy?

When to use a work-from-home policy, what to include in a work-from-home policy, how to write a work-from-home policy, tips to consider when writing a work-from-home policy.

• Benefits of a Work-From-Home Policy

Frequently Asked Questions

A work-from-home policy is a binding policy between you and your employees that governs their responsibilities and expectations while working from home.

It may define who is permitted to work from home, a process for requesting work at home, and set forth the approval process.

Whether working from home is optional or mandatory , it gives your business the power to ensure employees are successful while working at home. It protects their health, productivity, and businesses’ rights. The policy clarifies expectations and documents your procedures if an employee violates them.

Work-from-home policies are also referred to as:

• Telework policy
• Remote work policy
• Telecommuting policy
• Remote employment agreement

You should use a work-from-home policy whenever you want employees to work from home. These agreements set clear expectations and employee requirements while they work for you.

They protect your business as well as your employees .

If you have any employees working remotely, you should utilize an agreement. You can modify a work-from-home template to meet your company’s unique needs without starting an agreement from scratch.

A smartly crafted work-from-home policy establishes expectations and limits. The details can clarify questions and the organization’s reasons for specific guidelines. These are items to consider:

• Eligibility:  Articulate which positions are fully or partly remote and those that require employees to commute to a physical location.
• Process:  Provide details regarding the approval process to transition to remote work and who makes these decisions.
• Compensation: Include how much the company pays for personal internet service and phone bills.
• Benefits:  Include details about vacations, personal time, family leaves, retirement packages, and other perks.
• Schedule: Establishing acceptable shifts in your work-from-home policy is prudent.
• Productivity:  Set productivity standards to ensure workers maintain the same focus they would with onsite supervision.
• Dress Code:  Remote workers have face time during virtual meetings with leadership and clients. It’s essential to establish dress code criteria for virtual interactions.
• Communication:  Without the ability to make informal face-to-face contact, communication methods and virtual meeting times should be included in the policy.
• IT Requirements: Off-site workers must have electronic devices and Wi-Fi capabilities to perform tasks without technological setbacks.
• Cybersecurity:  To prevent hackers from breaching the business network, limit endpoint devices to only those vetted by the IT department or managed services provider.
• Signature:  A work-from-home policy is a binding policy requiring all parties’ signatures. That’s why it’s essential to provide a space for an e-signature.

Writing a work-from-home policy yourself saves you money and time. You can use our document builder, or work-from-home template, to help you create and modify a policy suited to your needs.

Follow these steps when writing a work-from-home policy:

Step 1 – Outline the Objectives

Your work-from-home policy should clearly outline what it’s setting out to accomplish. In most cases, this will provide guidelines and procedures for remote employees.

Step 2 – Scope

Detail the scope of the policy, whether it’s for a permanent or temporary arrangement or both, and where the employee is permitted to work.

Step 3 – Who Can Work Remotely?

You need to outline who is eligible to work from home. To suit this to your business needs and goals, things to consider when deciding who can work from home could include:

• Roles and job duties – Some roles can easily be performed from home, while others may require employees to be face-to-face with customers or onsite for maintenance work.
• Software/equipment requirements – Some businesses require specific software or equipment for employees to work from home; sometimes, that might not be feasible.
• Tenure – Working from home could be an earned benefit or possible after a probation period if it’s for new employees.
• Security risks – Some jobs could be too vulnerable to cybersecurity risks when based from home.

Step 4 – Expectations

In this section, you’ll want to lay out the expectations of your employees working from home. State that remote employees must perform the same duties, assignments, and other tasks when working from home as in the office.

You might also want to state that remote employees must be able to communicate and collaborate with the company and other employees during specific hours. You could also detail how many days (if not all) employees can work from home.

Your work-from-home policy should state when the employee is expected to work. This should include the days they must work and the times. If you wish to provide flexibility in hours, you can set other criteria for how and when work must be accomplished.

Step 5 – Security

Here you will want to highlight the importance of security and that remote employees are expected to protect the proprietary company and customer information accessible from their remote workspace.

Typically, this includes password management, locking filing cabinets, encryption, and other measures required to keep information secure. You can also state whether employees should use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Step 6 – Equipment

Will you provide equipment to your employees so they can work from home? Detail what office supplies or furnishings you may provide remote employees; you can also include whether the business will contribute to the cost of working from home, such as electricity or internet access.

You will also want to include information on how equipment should be returned if employment ends.

Step 7 – Procedure

Outline the company approval process for working from home. Do employees need to seek permission to work from home, or can any arrangements be made for employees on family or medical leave?

Your work-from-home policy may not cover informal arrangements.

This section could also cover hourly, non-exempt employees still required to track their hours. Since they are at home, you should create a procedure for remote workers to track their hours and submit them to a supervisor.

You can also create attendance and availability standards for their work. Instead of tracking down employees to get their input, they should be available when needed. You can dictate when remote workers are available.

When writing a work-from-home policy, you want to create a comprehensive agreement that fully outlines your expectations of remote employees . These tips can help you make an effective agreement:

• Include remote monitoring: Remote monitoring software lets you track your employees that are working remotely. This includes their communications, working time, and other usage habits helpful to employee supervision. If you decide to use any, you should include any remote monitoring you will use in your policy.
• Create a sick and vacation policy: Just because they are working from home, it does not mean that employees lack vacation or sick time. You should account for how to track this time off in the agreement.
• Consider unique expectations: Every job is different. You should consider the individual requirements of a particular job when drafting a remote work policy. This might include provisions to attend in-person training or even utilize specific technology when working remotely.
• Create enforcement mechanisms: You cannot just have policies in place; you need to be ready to enforce them. The agreement should outline the effect of a breach of the at-home work agreement.

5 Benefits of a Work-From-Home Policy

A work-from-home policy benefits companies, current employees, and potential new hires within and outside the traditional commuter range. These are reasons to institute a carefully worded work-from-home policy.

1. Reduce Expenses

Utilizing a work-from-home approach allows companies to reduce their brick-and-mortar footprint and the accompanying expenses. This may involve leasing less space or going completely virtual, eliminating rent, utilities, and other costs.

Employees also save time and money because they no longer need to travel to an office.

2. Demonstrates Trust in Employees

A work-from-home policy sets guidelines regarding remote activities. By that same token, it shows valued employees that leadership trusts them to complete tasks promptly without onsite supervision.

This can be empowering to workers who too often feel professionally undervalued. Establishing trust in this manner helps develop a positive company culture.

3. Improves Work-Life Balance

The ability to stay home and earn a living typically improves employee lifestyles. Not having to wear stuffy professional clothes, not having to wake up as early, and removing stressful commuter traffic from daily life is addition by subtraction.

4. Expand the Talent Pool

Requiring people to come to work at a physical location limits possible hires to a reasonable commuter range. But a work-from-home policy allows human resources departments to accept applications from people living virtually anywhere.

The ability to onboard highly talented people gives companies with remote policies a competitive advantage.

5. Better Employee Retention

Remote workers enjoy a lifestyle with minimal stress and enhanced freedom. These quality-of-life improvements make for a happier workforce in which people stay longer. Continuity is a crucial factor in terms of productivity and expertise.

How do you ensure team productivity in a work-from-home setting?

Not every person possesses the self-discipline to work from home. Distractions and procrastination are common reasons why things go awry.

Employers can minimize these issues by establishing daily schedules, virtual meeting times, and productivity reviews. These and other expectations provide a structure that helps people succeed.

What is the best way to maintain communication with remote employees?

It’s important to replicate in-person experiences as closely as possible through one-on-one virtual chats. These may involve showing compassion as well as mentorship.

Although remote flexibility is generally a live-work win, the human experience and connection still matter.

What other options can you offer employees for an improved work-life balance?

Not every position is conducive to fully remote performance. Other options that enhance the live-work balance involve flex time, four-day work weeks, alternative schedules, and integrating wellness programs into the office setting.

Employees benefit when daily experiences can be less rigid or stressful.

How do you maintain company culture with remote work?

It may sound counterintuitive, but one way to maintain workplace culture in a remote landscape is to be in the same space.

Companies can unite people by organizing after-hours gatherings, weekend barbecues, or participating in 5Ks and game nights. Having coffee, tea, or lunch virtually buoys interpersonal relationships for those outside the commuter area.

What makes a Work From Home Policy effective?

A work-from-home policy is most effective when drafted carefully and thoughtfully. A template agreement is especially helpful in getting started, but the ability to modify it for your unique needs makes it especially useful.

How do you create a Work From Home Policy?

Using a template, create a work-from-home policy with Legal Templates. We offer template agreements you can use or build your agreement with our template builder.

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How to Make a Work From Home Policy (With Examples)

Manage projects from anywhere—in real time. Try ProjectManager and get online tools that let you manage your projects and teams remotely.

Are employees more productive when they’re working in the office or when they’re allowed to work from home? The answer depends on who you ask. Company leaders can’t seem to agree whether working from home is good or bad for business. However, one thing is certain: the numbers show that remote work is on the rise, which makes it necessary to have a work-from-home policy in place.

A recent study by Global Workplace Analytics shows that 40 percent more U.S. employers offered flexible workplace options than they did five years ago. Plus, 69 percent percent of employers offer remote work on an ad hoc basis to at least some employees.

So the question is: should you give your employees the flexibility to work from home? What kind of rules or guidelines would you need to have in place? And what kind of work-from-home policy would you need to have in place? Let’s go through things to consider while writing your own work-from-home policy. We’ll even provide example work-from-home policies for you to explore.

What Is a Work From Home Policy?

Simply put, a work-from-home policy is a set of guidelines that outlines the rules about how employees can work remotely instead of physically coming into the office.

There are some jobs that can’t be done remotely. For example, if customers regularly come to your workplace, then you need to be in your office. However, the data shows that most people could work from home, with 56 percent of employees having some job duties that could be fulfilled from home.

Regardless of whether you allow your employees to work remotely, it’s important that you have an official work-from-home policy in your employee handbook so that all workers understand the rules for remote work requests and the approval process.

A work-from-home policy creates guidelines. ProjectManager is software that connects everyone no matter where they’re working. Our collaborative platform allows users to share files, comment and tag anyone on the team. Plus, managers get visibility into their team’s progress and performance with real-time dashboards and customizable reports.

What to Include in a Work From Home Policy

Remote teams are becoming more popular every day and so are work-from-home policies. Creating a work-from-home policy for your company sounds overwhelming, but it can be very simple as long as you keep key points in mind. Here are some key elements of a work-from-home policy to help you get started.

1. Eligibility Criteria

One of the key elements of a work-from-home policy is the eligibility criteria that are used to determine who’s allowed to work from home and who’s not. Organizations can build their eligibility criteria in the way that best suits their needs. Here are some things to consider when creating one for your work-from-home policy.

• Role & responsibilities: Think about which roles are eligible for a work-from-home request. Some roles simply can’t be performed from home such as customer-facing roles or maintenance work.
• Performance goals: Some organizations have strict eligibility criteria where only employees that meet performance goals can apply for work-from-home benefits. These performance goals can be anything such as sales goals.
• Software/equipment limitations: Some organizations don’t have the required software or equipment for some roles to be performed remotely. In these cases, employees must use the office space and the available company assets.
• Tenure: In most organizations, compensation and other benefits such as work-from-home policy eligibility are reserved for employees with a specific tenure, which can be months or even years.
• Security risks: Some roles aren’t eligible to apply for a work-from-home policy because there are potential cybersecurity risks and concerns.

2. Approval Process

Eventually, some employees will ask to work from home. This means you’ll need to set up an approval process for work-from-home requests. It must be clear what the eligibility criteria are and what are the steps to submit and get their work-from-home request approved. The approval process varies; it can require a formal submission process or simply a verbal agreement.

3. Work Schedule

A basic function of a work-from-home policy is to define the working hours that will be expected from employees. Some work-from-home policies stick to the regular in-office work schedule while other flexible work schedules give employees the chance to work differently. When defining the work schedule for your work-from-home policy, think about time zones, work-life balance and performance tracking.

4. Compensation & Benefits

It’s important to outline the compensation and benefits for remote employees. These can include things such as internet expenses, vacations and PTO. Also, think about team-building activities for your remote teams, such as periodic in-person events or online activities.

5. Communication Guidelines

Establishing clear and effective communication channels is the cornerstone of a successful work-from-home policy. Make sure you provide in-office and remote employees with the team collaboration tools and tech support they need to collaborate. Also, it’s important to set virtual meeting guidelines and availability requirements for employees with flexible schedules.

Related: Free Communication Plan Template for Word

6. Timekeeping and Reporting

Your work-from-home policy must establish clear guidelines on timekeeping and reporting. It’s important to have software to track your employee’s timesheets , tasks and time off. Before establishing a work-from-home policy, make sure you have timekeeping and reporting tools to keep track of your employee’s time and progress.

7. Cyber Security Protocols

Different roles have different degrees of cybersecurity risks. But at a minimum, you should encourage the use of tools like virtual private networks (VPN) and train your employees on basic cyber security practices such as avoiding public networks, recognizing phishing emails or using encryption software when sharing sensitive data .

8. Team KPIs

You’ll need to define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your team’s performance. Each role has different responsibilities, goals and deliverables that can be measured with KPIs. Team managers should be able to outline the KPIs for their team members.

9. Dress Code

Even though they’re not constantly interacting with customers, stakeholders or coworkers, remote employees still attend company meetings and virtual events. It’s important to define dress code guidelines for those cases, which can be strict or flexible, depending on your company culture.

Benefits of Having a Work from Home Policy

For years Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been touting the importance of a flexible work-from-home policy. He once said , “Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge.”

Fast forward to 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and public health officials widely recommended that workers stay home to avoid spreading the virus. The CEO of media giant Charter Communications pushed back, issuing a memo telling employees they need to come to work because they “are more effective from the office.”

How is it that two corporate giants could have such vastly different stances on remote work? Every company is unique and needs to decide for themselves whether remote work is good or bad for their business.

Work From Home Policy FAQs

Below are some questions you should ask when considering your work-from-home policy.

Will Your Staff Be Productive Working from Home?

The debate about the productivity of remote work is far from being settled, but to get the best results, you need to set your team up for success. The most important way to help your team’s productivity is to leverage the right technology. If teams aren’t physically together, they need to collaborate digitally instead.

The best way to achieve this is through work management software that allows team members to work collaboratively on the same platform. If you don’t have a good system to get visibility into your team’s work, then remote work will lead to disorganization and a loss of productivity.

Can Your Managers Handle It?

Every manager has a different leadership style. Managers with strong communication skills will adjust well to remote work and see very little change in the team’s performance. But more traditional managers may not be able to handle the change. If your company leaders aren’t capable of managing a distributed team, then you’re going to run into problems.

Related: Managing Remote Teams: Challenges, Best Practices & Tools

What Do the Company Leaders Think?

It’s also important to talk to your leadership team about how they feel about remote workers because it’s their direct reports who will be utilizing your remote work policy. Your executives, VPs and department heads are often your most experienced staff, so it’s important to get their buy-in. If all company leaders are aligned with your company policy, you’ll see the best results.

How Will Remote Work Affect Profitability?

Remote work can have a big impact on the bottom line of a business. If there’s a productivity loss, then the company will suffer. However, some teams see increased productivity which can improve profitability.

Another financial consideration is that a remote staff doesn’t require the same amount of spend on things around the office. If employees work from home, the company will spend less on utilities, internet, snacks, equipment, etc.

How Do The Employees Feel?

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, gather employee feedback. The Global Workplace Analytics study shows that 80 percent of employees want to work from home at least some of the time, so it’s likely that having flexibility in your policy will make employees happy.

Additionally, your work-from-home policy can have a big impact on your ability to recruit and hire new employees. Highly qualified job candidates who are accustomed to a flexible work environment may pass you up if your policy doesn’t allow for remote work. This goes for employee retention, too.

Work from Home Policy Examples

Now that you’ve weighed the pros and cons of remote work, you’re ready to write your own work-from-home policy. We’ve included some examples of policies that you can use to get started.

Example: Strict Work From Home Policy

Because our company values hard work, collaboration and teamwork, we require that all staff come into the office. We do not allow employees to work remotely. Of course, if you are sick, you should not come into the office, but instead, take the day off.

Example: Ad Hoc Work From Home Policy

Our company values hard work, collaboration and teamwork, so we’d like you to work in the office each day. However, we understand that life happens and things come up, so we allow employees to work from home for one-off events like:

• Your child’s school is canceled
• You have a contractor that needs to come to your house during the day
• You are feeling sick but you’re still able to work

Important note: All work-from-home events must be approved by your manager in advance so we can plan accordingly. Managers have the discretion to approve/deny any work-from-home requests.

Example: Allowance-Based Work From Home Policy

Our company values hard work, collaboration and teamwork, so we’d like you to work in the office each day. However, we also understand that time-to-time, our employees prefer to work from home for different reasons. To offer some flexibility, each employee is allotted three (3) work-from-home days per calendar month. Please use discretion when scheduling your remote days so that you are not away for important in-office meetings and events.

Example: Open Work From Home Policy

Since our company culture promotes autonomy, innovation and flexibility, we have an open work-from-home policy. We encourage you to work from home any time you see fit, as much as you’d like.

Related Content

Managing remote teams can be challenging. That’s why we’ve created blogs, guides and templates to help you better manage your team. Here are some of them.

• Work From Home Guide
• Remote Project Management: A Quick Guide
• Virtual Project Management: Benefits, Challenges & Tools
• What Is a Virtual Team? Definition & Examples

How ProjectManager Helps Teams Work From Home

When team members are working remotely, it’s an unfortunate truth that collaboration can suffer. That’s why ProjectManager has project management software with everything you need to work together with your team online. ProjectManager offers collaborative project management tools for teams that want to work better together, regardless of where employees are physically located.

Planning Tools

The success of a project is highly dependent on proper planning. To help you plan your projects, ProjectManager offers Gantt charts, which allow you to schedule your team’s tasks in a visual timeline. Then each task can be assigned to a team member to be executed, all on the same platform.

Shared Projects

Teams need to collaborate in order to be successful, which can be particularly difficult in a remote setting. With ProjectManager, teams can share the responsibilities and the tasks in a project so everyone is working in one central workspace together. Kanban boards can be turned into collaborative workflows so that everyone knows exactly what’s going on inside the team’s project.

Cloud-Based Platform

ProjectManager’s online project management software is accessible online via a web browser, so remote employees and those who work from home can stay connected to their teams as long as they have internet access.

Regardless of which style of work-from-home policy you choose, your team will benefit from ProjectManager’s collaborative project management platform. Managers love our software because it allows them to plan work, delegate tasks, track progress and collaborate with their employees through the cloud. Remote workers also love our tools because they can stay connected with their team and projects from anywhere. Sign up today and get your first 30 days for free.

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Working From Home Policy (HR Guidelines)

• Anne Morris
• 5 August 2022

IN THIS SECTION

With more employees than ever working from home, employers must ensure they have a working from home policy in place that is clear on standards and expectations for remote workers, while ensuring legal compliance and protecting their interests.

In this guide for employers, we share an overview of the law relating to working from home, including an employer’s legal responsibilities toward their employees, and what a working from home policy should include as a matter of best practice.

The law on working from home

Homeworking is where a member of staff is permitted to carry out their daily contractual duties from home on an occasional, temporary or permanent basis.

The employee will typically still work in accordance with the core conditions under their contract of employment, such as the same working hours and pay, but will not be required to go into their official place of work for those days where working remotely has been agreed on hybrid working basis .

Working from home is a type of flexible working arrangement that can enable employees to meet the demands of their job role while providing a degree of flexibility to achieve a better work/life balance.

There are also various benefits to homeworking for your business, including lowering overhead costs, freeing up office space, and a happier and potentially more productive workforce with improved staff retention.

There is no legal right to work from home .

Employees have the right to request flexible working after accruing 26 weeks’ continuous service . As an employer, you do not have to agree to any such request by law, although you are legally required to consider a request made and provide sound business reasons for any refusal.

What are an employer’s responsibilities for homeworkers?

By law, all employers are under a duty of care to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees, including when an employee works from home.

Ordinarily, you would be expected to carry out some form of health and safety risk assessment of the workspace available within the employee’s home environment. A risk assessment can still be completed, even in the current climate, by way of an employee questionnaire, ensuring that every individual feels that the work they are being asked to do can be achieved safely at home.

You will be responsible for ensuring that employees have access to the right equipment and technology needed to conduct their role from home, such as a laptop, mobile phone, suitable business software and good internet connectivity. Where this needs to be set up or provided, you will be responsible for making this happen, together with any necessary training and support to work from home or to use any remote working systems.

During the course of any period of homeworking you should also keep in regular contact with employees, checking on their health and wellbeing. This includes any mental health issues that may arise as a result of high levels of stress and anxiety, or feelings of isolation, caused by working from home or because of work-related issues.

What should a working from home policy include?

Whether you are considering implementing a working from home policy on a permanent basis or as a temporary measure, you will need clear rules setting out any eligibility requirements, how to request working from home and how this will work in practice.

Below we consider some of the key aspects of a working from home policy.

Eligibility criteria

Your working from home policy should include clear guidelines to let your staff know who is eligible for home working and who is not, as well as how to apply.

When considering eligibility, you will need to take into account the impact on your business of allowing homeworking, and whether this is economically and operationally viable without placing your business at a significant disadvantage.

It may be that the business can survive with only a key number of employees working within certain roles, with the majority working from home. In other cases, working from home may not be possible at all.

Any decision to allow homeworking does not need to be implemented across your entire organisation, although you should be transparent and clear about the basis upon which employees are eligible to work from home, ensuring that this does not discriminate against certain individuals or groups of individuals.

Carrying out a risk assessment

For those who are eligible for homeworking, you will still need to carry out some form of risk assessment for that individual, ensuring that they can work from home safely and reliably without direct supervision, and whether homeworking is feasible in terms of space and equipment, as well as any caring responsibilities, such as for young children or sick and elderly relatives.

Your questionnaire should include asking details about the employee’s personal circumstances or vulnerabilities that you may need to be aware of, such as whether the employee is pregnant, has a weakened immune system or a long-term medical condition such as diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease or respiratory conditions such as asthma, or lives with anyone with these conditions.

You will also need to ask questions relating to the viability of working from home, including access to any necessary devices, paperwork, office furniture, computer applications, software and a secure internet connection.

Establishing a homeworking agreement

Homeworking can be very different to face-to-face work practices, presenting all sorts of new practical daily challenges. It is important that you set out how you expect employees to perform while working remotely, exactly what they are required to do and how things will work in practice.

This should include agreeing to the following:

• At what times the employee will be available to work
• At what times the employee will be able to take breaks
• The ways in which employees will keep in touch and with whom
• Who employees should contact if they have any problems
• Exactly what the employee is required to do
• How their performance will be managed and measured

It is important to recognise that some individuals may find it hard to organise themselves when working from home, so setting daily or weekly tasks may be a good way of providing a suitable structure for those working remotely.

Ensuring cyber security and data protection

When working from home it is important that employees are fully trained in the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act. If you plan to let your staff use their own devices when working remotely, you need to think about how they will keep any important data safe and private, as well as how any hardcopy files and paperwork will be stored.

You should ensure that homeworkers store and save all online files in the central cloud storage for your company or organisation, and not locally on their own device. Your work from home policy should also include rules such as ensuring employees protect their own devices with antivirus software where necessary. You may need to offer a financial contribution to cover this cost.

Keeping in touch with homeworkers

Regularly keeping in touch with homeworkers is not only essential to the operational needs of your business, but to ensure their health and wellbeing.

It is important that employees have the means to easily communicate with their manager or colleagues, so as to share progress and stay up-to-date with work projects. This might involve new ways of working, for example, using video or conference calling technology, as well as ensuring that employees feel fully supported on both a professional and personal basis.

For those homeworkers with children or other caring responsibilities, you will need to be sensitive and flexible toward their situation. You may need to agree to a more flexible homeworking arrangement, for example, working reduced or different hours, or reducing work targets and being flexible about deadlines.

You may also need to make adjustments to any temporary arrangements to improve an individual’s working conditions, as well as ensuring sufficient IT support to cope with the number of staff working from home at any one time.

Need assistance?

Making changes to working practices can offer considerable benefits to both the employee and employer, but it will be important to have an effective working from home policy in place to have clarity of roles and responsibilities.

Ensuring that you have in place a homeworking policy, with clear guidelines as to what is expected of an employee working remotely, is imperative to maintaining the operational needs of your business, as well as the health and wellbeing of the homeworker.

By failing to establish clear boundaries, this could lead to all kinds of issues including a lack of productivity, unmotivated employees, social isolation and over-working or working unsocial hours. By providing guidance and support, maintaining regular contact and monitoring an employee’s performance, you can help to manage and pre-empt any potential issues.

DavidsonMorris’ employment lawyers can help with all aspects of workforce management. Working closely with our HR specialists, we offer a holistic advisory and support service for employers encompassing both the legal and people management elements of flexible and hybrid working arrangements. Speak to our  experts  today for advice.

Working from home policy FAQs 

What should be included in a working from home policy.

The policy should provide the official guidelines for anyone working from home and for managers responsible for managing homeworkers. This includes details of what is allowable, expectations and the procedures to follow.

What is the law on working from home?

There is no right to work from home, but some employees have a right to request flexible working, which could include a remote working arrangement.

Can an employer refuse working from home?

Employers must consider a statutory request for flexible working, but they may refuse if they have good reason, such as disproportionate costs.

Last updated: 5 August 2022

About DavidsonMorris

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Led by Anne Morris, one of the UK’s preeminent immigration lawyers, and with rankings in The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners , we’re a multi-disciplinary team helping organisations to meet their people objectives, while reducing legal risk and nurturing workforce relations.

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Working from Home Business Policy

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This document can be used by an employer to create a Working From Home Policy . A Working From Home Policy outlines the approach an employer shall take to allowing, managing and facilitating employees to work from home or other remote locations.

This document shall provide:

• a statement on the general purpose of the policy;
• the scope of the policy;
• the application process employees should follow to be able to work from home; and
• the management procedure that shall apply to employees who are working from home.

Please note that it is not a legal requirement for employers to have a Working From Home Policy but it is good business practice.

How to use this document

This document should be made easily available to and communicated with any employees. It is common to display workplace policies in an easily accessible public area so that any persons who may be connected with the Employer's activities in any way can easily see the commitment they have made to allow employees to work from home.

This policy should be signed and dated by a senior member of management who is authorised to do so. This may be the employer himself or the most senior person acting on behalf of the company, e.g. Managing Director. It is the duty of the employer or the most senior person in the company to ensure that the aims, responsibilities and arrangements contained within this document are carried out.

Please note that should this policy be revised or altered at any time, these revisions and alterations must be communicated effectively to employees at the earliest opportunity.

Applicable law

Employers should be aware of HSE guidance on employees working from home and the relevant ACAS guidance .

How to modify the template

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A guide to help you: Important Factors for Employers to Consider when Creating Safe Working Environment

Other names for the document:

Homeworking policy, Policy for Working from Home, Policy for Homework, Remote Working Policy, Policy for Remote Working

Country: United Kingdom

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Working from home can be an exciting and convenient experience. However it is also quite easy for them to fall into the usual work temptations since they are in the comfort of their own home. That is why it is important to set up an agreement in order to curb those urges. With a work from home policy you can set up terms and conditions so that your employee can work to the best of their abilities while they are still at home. With this you won’t have to worry about them slacking off.

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1. Set Proper Work Hours

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How to draft a Homeworking Policy

Template Homeworking Policy

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, employers adapted by transitioning many employees from office to remote working. Whilst some organisations continue to bring their employees back to the office, or work in a hybrid way, many continue to work 100% remotely as they find it an effectively working model for their business.

For organisations that continue to allow their employees to work from home, a homeworking policy is crucial.

Why do we need a homeworking policy?

Home working, done well, can increase productivity, increase the mental and physical wellbeing of your workforce, and create a greater sense of work/life balance. 

Having a homeworking policy in place will enable you to provide your remote workers with clear guidance regarding important aspects of employment and business including health and safety, data protection, costs and insurance.

What should a homeworking policy include?

You may want to include some, or all, of the following in your Homeworking Policy.

Skills and attributes

Carefully consider the skills and competencies you expect your employees to have to work from home effectively.

For example, you will probably require them to have good organisation skills, to be able to work without direct supervision, and to plan their work effectively. Detail this in your policy so that your expectations are clear when employees are considering making a request to work at home.

Working hours

Be clear about how working hours will be affected by homeworking. Will you have set or core working hours? Will there be some flexibility homeworkers’ working hours? How will you monitor working hours?

Rest breaks

Consider for rest breaks and how these will be managed. It is useful in your policy to refer to the Working Time Regulations 1998 and be clear that employees must take breaks in line with this legislation.

Visits to company premises and to the employee’s home

Consider the purpose of the visits, and how frequently these will be arranged. Stipulate in your policy your requirements for office and home visits.

Stationery and equipment

Set out everything that will be provided by the organisation and what you expect the employee to provide. For example, you may provide computer equipment and a phone, whilst requiring the employee to have their own office furniture.

Internet and telephone connectivity costs

Set out in your policy who will pay for these and if/how the business will contribute to the costs incurred.

Data security

Specifiy in your policy the steps you require home workers to take in order to protect the data of your employees, customers and other stakeholders.

Health and safety

Consider the health and safety of your employees and and how they may be impacted by homeworking.

Insurance, mortage and rental agreements

Be clear in your policy about how you expect employees to deal with their insurance, mortgage and/or rental agreements if they are working from home.

Requests for homeworking

Set out clearly in your homeworking policy how employees should ask to work from home as part of a flexible working request.

The right to request flexible working

Once an employee has completed 26 weeks service with your organisation they have a right to submit a flexible working request (although it is expected to become a day one right for employees in the coming months) and you have a legal obligation to consider the request.

For the purpose of this article, flexible working may be an employee requesting to work from home on a permanent basis, temporary basis or on selected days.

There are many benefits of flexible working for employees as well as for employers, but you need to consider the request against the needs of the business, as well as how it might impact other staff.

If you have a flexible working request and you are unsure whether you can accommodate it you should consider the following.

• Will it add additional costs to the business?
• Will it have a detrimental impact on performance, quality or the service that you offer?
• Will it require re-organising day to day amongst the staff?
• Is there sufficient work for the employee during the hours they will be at home?

Risk Assessments

Health and safety isn’t just in the workplace, it’s at home too. As an employer you have a duty of care to your homeworking employees and the HSE advises that as an employer you must consider the following:

• How will you keep in touch with them?
• What work activity will they be doing and for how long?
• Can it be done safely?
• Do you need to out control measures in place to protect them?

If an employee will be working from home on a long term basis then it is recommended that you complete a workstation assessment .

Communicating with homeworkers

Many employers are quite used to communicating with their employees using electronic devices, via platforms such as MS Teams and Zoom. However, if you are struggling to keep in contact then we recommend the following.

• Consider scheduling a video conference meeting on a weekly basis.
• Arrange regular team meetings and one-to-one check-ins to keep your remote worker engaged.
• Share updates on the company regularly – perhaps through a weekly newsletter

Download our Template Homeworking Policy below to give you a head start on drafting your home working policy.

What can we do to help?

If you would like advice on the implementation of a homeworking policy, please contact our team on 0330 223 5253 or [email protected] . We would be delighted to help you.

We hope you found this guide useful. You may also find the resources below helpful:

Further resources and guides

• How to manage remote teams
• A guide to remote onboarding

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Homeworking policy

What’s a homeworking policy and when do you need it?

You should have a homeworking policy in place for your employees and other workers. This policy sets out your approach to homeworking, i.e. employees working from home or somewhere other than their regular place of work. It also sets out how you handle homeworking requests from employees

Our experts recommend that you do not give this policy contractual status in any employment contract that you put in place.

Instead, reference your homeworking policy in said contracts, making clear that the employee is expected to comply with the policy and that you have the right to update or revise it in your discretion and when you want to.

The policy can cover all employees, officers, consultants, contractors, volunteers, interns, casual and agency workers, or you can choose to limit it to just employees.

It is up to you whether you want to extend this policy to non-employees. There is no obligation to do so. It is worth pointing out, however, that contractors (including freelancers) working for you should already have the ability to control the location from where they work when carrying out services that you have contracted them to provide to you.

What else might you need?

This template includes all the statutory requirements, as well as optional elements for you to consider.

In the event that you refuse a homeworking request, employees should be given a means to object to your conclusion. You may want to discourage them from heading directly into grievance territory, but you should be prepared for this. If you do not have a grievance policy in place as yet, you can use Farillio’s template grievance policy to get started.

For any other queries, our Speak To An Adviser service can help you.

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Homeworking or remote working policy template

Use this if you require a robust and practical homeworking or remote working policy template.

What is a Homeworking or remote working policy?

The purpose of this Homeworking or remote working policy template is to provide you with a flexible and customisable document to serve as a robust and effective starting point for you.

By using our Homeworking or remote working policy template, you can streamline your process, maintain consistency and accuracy, and save time, and it can be easily adapted to fit your specific scenario.

Policy template

Homeworking or remote working.

This policy applies to any work being done at home, whether by an employee who spends all of their working week at home ('a permanent homeworker'), part of their working week at home ('a part week homeworker') or only works at home on an occasional basis ('occasional homeworker'). The term 'homeworker' or 'homeworking'; in this policy covers any of these employees.

This policy applies to all employees of [ company name ].

General principles

The Company supports homeworking in appropriate circumstances either on an a permanent, temporary or occasional basis. Where working from home is a new arrangement, employees will be required to sign a 'Homeworker Agreement'. Those signing this agreement must comply with its contents and the decision as to whether any homeworking is appropriate remains with the Company. Where an employee has worked from home from the commencement of their employment, all terms will be within their contract of employment.

The homeworking environment

Homeworkers should ensure that they have a suitable environment in which they can focus on work, free from disruption e.g. by having adequate care arrangements in place for dependants who may be at home during working hours. Homeworking must not be used as a replacement for a dependant's care arrangements.

The environment must also be safe and comfortable and fulfil all Health & Safety requirements (see below).

Working arrangements for homeworkers

Working from home will only be possible if it can be ensured that the homeworker's absence from the workplace will not create problems for other employees and that their home conditions are conducive to effective working.

Part week and occasional homeworkers must indicate clearly in their work electronic calendar when not in the office. In addition, their office business phone number should be diverted to a mobile or alternative number on homeworking days.

For insurance and safety reasons homeworkers must not hold meetings with clients, colleagues or any non-Company persons at their home unless otherwise authorised/requested by the Company for legitimate business reasons. Where meetings are required, these should take place on Company premises wherever possible, or in an alternative and suitable meeting space. Video/conference calls may be an alternative suitable option.

Home address and other personal details must not be disclosed, and all mail should be addressed to the main office.

Restricted access materials must not be taken out of the office, copied, or compromised in any way. Homeworkers must take all precautions necessary to secure sensitive information.

Standard working hours apply regardless of the employee's place of work and therefore apply regardless of homeworking arrangements. These are contained in an individual's contract of employment.

Homeworking may be withdrawn, on a permanent or temporary basis, where the arrangement is not proving successful or operating effectively. Homeworkers may also face disciplinary action under the Company's disciplinary policy if the system is found to be abused.

The Company will provide any necessary equipment as appropriate to a homeworking role.>

The following will apply to any equipment provided:

• it remains the property of the Company,
• it must not be removed from the designated homeworker's address without the authority of Management
• it must not be used other than for work purposes unless otherwise agreed
• the homeworker is responsible for taking reasonable care of the equipment
• the homeworker will be responsible for any damage to equipment which goes beyond normal wear and tear, including the damage caused when transporting the equipment
• the homeworker must report any damage to or malfunction of the equipment, to Management as soon as possible
• when working from the office the homeworker will be required to bring with them any relevant equipment required to carry out their duties

The homeworker should ensure that there is sufficient internet connection available in order to support the work they are to carry out. Where there are connection issues affecting the homeworker's ability to carry out their duties, they must contact Management immediately. Homeworkers may be required to work from an alternative location, including the possibility of returning to the office, either permanently or until the issue is resolved.

Homeworkers will be required to sign a deduction from pay agreement for any equipment provided.

Provided reasonable notice is given, homeworkers may be requested to allow other employees of the Company, or contractors acting on the Company's behalf, to have access to their home, in order that those employees or contractors may:

• install, inspect, replace, service, repair or maintain Company equipment
• carry out a risk assessment
• collect items belonging to the Company on termination of employment, if they have not already been returned within the period requested

All Company property provided to homeworkers for use in their home will be covered under the Company insurance policy.

Any homeworker provided with Company property must not cause or permit any act or omission which will avoid coverage under the Company insurance policy. If in any doubt as to whether a particular act or omission will have this effect, the homeworker should consult Management immediately.

Homeworkers who hold a household/home insurance policy should notify their insurer of their homeworking arrangements and are responsible for ensuring that those arrangements do not breach any policy condition, restrictive covenant affecting their home address, local authority planning restriction or mortgage condition.

General liability

Homeworkers remain responsible for ensuring:

• the safety of any visitors to their home, as well as any other family members, particularly children
• that the general fabric of their home and its fixtures and fittings, including in any area in which they work, are maintained in a safe and functional state for performance of work, including any parts of a domestic electric system
• that the costs of electricity, water, heating, telephone, internet connection and other utilities (save as specifically agreed otherwise) are paid

Confidentiality, data protection and use of Company systems

Homeworkers must comply with the duties and obligations to confidentiality, data protection and use of the Company's systems and network under the Company's relevant policies.

In accordance with the Company's policies and procedures, homeworkers are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of any business-related resources, equipment, or information to which they have access, and in particular to follow the Company's IT Policy

Homeworkers should:

• take reasonable steps to restrict the access of family and friends to work equipment, materials, documents, or other data to avoid damage or loss and maintain business confidentiality>
• ensure that all confidential material, paper or electronic, should be securely destroyed as soon as any need for its retention has passed
• take reasonable care of work-related information and Company property when travelling
• not install or update any software on to Company owned IT equipment without permission from Management
• not change the configuration of any Company owned devices
• allow the installation and maintenance of Anti-Virus software and any operating system updates when required>
• not alter or disable any element of the configuration of devices or 'jail break' (modify to remove restrictions imposed by the manufacturer or operator) them
• only save business critical data in approved storage locations
• report all faults, stolen or lost hardware to Management
• ensure requests for upgrades of hardware or software are approved by Management prior to request; this includes mobile apps from the relevant provider
• in the event of a lost or stolen mobile device, report the incident to Management immediately. The device will be remotely wiped of all data and locked to prevent access by anyone other than the Company. If the device is recovered, it can be submitted to Management for re-provisioning. The remote wipe may destroy all data on the device, whether it is related to Company business or otherwise
• co-operate fully with any software or hardware audit conducted by the Company. The Company may be required to remove any equipment at the time of the audit for further inspection
• maintain security of and do not share any information concerning passwords, usernames, network credentials or requirements used to access the Company information and systems by remote working/mobile working with other employees, unauthorised users, third party vendors, family, friends, or members of the public
• always be aware of the potential for other people (including family, friends, and colleagues) to overlook screens and keyboards and view personal or confidential information, or passwords, and ensure this is not taking place
• be aware of surroundings and ensure work is conducted in a location where it is not possible for a screen/document to be seen or a conversation overheard
• ensure that all applications are properly closed/logged off, browsers are closed, and internet sessions are logged off, prior to network connections being logged off and closed
• send any email communications that have personal or commercially sensitive information using password protection/encryption where applicable
• not install any screen savers on Company owned equipment
• when leaving desks temporarily during the working day, even if only for a few minutes for example during a break, lock all portable computer devices
• report any information or data breach or accidental disclosure immediately to Management
• not use hardware such as mobile phones, laptop, and tablets, not provided by the Company for Company business unless prior authority has been obtained from Management
• only use location-based services and mobile check-in services which use GPS capabilities to share real time user location with external parties when carrying out work duties

Access to Company data will be controlled through secure server access provided by the Company. This may include multi-factor authentication where applicable.

The Company will deploy updated Anti-Virus signatures and critical security updates to all users who work away from the Company premises. Homeworkers must ensure that any Company devices are connected to the corporate network at least once every working week to enable these updates to install.

Health and safety risk assessments

The Company has certain obligations under health and safety legislation which may require it on occasion to perform a risk assessment of the work activities carried out by a homeworker. The purpose of completing a risk assessment is to identify the hazards relating to the homeworker's work activities and to decide whether sufficient steps have been taken to prevent harm to the homeworker or anyone else who may be affected by their work.

Risk assessments in relation to the working environment of a homeworker may, depending on what approach is viewed as most appropriate by the Company, be carried out by another employee or contractor on the Company's behalf (and to facilitate this the homeworker may be required to provide access to their home to the extent described above), or as a self-assessment by the homeworker.

Where self-assessments are required, appropriate guidance and advice will be provided to the homeworker, and the homeworker is expected to cooperate fully and follow such guidance.

All risk assessment findings will be recorded and reviewed as appropriate.

It may also be appropriate to conduct a Stress Risk Assessment to ensure the wellbeing and mental health of homeworkers is well managed.

Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessments

Display Screen Equipment (DSE) is a device or equipment with a display screen and often refers to a computer screen. However, it includes both conventional display screens and those used in emerging technologies such as laptops, touch screens and other similar devices.

In a work environment, desktop computers are traditionally looked at when considering DSE, but it is important to consider other display screens such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones.

The DSE regulations require an assessment/analysis of DSE so that the risks can be identified and controlled.

DSE assessments are required by all 'users' of display screen equipment. A 'user' is described as someone 'who habitually uses display screen equipment as a significant part of their normal work'. DSE regulations cover equipment such as the desk, screen, chair, disk drive, telephone, printer, document holder, work surface or other peripherals to the display screen equipment, and the immediate environment surrounding the equipment as well as the tasks being undertaken by the user of the equipment.

When using DSE, users should plan their activities so that their daily work is periodically interrupted by breaks, or changes of activity to reduce their workload at that equipment. To achieve this, users must ensure they take regular breaks during the workday for activity changes, for example phone calls, meetings, natural breaks, refreshments, or changes to posture to avoid stiffness, eyestrain and upper limb disorders.

Workstations should meet certain requirements however this is not always possible or suitable for some environments or tasks. Where this is not possible to do, the Company shall reduce the risks identified in consequence of an assessment to the lowest extent reasonably practicable.

Where a homeworker works with DSE:

• the Company will ensure a DSE assessment is carried out, that the equipment is safe and fit for use, and advice will be provided to the homeworker on how to use it safely, including information on breaks from work
• the Company will provide training on the set-up and use of DSE
• they may be entitled to eye tests paid for by the Company, in line with standard guidelines for other employees and in line with Company policy

In the event an accident occurs, or the homeworker contracts an illness or sustains an injury, or generally feels unfit to work, Management must be notified as soon as possible. A homeworker must also inform Management as soon as possible if they become pregnant.

For further health and safety information, see the Company's Health and Safety Policy.

Communication and meetings

To minimise the potential isolation of homeworkers, and/or to allow for their proper supervision and management, Management will, where appropriate, involve homeworkers in regular meetings. Homeworkers are required to attend such meetings. If a homeworker cannot attend a scheduled meeting for good reason, they should notify the person organising the meeting in advance. If a homeworker does not attend meetings repeatedly, this may constitute a failure to follow a reasonable management instruction and may result in disciplinary action and/or the homeworking agreement being revoked.

In addition to regular meetings, Management will ensure that regular contact is made between the homeworker and members of their team.

Homeworkers may be required to attend Company offices and/or other locations according to the needs of the business.

Homeworkers are expected to be contactable during the agreed hours of work. Contact outside these hours will only be made in cases of emergency.

Training and development

Training of homeworkers will take place as appropriate and required. Homeworkers will be expected to participate in any departmental or general training sessions, at Company premises where required.

Homeworkers will have the same opportunities as office-based employees to apply for advertised vacancies within the Company.

Absence from work

Where a homeworker is unwell or unable to work, the normal absence and related reporting procedures in the Employee Handbook apply.

Monitoring and Review

The success of homeworking depends on there being the necessary monitoring and support systems in place.

Although homeworkers will not be treated any differently to office-based employees, different techniques may be required to manage homeworkers. It is the responsibility of Management to have in place a system of monitoring by results, targets and objectives that are agreed with the homeworker so that output can be measured, and performance properly evaluated.

Homeworking permission will be reviewed and possibly withdrawn, on a permanent or temporary basis, if it is demonstrated that:

• The performance of homeworker suffers as a result.
• That the effective and efficient operation of the team or department is compromised.
• That the ability of the wider organisation to fulfil its objectives is compromised.

Requests to work from home

Where someone is not already working from home but would like to request to do so, requests for permanent or temporary homeworking (full or part week) should be made in writing. If the request constitutes a statutory Flexible Working Request, this will be dealt with under the Company's Flexible Working policy.

This policy [does not] form[s] part of your terms and conditions of employment.

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🖋️ Homeworking policy

A homeworking policy is a document that sets out an employer's expectations and requirements for employees who work from home. The policy should cover issues such as health and safety, insurance, work hours, and expenses.

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