What Should An Employer Check Out Before Allowing One Of Their Staff To Work From Home?

There can be large savings if a good proportion of the workforce are able to work from their own properties. In these difficult trading circumstances any intimation of a reduction in spending can be pounced on and started out on almost right away but the plan needs careful thought and preparation. Each employee’s situation will differ from their working colleagues from within the company and due to this each case has to be reviewed on it’s own merits.

Initially the thing that should be reviewed is if the position itself will work remotely. Look at the job spec, trappings necessary to carry out the role and what sort of dealings is needed with other members of your company. Typical unskilled home working roles are ones where the person can perform online surveys for money but if your job specification if at the opposite end of the intricacy range you have to think hard. If all that looks fine you can then look personally at all those employees who carry out that role.

In these circumstances you must consider their HR files so far, has there been problems of trust or behaviour worries in the past, are they reliable, do they have a good sickness record. Layout some criteria that you can check them off against, if you discover you can’t allow them to transfer to home working you will then have the information that backs you up.

Then examine with the team member the feasibility of working from home. Is there a separate room or area of their property where they can get away from the rest of the family and be in peace? Who is at home throughout the working day, and are they prone to cause distractions?

Lastly consider the employees approach to working at home, could they suffer from isolation? Are they likely to become too separated. Once all these considerations have been gone through you should have a good idea if the plan will work, of course things can alter but at least you will have done your best.