Home office

Why make a home office policy?

During the waves of pandemic and also in the periods between two waves many employees work in hybrid arrangements. The question often arises for our corporate partners: should we have a home office policy?

"Do you also work in hybrid arrangement?" the question has been asked ever more often.

Since the start of the pandemic, we have heard more and more often a new term, hybrid workplace, which is not defined in the legislative context. For many employers, the workplace - typically in office environments - has become hybrid, first out of necessity and then because of its measurable efficiency.

What exactly do we mean by a hybrid workplace or hybrid work environment?

The concept of the hybrid workplace as it has evolved in practice can be most easily grasped along two characteristics: space and time.

This type of workplace means both the place of work as defined in the employment contract and the place where work is necessarily carried out at home during a pandemic, typically a room that is used as an office.

In most cases, hybrid work also affects the employee's employment contract, for example, in relation to the ‘place of work’ that must be included in the contract. In the case of an accident when working from home, for example, it makes a difference whether the whole or only part of the flat or the house (including the garden) is to be considered as the place of work.

Working from home has often resulted in a different working schedule than before, which some employers have tried to regulate by introducing core hours, and which has made work during the pandemic less stressful for most employees. Routine daily activities such as picking up children from school, caring for sick children or relatives at home, or doing household chores got mixed with working time. With the introduction of core time and 'flexible' working time, these routines became more manageable. In practice, we see that this goodwill of employers has continued to be maintained under some pressure from employees and has even become a competitive advantage that employers can communicate as a value in the context of employer branding. It has become attractive for many employees to be able to reconcile the time pressure associated with everyday routines with their working hours if their job allows that.

Working from home makes it harder for the employer to oversee the employees, thus it may be an important consideration for the employer when drafting the policy how the employer intends to oversee the employees’ working time.

Reasonable regulation instead of taking risks

As this hybrid arrangement is not regulated by law, it is worthwhile for employers to consider regulating certain aspects of work (e.g. IT requirements, health and safety requirements, working time and its control, etc.) in a home office policy. It helps avoid losses, disputes and costs. (e.g. it could be a high risk for the employer if there is a flower pot on a shelf above the employee's chair when working home, or where the employer fails to monitor working hours).

Please contact us and we are ready to help your company preparing home office policies.