Hybrid working raises a question – should employees be enabled to work from both home and the workplace? Employers who intend to follow that route need to give attention to some important aspects.
Will the work lend itself to the concept?
Homeworking need not be restricted to office work. When the UK had a shoe assembly industry many of the operations could be carried out from people’s homes. Sometimes the assembly line was the movement of part-assemblies from one home to another!
Furthermore, many sales calls in the last 12 months have been from Zoom. How effective that may be going forward has yet to be seen.
Hybrid working (also known as blended working), means spending some regular time in the workplace rather than working purely form home. It should assist teamwork. Those subtle nuances of body language and tone, that build relationships, may be assisted by regular workplace encounters. On the other hand, much time in the workplace is subject to interruption. So, working from home for some of the time may be a good mix.
Individual circumstances.
Before making hybrid working a permanent feature it is important to remember that, for many homeworking has been a compromise. The kitchen table (or ironing board) doesn’t make an ideal desk. Individual circumstances vary. What may be suitable for one employee, may not be suitable for another.
Where are they?
It can be helpful to know where your employees are at any given time! Employers will need clear schedules. They will want the team, whole or part, to meet up when appropriate. Work that needs completion at the workplace will need to be done when the necessary employees are present. The workplace will need to be open at some times but perhaps not at others, etc.
The technology
Laptops and internet access aside, individual mobile phones have become a feature of communication in the pandemic. But a mobile phone number is personal data. Diversion processes and with-holding IDs when calling can address some of this. But consideration might be given to VOIP systems so external callers do not have access to personal numbers.
Aspects of home working
The global pandemic has fuelled a rush to the art of the possible – working from home. Under hybrid working, employees will have two workplaces.
In the rush to work from home, we have often dis-regarded health and safety, data protection and insurance, among other obligations.
These matters may no longer be treated leniently by the agents concerned or by the courts. They will, therefore, need to be addressed.
Contracts of employment
Employers can only make serious changes to the contract by mutual (un-forced) agreement. What may have been a reasonable variation in the contract during the pandemic may warrant specific agreement going forward. Hybrid working should be a reasonable variation, but it would best to be agreed. So long as employers take account of individual circumstances, hybrid working would not be expected to create contractual problems.
Nonetheless, location is part of the “Principal Statement” in the contract of employment. In hybrid working, thought will need to be given as to how to express when and where the employee is to work. If the employee has freedom over this, then it would be wise to document that. If they have no such freedom, it is even more important to document it.
A statement specifying the variation should be provided to employees and it would be wise to make clear whether the variation is permanent or for a probationary period of some specified duration.
Hybrid working, or blended working, may be the way of the future, but the blending must be done carefully.
Malcolm Martin FCIPD
Author Human Resource Practice
Blogs are for general guidance and are not an authoritative statement of the law