A working from home policy

The challenge of working from home
An Employer’s Guide
By Thomas G Myles
Employment Rights Advice
info@employmentrightsadvice.ie

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© 2017. Copyright Era Legal & Corporate Limited, info@employmentrightsadvice.ie
This presentation does not constitute legal advice. You should seek professional advice before acting or refraining from taking any action
based on these contents.
Working from home policy - Contents
Introduction
Health and Safety
Equipment
Computers, IT equipment and ergonomics
Keeping in contact
Employee responsibilities
Tax reliefs
Further info

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Working from home policy - Introduction
“There's no place like home”
That is a true saying, and in the context of health and safety in the workplace,
it poses it's own challenges. The same rules on health and safety apply in the
home as in the office/ business premises.
Let’s look at this further under the following headings:
Health and Safety
Equipment
Computers, IT equipment and ergonomics
Keeping in contact
Employee responsibilities
Tax reliefs

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Working from home policy - Health and Safety
What aspects of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act should I
consider ?
You must consider the duty of care which you have towards your employees
when they are working from home. This applies to their workspace at home,
in the same way as it does to their workspace in your business premises.
The duties can be summarised as follows:
 Arranging and conducting all work activities so as to ensure, as far as
reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare of the worker
 Plan, maintain and provide a safe system of work
 Carry out risk assessment and put the recommendations in place.


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Working from home policy - Health and Safety
What aspects of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act should I
consider (continued) ?
 Provide safe equipment. This includes personal protective equipment if
the assessment calls for it.
 Training, information, instruction and supervision must be provided to the
employee regarding health and safety
 Prepare and implement an emergency plan


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Working from home policy - Equipment
What equipment must I provide for my employees to facilitate working
from home?
Assuming that you have made the decision that working from home is
feasible for the employee, then you must supply the equipment which they
need to carry out their work. For, example, computer, calculator, printer(if
needed) etc. Consider potential data breach, where the employee offers to
use their own computer.

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Working from home policy - Equipment and Ergonomics
What are the challenges involving the use of computers and IT
equipment at home ?
 The Covid-19 crisis has created a situation where employers and
employees are forced to consider working at home arrangements at short
notice, and initially on a temporary basis. It is important therefore that both
the employer and employee consider the following matters, all of which have
been applicable in the business workplace, and which must be applied to the
home workplace now:
 Avoid staying in the same position for too long while working. Vary your
tasks to incorporate a change in physical position.
 Minimise twisting or overreaching due to the position of the equipment.


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Working from home policy - Equipment and Ergonomics
What are the challenges involving the use of computers and IT
equipment at home (continued)?
 Avoid screen glare
 Look away from the screen regularly
 Take regular breaks. Move at least one minute in every hour
 Is the home workspace big enough to hold all of the equipment?
 Do you have adequate Data Protection measures in place.

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Working from home policy - Keeping in contact
Keeping in contact with the employees
 Make sure that you have up to date contact details for each worker,
including updated emergency contact details.
 Ensure that each worker has the relevant emergency contact details for
the business, should they need to contact you urgently
 Set up a routine of regular updates and keeping in touch in a planned
way
 How good is your IT support for each employee working from home?

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Working from home policy - Keeping in contact
Keeping in contact with the employees (continued)
 Organise work so as to encourage the use of breaks
 Respect the start time and end time of the working day. Both employer
and employee. It is easy to lose sight of when work ends and home life
begins.
 Establish a method of keeping track of the time worked by the home
worker, so as to comply with Working time legislation. This is ultimately your
responsibility as an employer.

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Working from home policy - Employee responsibilities
What are my employees responsibilities, when working from home ?
Legislation places an obligation on the employee to :
 Protect themselves from harm as well as others. If any equipment is
faulty or poses a danger to them or fellow workers, they have a duty to
report it to you.
 All of the laws applicable to working in you business premises apply to
the home workplace also, therefore an employee has a duty to report any
injury to you, immediately.
 Every employee has a duty to follow your reasonable instructions,
including policies and procedures.
 Every employee has a duty not to breach GDPR . They must take
effective steps to ensure the privacy of data.

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Working from home policy - Tax relief
 Are there any tax reliefs available to the employee who works
from home?
The Revenue Commissioners have put together a document on e-Working
and Tax. It explains the position of home expenses and how they are dealt
with as well as other matters. It usefully, defines e-working.
For more SEE REMOTE WORKERS

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Working from home policy – The solution
A working from home policy
Does the contract of employment cover home working? If not then you will
have to change it. If the changes do not apply to all employees, then you
may have unhappy workers.
If your contract of employment does not mention home working then you
should use a working from home policy. This is a standard policy document
which deals with the various aspects of home working.
You can find out how to get a Covid-19 updated working from home policy
template using this link.

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Working from home policy – Further information
Please contact us if you require any further information or help with your
working from home policy. We have over thirty years experience in
employment law in Ireland.
Our contact details are:
Web; www.employmentrightsadvice.ie
Email; info@employmentrightsadvice.ie
Telephone Office; 047 76378, Mobile; 086 2629233
Address;3 Canal Street, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan.H18 H732
Thank you for watching this presentation We hope you found it useful. Thomas G. Myles.

A working from home policy

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