Do Employees Have to Work from Home?

Following the latest Government Announcement, do employees have to work from home?

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We have received many calls from employers concerned about those employees who for a number of reasons, do not find working from home is conducive to their productivity or their health and have welcomed a return to the workplace.

In light of the Government announcement on 22 September which outlined further restrictions to help stop the spread of Covid-19, many employers and employees are finding the messaging increasingly confusing in respect of whether employees should work from home or not.  

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Government Guidance for Working Practices as of 22nd September

To quote the Government Guidance

“To help contain the virus, office workers who can work effectively from home should do so over the winter. Where an employer, in consultation with their employee, judges an employee can carry out their normal duties from home they should do so. Public sector employees working in essential services, including education settings, should continue to go into work where necessary. Anyone else who cannot work from home should go to their place of work. The risk of transmission can be substantially reduced if COVID-19 Secure guidelines are followed closely. Extra consideration should be given to those people at higher risk.

If you are clinically extremely vulnerable, you can go to work as long as the workplace is Covid-19 Secure but should carry on working from home wherever possible.”

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Covid Safe Working Environment

Whilst sectors such as retail, hospitality and manufacturing can’t work from home the change in message impacts on office staff in the main.  Many employers have invested heavily in ensuring their office/work space had a specific Covid-19 risk assessment and introduced rota systems to allow employees to work in the office whilst being able to socially distanced. They are now having to consider whether they should close offices again and return to home working.

Employers should continue with their open dialogue and regular communication with employees about where they work from (home or office) as they have been doing since the lifting of national lockdown.  There has to be a fair bit of flexibility on both sides as this is an unknown pandemic and we have seen things can escalate quite quickly.  

Employees do not always have access to a safe working environment at home for a number of reasons such as lack of space and furniture, poor Wi-Fi or other members of household also working from home.  In addition, there has been an increasing awareness that working from home is causing mental health concerns.  Employers should discuss the latest messaging with those employees and establish what can be done to help keep them safe.  If it is safer to come to a workplace on a number of days, then that should be considered as the best course of action.

Employees should ensure their workplaces are Covid secure and address and concerns that employees may have. Employees that use public transport to travel to and from work should also be aware of how to behave to ensure that they minimise the risk whilst travelling and also to alleviate any anxiety they may have about their commute.

Further information for using public transport safely can be found here.