KEEPING CONNECTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR REMOTE WORKING THAT WORKS
“The eye of the master fattens the horse” is a proverbial phrase that suggests that to get the best outcomes, a manager needs to keep an eye on what’s happening. While staff should not be described as neither fat, nor horse like, there is some credence to the saying when it comes to the current trend of staff working remotely – keeping connected is essential. Here’s some top tips for flexible working success.
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If it’s not written down it didn’t happen
We constantly see both employers and employees trying to use their recollection of a conversation as a basis for their views. However, the Employment Relations Authority tends to subscribe to the theory that if it’s not written down, it’s easiest to find that the conversation, the allegation, or the event did not happen.
Take away the guesswork and prepare a specific workplace policy dealing with the many issues that arise when someone is working remotely, especially from home. A remote working policy should deal with four main areas:
- Tools and equipment – make a record of what is required to properly work from home and detail what the employer is providing.
- Occupational safety and health requirements – consider the employee’s physical and mental safety in the home environment. If an employee was to suffer an injury whilst working from home, it would still be a workplace injury, to which the employer would need to respond.
- Confidentiality and security – maintain cyber security and ensure that the data and information accessible from your employee’s laptop or phone cannot be compromised. Remind your employees of their obligations to maintain security of both digital media and documents against their own families and the world at large.
- Expectation and relationships – clearly outline what is expected from an employee who is working remotely away from the normal working place.
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Keep in touch
Staff feeling disconnected and lonely is one of the most common reasons that remote work arrangements fail. Remote working is a high trust model of employment, and the employer needs to be aware of what the employee is doing so that they can be collaborative and supportive.
At the start of a distance working relationship, there should be more contact between employer and employee than would have been the case if both parties were in the same office. Both parties should think about ways to keep connected and formally agree a schedule of contact times in advance, at least until trust and protocols have been established. Occasional welfare checks and virtual water cooler conversations are good techniques to reinforce the connection and to support staff working remotely. A virtual shared morning tea or Friday night drinks can provide a well-received respite from the normal work day.
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Use technology
Technologies like conference calling, whether audio or audio visual, are great reminders that staff working remotely are still part of a larger team. Have a dedicated system for communicating internally – like Zoom or Microsoft Teams – and train and encourage your staff to use it. The more familiar the technology, the more likely it is to be used.
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Set clear expectations
Just as you would for staff working in the office, set clear expectations for staff working from home about what is expected of them. Discuss (and record your decisions) issues such as expected work outputs and hours when working from home, the duration of the remote working arrangement and if it is permanent or a trial, and when the arrangement will be reviewed.
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Encourage employees to identify when they are in work mode
When working from home, it is difficult to delineate between work time and home time. Often this means the employee doesn’t truly feel they can switch off. Attending to work related matters on ad-hoc basis over a 14 hour day is a bad practice, and may lead to burn-out.
Encourage staff to understand, identify and establish proper boundaries around work times. Be mindful that not everyone works in the same way. Practically, this may mean things like staff setting up a dedicated “work” space at home (rather than working at the kitchen table, where work/home boundaries are more blurred), or those with childcare duties preferring to work in the evening or on a split shift.
Through our own experience, and through working with many local companies, we have found that keeping staff included and connected to the workplace is the best way to ensure remote working success. In a really good workplace, the reason for staying connected is not to fatten the horse but to maintain a great workplace culture; if that is done correctly, productivity will almost always follow.
How can we help?
WRMK Lawyers has Northland’s largest team of employment law specialists. If you need some help or guidance, please give one of us a call or contact your usual WRMK lawyer for advice. You can view our Employment Law team here.
WRMK Lawyers takes all reasonable care to make sure that the information in this article is up-to-date and accurate at today’s date. It is necessarily general information and not intended as legal advice to be relied upon.
Our thanks to David Grindle for writing this article, which was first published in the Northern Advocate on 28 July 2021.
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