Achieving Employee Safety in a Remote Working World
Even before Coronavirus flipped most working models on their head - from office-based to home-based/remote - for the majority of knowledge workers at least, there has been an increasing trend for work-from-home (WFH) and work-from-anywhere (WFA) offerings as employers look to increase their appeal to the global talent pool.
As things begin to return to ‘normal’ across the globe, an enormous appetite for at least some flexibility on how much time employees spend working from the office every week remains.
Though on a small-scale basis this may not have provided too much of an issue, en masse it can become a big compliance headache if not managed effectively.
So just what are these compliance challenges, and what can L&D do to ensure that not only are remote workers kept safe, but that the business complies with relevant regulations too?
Ensuring remote worker health & safety
When “the office” is the workplace, your Health & Safety policy will usually cover all of your workforce, no matter in which department they work, or which ‘office’ they work from. But when the workplace isn’t the same space for everyone, compliance and risk management becomes a whole lot harder.
And yet, it can often be the case that the health & safety of these remote workers is the thing that is most lacking, resulting in numerous mental health and wellness concerns relating to stress, mental health, depression, burn-out and isolation to arise.
To help reduce these risks, the bare minimum that you need to have in place is a Remote Working Policy. (The CIPD has some great guidance on what this should include if you’re not sure that you have covered everything you need to.)
Such a policy gives your workers the assurance that they will be treated fairly and given the support they need, no matter where they are in the world. No one is left feeling as though they are missing out or aren’t being treated the same as their office-based colleagues.
Equal opportunities and support
Though remote work is often still seen as a ‘perk’ or ‘privilege’, employees should never be left feeling that they are missing out elsewhere.
Establishing a Safety or Wellness Team can help to provide assurances that location isn’t a barrier. Likewise, ensuring that all employees have access to the same learning and development opportunities and other business support available to them is key to establishing feelings of psychological safety and inclusion.
Conversely, one area that does need special attention when it comes to remote worker health and safety, is the potential provision of additional environmental safety, DSE and manual handling training (where applicable). This includes the ability to have occupational health professionals visit the workers home to ensure that they do have an appropriate desk and seating arrangement, for example.
Likewise, although remote working models drastically cut the likelihood of commute-related injuries, for example, the employer is still liable for any accidents that befall their employees when they are ‘on-the-clock’, no matter where they are working.
Ensuring that full Risk Assessments of work activities to be carried out at home - and specific definition of the areas that the employee themselves is to be responsible for – are therefore also important steps of the remote working process and policy.
Mitigating against Data Protection and Cybersecurity concerns
Data protection is another key area of consideration when supporting remote workers. Not only is it important that employees understand their obligations, but from a business perspective, it is these remote workers that are the ‘weakest link’ when it comes to cybersecurity.
As we’ve touched on before, cybersecurity scams increased during the recent Covid-19 pandemic as fraudsters looked to capitalise on people working in an unfamiliar ‘workspace’. Unfortunately, remote working can also increase the likelihood of ‘insider risks’ such as leakages, IP theft, or data harassment, and identifying and managing potential risks is critical to safeguarding your data and intellectual property (IP).
Aside from such deliberate acts, there is also the more common and obvious problem of leaked data or accidental misuse of data. Since 2018, the UK & EU's General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) have seen strict rules around personal data usage brought in which could see companies getting fined for misuse.
Similar legislation has since come into force in other countries across the globe, and it is imperative that these local laws are adhered to with big penalties awaiting those that are found to be flouting them, intentionally or otherwise.
Data access and storage considerations
This all serves to highlight the importance of knowing where your data resides while employees are working remotely – and is a vital piece of the compliance puzzle for your risk management-focused departments in particular.
To reduce these data and cybersecurity risks, all remote employees should use a virtual private network (VPN) connection when connecting to unsecured networks. Furthermore, additional digital skills training should be provided to ensure that remote employees aren’t negatively impacted either in their ability to go about their daily roles, or indeed their learning and development, as a result of their being located away from the office.
Local employment laws and remote working regulations
As you may have already found as your business responded to the pandemic, most of the guidance around remote working focuses on promoting employee engagement, communication, and productivity.
This leaves a key area that needs serious consideration if you are going to adopt a remote working approach in the longer term, overlooked: local employment law.
Local employment laws cover a myriad of things, from hiring regulations, holiday allowance and sick days, to minimum wages, fair working hours, and matters relating to contract termination. All of which lay squarely on the shoulders of the business to ensure compliance is met.
Depending on their local employment laws, this may impact not only their rights as an employee but also their commitments as a business. Lack of compliance here could see your business landed with hefty fines and could even result in imprisonment if found guilty of tax evasion or fraud.
Whether or not you’re considering wholesale remote working as a way to access the global talent pool, if remote working is something that you’re going to offer employees, you must understand how their location may impact not just their ability to fulfil the needs of the role, but also the knock-on implications for your business as a whole.
Put your people first and compliance will naturally follow
There’s no denying that remote working offers numerous advantages to both employees and employers alike. But with it comes several compliance challenges, and ensuring your workforce is compliant in the way it operates both externally (meeting industry standards) and internally (how you support and fairly treat your employees) gets a lot harder.
The risks associated with non-compliance range from poor employee engagement to regulatory fines. As remote and hybrid working becomes increasingly the norm, there has never been a greater need to ensure that your business both understands and remains on top of its compliance requirements.
As a natural by-product of general good working practice, remote worker safety and compliance is something every business can achieve - and your office-based workers will probably thank you for it too. Compliance begins with understanding your obligations as a business, and it can become far less of a headache when you have the right people management, processes, training and technology in place.
If the monetary consequences of non-compliance aren’t enough to convince you to prioritise remote worker safety, the impact of employees losing faith in your business (such as reduced staff retention), and the damage to your reputation as an employer (and therefore your ability to hire new talent) should be.
To discover more about how to adapt your business to a remote-working world, download our HR Transformation Playbook.
