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Working from home. It’s the holy grail for most people, with more and more employees having the option to work from home. Heck I think it was one of the main reasons I opted to accept the offer for my current role.
A work from home policy signals that the employer trusts it’s employee, keeps your employees more motivated and increases employee productivity by 16.8 days per year.
So what exactly do employees (like me) think about work from home policies? And how can you effectively set up a work from home policy?
Keep reading to find out more
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
Why have a work from home policy?
I’m not sure if you know this but according to research by Gallup, one in five employees is actively disengaged in their workforce. On top of this According to Reward Gateway 72% of employers feel as though their employees could do more
So one in five employees is demotivated and ¾ employers want their employees to do more.
What happened?!
This seems like what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The landscape of work is vastly changing and employers need an ace up their sleeve to bridge the gap and offer an olive branch to get everyone on the same page.
I can’t stress this enough but an employee who isn’t performing is usually very rarely down to the work ethic of the employee and more because for some reason, over time, the employee just becomes disinterested in their roles.
I myself can use my experience as an example. A few years ago I was working for an organisation whose management structure was super stringent, think looking over your shoulder as you type and multiply it by 100. Suffice to say that my time there was miserable, it didn’t make me feel like doing anything and I was only in this role for about a year.
So let’s get specific, what are the 12 main reasons you should have a work from home policy:
- Cut costs for both parties
- Larger recruitment pool
- A better work life balance
- Higher productivity
- Reduction in staff turnover
- Fewer sick days
- Less stagnation amongst employees
- Reduces distractions for your employees
- It helps set the scene for crisis situations
- Great talent attraction tool
- Your employees will be happier
- It is easier than ever
- It helps break up the day
Let’s break these down in more detail
Cut costs for both parties
Easily the most quantitative benefit of having a work from home policy will be the saving of costs for both employees and employers.
I mean let’s think about it. If your employees are not in the office, they are not plugging their laptops to charge, using the office microwave or even doing something as simple as leaving the lights on.
These costs can add up over time with employers spending anything from $1000 to $50,000 per year on power.
The benefits don’t just stop there however, with your employees able to save money on their commutes every day which can go a long way in making them feel rested.
Larger recruitment pool
This is a great option for employers who are thinking about having a more frequent work from home policy.
If you no longer have the need for an office then you are no longer restricted to a certain area to recruit your employees from. This could have significant benefits with your firm being able to recruit more qualified staff for their positions or even find cheaper employees in other countries.
For example, programmers in eastern Europe have smaller salary requirements then programmers based in the states or the UK.
This really does open up plenty of opportunities.
A better work life balance
Sadly I’ve worked at a few companies that are happy to take but never give. For example, expect you to work overtime but when you need to take an emergency day off withdraw it. Heck I even had one boss want me to submit my holidays for the year on the first of January.
By allowing your employees to work from home, you are able to improve their work life balances, attend all the important moments in their lives and just generally be happier, and after all, happier employees are more productive then unhappy ones.
Higher productivity
We covered this briefly earlier but employees who have the opportunity to work remotely a few days a week on average work about 16 days more per year their their office based counterparts.
Why? In my opinion, whenever I’ve worked from home you almost want to do more to show that you are working hence this increase in productivity.
I mean let’s face it, if I can get all my work done by 3pm and have 2 free hours nearer the end of the day you better believe I’ll be working my butt off until then.
Now if you’re interested in learning more about how working from home can be productive you can check out this post I wrote here.
Reduction in staff turnover
Research from Boston Consulting Group shows that employees who work from home are much more likely to stay longer as they are happier.
I mean think about the significant cost savings this could have especially in industries like sales or retail where staff turnover is usually quite large.
On top of this, employees will also have the benefit of not having to search for jobs like they would for other companies which can be a huge bonus.
Fewer sick days
Employees who have the ability to work from home are less likely to take sick days then office based workers.
The main reason in my opinion is because we see working from home as a benefit we are much more likely to knuckle through by working from home then if we had to get up and commute to work.
Anyone who works from home knows how important it is and we would hate to do anything to jeopardise it.
Less stagnation amongst employees
One of the things that happens to the best of us at any time is stagnation. I mean let’s say you’ve been in a role for a bit of time. It’s natural to get the feeling that the grass is always greener.
By enabling a work from home policy, even if it’s something like one day per week to start with will help keep things fresh for your employees.
Reduces distractions for your employees
This is one that hit me quite recently actually. I kept wondering why I get more work done at home than I do in the office, the reason… my colleagues!
I love the people I work with, they’re awesome but it’s very easy to get distracted and spend 20 minutes talking about the weekends football games rather than hammering out your task list for the day.
Working from home eliminates all these distractions and can really have your finishing up a lot earlier then you would otherwise.
It helps set the scene for crisis situations
So for anyone living under a rock, covid-19 took the world over in 2020 and was honestly one of the scariest things we’ve lived through.
As such a lot of people were working from home more than any other time in history. By setting up a work from home strategy you will be planning for the future setting your business up for success in times of crises.
Great talent attraction tool
So similarly to expanding your recruitment tool having a work from home policy will help you become an employer of choice.
I mean candidates are more often than not going to be interviewing for a few roles and will have a choice on what they decide to go for, so by having something in place as a trump card over your competitors will mean you are getting the best talent out there.
Setting up a work from home policy can be a fantastic option to improve your firms employee value proposition.
Your employees will be happier
Again similarly to your employees being productive, working from home will also result in happier employees. I mean imagine being the member of staff who implemented the scheme that makes your employees love working?
Quite an achievement right!
It is easier than it was before
With the advent of technology it is now easier than ever to set up a work from home policy. What was impossible ten or 15 years ago with employees needing to be present for meetings can now be done with the simple click of your Skype app.
On top of theirs there are loads of tools ( which we will cover in detail later) that talk all about how to manage your employees and monitor their activity whilst still being respectful.
I guess what I’m trying to say is lack of technology is definitely no longer the objection you can have when implementing a work from home policy.
It helps break up the day
Okay so this is purely a benefit for myself, speaking as an employee who works from home.
The fact that I get to manage my workload from home means I can break up my day, doing tasks at times when I am feeling the most productive.
The ability to have a choice in what it is you do and not be beholden to a 9-5 schedule really motivates me to want to do the best work possible when I am focused and I know the same will be said for the rest of your employees too.
So now you understand why it’s important to have a work from home policy for both the employer and employee, let’s understand a bit more about what a work from home policy is and how to set this up.
What is a work from home policy?
A work from home policy is an agreement between an organisation and it’s employees defining the expectations and responsibilities when said employees work from home. .
Work from home policies can also stipulate who is eligible to work from home, how many days an employee is allowed to work from home as well as the process of applying to work from home.
How to set up a work from home policy
I mean let’s face it there are hundreds of things you need to consider, but at the end of the day the goal of any work from home policy will be to help benefit your workforce to be successful outside of the office whilst limiting any potential risks to the organisation.
So now we know exactly what a work from home policy is and what exactly is the process of setting one of these up? The best way to do that is by the step by step approach listed below
- Define who’s eligible
- Consider health and safety
- Set clear expectations
- Set specific hours or flexitime
- Streamline any communication channels
- Provide IT and technological support
- Consider the security aspects
- Invest in company culture
- Consider a dress code
- Come up with a detailed document
- Ask your employees for their feedback
- Present to the board
- Learn and grow
Define who is eligible
Unfortunately not all jobs are created equal. Although it would be nice to set up a policy in which everyone can work from home this might just not be viable.
For example if you employ office cleaners or other facilities management staff then it would not make a lot of sense for them to work from home.
On top of this some job roles really do bounce off each other, anyone who has worked in sales knows the feeling salespeople have when they work with one another and you may be losing out on some of the magic if this is the case.
The best questions in my opinion to ask when coming up with a work from home strategy will be
- Will collaboration be much more difficult if the employee is working from home?
- Will your employees be missing out on the company culture by staying at home?
- Are your employees self sufficient?
On top of this collaborating with your colleagues managers will also help ease these out. They manage your colleagues on a day to day basis and would know what would be best for them. It’s not uncommon for some teams to be able to work from home whilst others stick to the office.
Consider health and safety
So now you have an idea of which teams will suit working from home you need to figure out if it’s the right thing to do.
Unfortunately not everyone’s home office environment is geared up for home working. Some people don’t have the space let alone a home office to sustain home working. On top of this some people live in overcrowded houses or have dependent relatives they need to support in their home office environment.
The best thing to do in a situation like this, once again, is to just ask them for their thoughts and see if there is anything you can support them with.
Set clear expectations
Let’s face it the biggest problem most employers have about working from home policies is that their staff will just not do any work and instead lie around and watch TV all day.
Although this fear is often unfounded the quickest way to get over this is by setting clear expectations every day. For example, sales people have to make a set number of calls per work from home day.
By working with staff management to come up with these KPIs will reduce any fears your leadership team might face.
Set specific hours or flexitime
The next consideration on your list will have to be the actual time allowed when working from home.
Will your employees have to be online between a certain shift pattern? Or are they allowed to use work from home days in conjunction with flexible working schemes?
One of the things employers also have to consider is hourly employees – remember if they do overtime this also needs to be considered.
To help I’ve made a table below:
| Type of employee | Flexible working suggestion |
| Salary employee | Empower your salaried employees so they do not feel burnt out and have the ability to work. My consideration would be to give them a number of hours they need to work during the day and let them determine how best to use it. |
| Per hour employee | Employees that get paid a wage per hour need to have the ability to track their time as overtime consideration will need to be made to keep in line with federal government riles. MY opinion would be to stick to more specific shift work, |
One of the best ways to track employees when they work remotely is by using tools like Time Doctor or Roadmap
Streamline any communication channels
Ensuring your employees have ways to communicate to their colleagues when they work from home will be essential.Although most employees will have access to a phone and email there are a few other tools needed to really ensure they are kept up to speed.
These include:
- Slack for instant communication amongst your employees
- Google hangouts or skype for video meetings
- Email for longer communications, team-wide announcements, and internal programming (like news digests).
- Smart uibs like Reward Gateway for recognition, updates and other elements
Constant communication is key to ensure your employees feel as though they are a part of the firm.
Provide IT and technological support
The next step you need to consider will be providing IT and technology support. If your employees work from home will you have a Bring your own device scheme? Or will you have something a company work phone and work laptop scheme
On top of this it’s likely that at some point your employees’ technology will fail them. Does your IT team have the support available to help them? All things you need to put in place when working remotely.
Consider the security aspects
This links directly to the previous point about technology. Your IT team will also need to lay out specifics to ensure the safety of the company.
Data breaches are much more likely to happen at home so by having a security system like OKTA in place with single sign on functionality can greatly reduce any security breaches.
On top of this it might be beneficial to have a document on the dos and don’ts of home working. For example no paperwork is allowed to be taken home or screens must be switched off when you are not at your desk.
security is one of the least thought of things employees consider when setting up work from home policies
Invest in company culture
Working from home can be a great benefit for your employees but without investing in company culture it could be very easy for this to fall off.
There are loads of things you could consider for example one of the things we do is setting up daily quizzes on our lunch breaks, having virtual workouts together or even an end of week online rave… believe it or not all of these things come in handy.
One of the ways I would suggest managing all of this ( without clogging up your colleagues calendars) would be a simple employee engagement platform like the ones offered by Reward Gateway. You can request a demo here.
Consider a dress code
This is probably one of the more formal sectors out there ( I’m thinking legal and financial industries) one of the ways to ensure employees are focused and on the right path is to set a dress code when they work from home for example no bed clothes, or no casual clothes during meetings.
Please do speak to your employees about doing this first though as it might come as a bit of a shock to them.
Come up with a detailed document
So once you have considered all of the above points you’ll almost be done but you need to collate all the information together into a document that outlines exactly what is required.
I mean everything’s needs to be considered so make sure you view it as your working from home bible.
Ask employees for their feedback
Once this document has been compiled share it out with a select group of your colleagues and gather three feedback. Sometimes when you are too close to a project it can be easy to get swept away by it.
By sharing it you will get people with unbiased opinions to see what you are proposing is feasible.
Present to the board
So most organisations will require the backing of the leadership team before any significant changes in work process are allowed. So we need to get the board on our side.
How? Well there are a few key things you can do
- Get one board member on your team first – you are much more lily to have success with any new policy if you have a partner in the leadership team
- Focus on the numbers – by focusing on the numbers and costs saving/productivity wins the board will be able to see how financially viable this is
- Aim for a test run to start off with – before we put pedal to the metal and launch an entire work from home strategy it’s probably best to propose a smaller scale roll out to test if the policy works.
Learn and grow
Finally once you set up a working from home policy it’s worth noting that this is only the beginning. Your work from home policy will need to be monitored closely and regular feedback might be required.
Consider using pulse survey to get a quick snapshot of how your employees are feeling about it and adjust accordingly.
Tips for employees who are working from home
So now that you know how to set up a work from home policy, what are some tips for employees who work from home? We all like I mentioned earlier, luckily I’ve been working from home for a fair while now and I think the following will definitely be able to help:
|
Tip |
Why |
| Get dressed | Easily the best bit of advice I can give, by getting dressed your going to feel more energised to get on with work and feel like you have a purpose to your day |
| Set up a home office | Having A dedicated workspace is super important as it allows you to just get up and focus on everything you need to. All the resources I used can be found on my page here so check it out if you’re interested |
| Get up at the same time every day | It’s super easy to fall of the wagon with this one and get up 2 minutes before you start work but aim to get up the same time you would for work and use that time to get your mind ready |
| Take time for yourself | I don’t think anyone can work 9 hours flat without taking any breaks. Make sure you get up and away from your screen at least every hour to keep yourself fresh |
| Get out for a run | Another thing I learned is how important exercise is. It’s easy to miss how much you actually walk when you’re in the office. Climbing the stairs and going for tea breaks add up so make sure you get out and get a workout in. |
| Fix up your diet | Okay I’m super guilty of this, it’s so easy to just reach into the fridge for junk but make sure you use the time working from home to cook for yourself and get some healthy meals for yourself. |
| Speak to your colleagues everyday | Set up time every day just to hangout with your colleagues, you’ll end up craving social interaction with them and doing this everyday will help build your relationships when you’re not present. |
| Stay away from the TV | TV,phone, Netflix whatever it might be it’s so easy to watch five minutes of something and then gets drawn in, try to avoid until your work day is over |
| Do your most important tasks first | I’m a firm believer that you only have a certain amount of willpower to use as the day goes on. As such aim to do the most important tasks of the day first |
| Set regular hours | Again another good tip. By setting yourself specific work hours, you will fall into a routine and then a habit and will massively increase how productive you are |
So now we got the covered let’s answer some common questions people ask when creating working from home policies.
What are the risks associated with working from home policies?
The biggest risks to working from home policies are the social interaction and isolation your employees will have as well as employers checking in on their employees to frequently
Luckily enough these are both fairly easy to manage, firstly by ensuring you have a set time for your employees all to catch up with one another and secondly by reviewing your employees outputs instead of checking in on them every few minutes. As such, setting up riles when working from home is super important. To see what I recommend you can find out more about the post here.
What makes an effective work from home policy?
An effective work from home policy, is a policy in which the employer specifies exactly what is required of the employee when they work from home, their expectations,responsibilities and their conduct.
The best way to do this is by having a document or documents which cover all aspects of the policy that your employees will have at their disposal.
How do you monitor hourly employees that work remotely?
By using digital systems like Time Doctor to manage the exact time they clock in and clock out. Feel free to check in with these employees more frequently if you want extra management for your shift workers.
How do I start a work from home policy with my team?
- Define who’s eligible
- Consider health and safety
- Set clear expectations
- Set specific hours or flexitime
- Streamline any communication channels
- Provide IT and technological support
- Consider the security aspects
- Invest in company culture
- Consider a dress code
- Come up with a detailed document
- Ask your employees for their feedback
- Present to the board
- Learn and grow
Should I let my employees work from home?
Absolutely. Working from home will mean your employees are more productive, with remote workers on average working 16.8 days more per year then their office based counterparts.
How can you ensure your employees will be productive when working from home?
By setting them up for success with the right tools and platform as well a s giving them specific guidelines on what good looks like.
You can also increase the accountability of your employees by checking in with them more frequently and discuss where they are against their KPS
One of the things you can do is help your employees set up a home office which has been proven to increase productivity of remote workers.
You can read up more about the benefits of home offices here, or learn more about the stuff i recommend here.
How to maintain company culture with remote employees?
Ensure that employees do not work from home every day, on the days employees do work from home set up a fun task like a lunchtime quiz that they can all get involved with. Finally implement recognition platforms like reward gateway where employees can bring the office culture online.
What is the best way to communicate with your remote employees?
Using an instant messaging platform like Slack is great for short pieces of information. Alternatively, scheduled calls are a great way of constantly communicating with your colleagues.Aim to schedule a five minute call with your employees everyday.
How to measure the success of a work from home policy?
Start with what good will look like for a work from home policy. Do you want your employees to be as productive or more productive?
Then work with managers to set KPIs for your team and compare them for when they are in the office vs when they are at home. Alternatively measure these KPIs from a year at home vs a year in the office and look at the difference.
What are the best tips for employees transitioning to work from home?
- Get dressed
- Set up a home office
- Get up at the same time everyday
- Take time for yourself
- Get out for a run
- Fix up your diet
- Speak to your colleagues every day
- Stay away from TV
- Do your most important tasks first
- Set regular hours
Wrapping things up
So hopefully this post helps give you a bit of insight into how to set up a work from home policy.
Finally a lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.
The content on this on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decades worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.