According to an article by Economic times that mentions the data from the Tech Talent Outlook report, around 64% of employees said that they are more productive with WFH. They also said, how flexibility at work makes them feel less stressed.
In fact, you will see that, in the last 5 years, the number of people who work from home has increased by 44%.
The world and people in it are bringing a new way to handle work culture in every company. Work from home also known as the WFH is a growing trend in today’s work environment. Here employees can easily plug in from just anywhere they are.
Regardless of the location, you can focus on work easily. Only productivity and deliverables matter here!
Moreover, as an HR more than 80% of the HR managers admitted that hiring employees for WFH or remote jobs are easier to carry out!
Besides saving money and energy, it acts as a great morale booster.
But how do you exactly create effective WFH policies? Before understanding the component of WFH policy, and how to create one for your company, let us see what it actually is.
In this article, we will include the following topics
What Is A Work From Home Policy?
A work from home policy is nothing but an agreement between the employer and the employee. This is made in reference to the work from home privileges an employee can have. By setting up these policies, remote teams can be supported in doing their best work, and smooth operation can be secured.
The policy is a document filed with the details of the expectations, responsibilities, eligibility, and other work-from-home guidelines suitable for the employees.
In short, you can say that it ensures that all remote employees understand what is the basic requirement expected from the job profile when they choose to work from home.
Your employee handbook should clearly state your work-from-home policy, and make sure that everyone understands the team and individual responsibilities. Also, you must comply with company policies, including those regarding conduct, confidentiality, and sick leave, no matter where you work.
While some companies have a regular option of remote working, others take it up during emergencies.
You can see how the Covid-19 Pandemic sparked a revolution in the WFH scenario. In fact, Top companies like Google and Microsoft have been trying to make it a permanent thing.
Whatever be the circumstances, as your company grows you need a defined remote work policy to make it stay well-managed.
Such remote work policies can be tailored as per the company’s needs and requirements. In the due course, it can be modified according to the company’s scope and vision,
Essential Components Of A WFH Policy
Remote working will in all likelihood emerge as a famous alternative withinside the regular working culture in the coming years.
If your agency chooses to head 100% faraway, or deliver personnel with the risk of remotely working one or greater days a week, you’ll want to introduce yourself with project management software soon.
In order to create the best employee experience possible., you must constantly assess your plan, its efficiency, and your inclusivity efforts.
When an employee doesn’t recognize what the supervisor`s expectancies are, miscommunications and lack of productivity are much more likely to occur. With that in mind, right here are 5 crucial components to can add while remote working or WFH comes into the picture.
1. Eligibility
Not everybody can earn a living from home. Some jobs without a doubt don’t permit it.
Analyze your policy version to determine which jobs may be executed from domestic, and specify this definitely on your plan to execute a policy for work.
It can also be feasible to permit personnel in sure roles to earn a living from home a number of the time even as reporting to the workplace while necessary.
2. Schedule necessities
Employees can earn a living from home! The coverage ought to definitely define the expectancies you’ve got in phrases of worker availability. The nature of those expectancies relies upon your enterprise’s desires.
Being doubtful about approximate expectancies can result in misunderstandings. And these create confusion, resentment, and a lack of productiveness.
3. Productivity Measurements
Assessing personnel’s productiveness when the WFH is notoriously tough in case you do now no longer have a clean and strong gadget in the area.
There are many methods to increase productiveness. You may reveal the hours worked, their output for the day, or a few combinations of the same. Specify the response time for messages or tasks.
Try starting the day with a 15-minute call between WFH employees and their managers.
Establish communication expectations between managers and direct reports to ensure tasks are completed efficiently and accurately while employees are working from home.
Tracking time is essential. There is plenty of high-quality worker time tracking software in the market!
Alternatively, you can measure it all primarily based totally on performance. Giving a person flexibility so long as they gain the favoured consequences is one alternative for great productivity.
There should be a plan in place for when technical difficulties occur, as well as what they are supposed to do when they occur.
4. Managing Communication
The possibility to speak will play a vital position withinside the achievement of your workplace. The hassle with distance is there’s plenty of possibility for miscommunication.
It’s vital to speak definitely and professionally in any respect times. In addition, communication channels should be enhanced, promoting a positive bond between workers and supervisors.
As properly as outlining availability expectancies, you ought to additionally specify the equipment you assume your group to apply to speak. It is important to keep in touch with remote workers via phone, email, messaging, or video conference so they don’t feel isolated.
You ought to additionally define the expectancies round while every device is used, including:
Google Meets for video calls.
5. Data Security
Security takes on a further layer of complexity while work from home comes into account.
A breach may be disastrous, so don’t forget all situations and spell out the regulations on your coverage.
In your coverage, lay down a few precise dos and don’ts.
You can also have extra measures in areas including two-component authentication or stringent password protection necessities. Employees ought to additionally be knowledgeable approximately the way to enhance tool protection.
Make sure that everybody has to get entry to best to what they want, and best for so long as is precisely necessary.
Now that you know the components of a WFH policy, let’s see how to write one!
How To Write An Effective WFH Policy?
Use the following guidelines of what to include in your policy statement to get started.
1. Establish a Clear Purpose
Clearly state what the purpose of this policy is, both in terms of the document itself and what you hope to accomplish by offering work-from-home opportunities.
Ultimately, your WFH policy has to make sure, it improves your employee value proposition (EVP), enhances your team members’ experience at your company, and aligns with your core values.
Convey the value of the policy with utmost clarity as well as how the statement will be utilized going forward.
Spend extra time reviewing the policy with the managers.
2. Define the Scope
Depending on their job description, different employees and roles have different responsibilities. Outline which roles and job profiles within your organization are eligible for remote work.
Take into account the responsibilities of your employees that require in-person presence, software limitations, and initiate cybersecurity risks.
Finally, stipulate and document any tenure required for employees to take advantage of the WFH policy, whether that is for a specific time period or a full year.
3. Write Down Work-From-Home Request Process
Make a process that deals with formal submission or employees can have a conversation with their manager.
Provide a step-by-step breakdown!
Here employees need to be felicitated with the option of working from home. The document must include links wherever necessary.
4. Explain the Approval Process
As an employee applies for the WFH approval, explain who will be approving work-from-home requests and what each request will be evaluated on.
The human resource department should use its best judgment in determining whether an employee would be allowed to work from home or not.
5. Set Admissible Work-From-Home Days
Explain when employees will be allowed to take advantage of the work-from-home policy. It could be about a maternity break or the care of a family member.
If there are certain days of the year in which remote work is not permissible make sure the employees know about it through the policy!
To ensure everything gets accomplished that needs to, consider setting communication guidelines for all. Make sure everyone stays on the system when required.
6. Set Technology Support and Requirements
WFH employers may require employees to have access to specific technologies, software, internet connection, personal computers, etc. In order to be eligible for remote work, and for your employees to have the best resources, you might even need to help them.
Within your WFH policies outline any prerequisites so employees can coordinate their tech needs ahead of time. Outline what you will provide as an employer.
7. Define Security Requirements
One of the major concerns of having a remote workforce is that you cannot be completely certain of the security of internet access for your employees.
It is vital you clearly outline security expectations, such as not working on sensitive projects in public settings or on public WiFi networks.
Additionally, in order to make WFH a reality for your employees, you may need to offer security resources, such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It will protect your people and information.
To Conclude!
Remote work is a huge perk that can significantly boost employee productivity levels when executed well. Trust your employees as much as you admit to valuing them. With such fervour and deviation, they will reward you with their loyalty and extremely hard work.
If your company already allowed remote work for some period of time, a continued ability to work from home will likely be extremely attractive to your new and upcoming employees. And to make it easy for their welcome with fluent onboarding and time tracking you can begin by introducing sumHR HRMS Software to your company.
For attracting new talent, not only does WFH flexibility reinforce work-life balance, but it also conveys the value an employee is being given.
It demonstrates flexibility and empathy on behalf of the employer, two characteristics that will entice top talent and retain them.
