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Work From Home Policy Categories

Employers can turn the Work From Home (WFH) trend into a strategic advantage by defining objectives and policies that can enhance wellness (and, thereby, productivity) of employees. Our platform provides employers the ability to define policies in a broad set of categories, personalize to individual employees when necessary, and gain their engagement. A general hierarchy of WFH policies includes, but is not limited, to the following:

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Employee Wellness

  • Rejuvenation: Types of at-home physical and emotional rejuvenation activities encouraged by the employer: Online workouts (Example: Peloton), Yoga, Meditation, Breathing exercises etc.

  • Pet adoption

  • Tutoring for children

  • Preferred wellness vendors

  • Expense reimbursement

  • Caring for family members, especially children and older parents

  • Acceptable break during workday for the above

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Trust & Monitoring

  • Specify which online activities of remote employees are monitored. Communicate to employees and have them accept. A well-communicated policy enhances well-being and trust.

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Productivity & Availability

  • Work hours: Flex hours vs. non-flex hours of the workday

  • Availability for audio / video meetings

  • Acceptable break time

  • Work progress / status reporting 

  • Documenting hours worked and comp-off

  • How often physical presence is required at company offices

  • Performance goals

 

Employee Benefits 

  • Expense reimbursement for WFH - Work desk, chair, Internet connectivity and other supplies. If you are a rich company, you may even consider if WFH employees can expense meals 😊

  • Sick leave / SDI / FMLA (Covid-19 may have additional considerations)

  • Holidays and time-off

  • Expectations on employees using their PTO and not accumulating

  • Tax consequences of WFH

 

Proprietary Info & IP

  • Downloading and printing company confidential information, shredding hard copies

  • USB device use, not sharing with others

  • Smart Devices (Alexa, Echo etc) - make sure devices are not recording conversations

 

Devices & Security

  • Using personal devices for work – when, what and how

  • Software downloads and visiting external websites (company issued and personal devices)

  • Preventing malware, phishing, social engineering

  • VPN 

 

Data Privacy 

  • Protecting customer / consumer information (such as HIPAA) from household members or guests

 

Health and Safety (when traveling on work or visiting company offices)

  • Mask

  • Social Distancing

  • Washing Hands

  • OSHA

  • Injury notification requirements (WFH or otherwise)

 

Contractual & Legal

  • Reinforcing at-will nature of employment

  • Obligations at termination: Related to returning equipment, confidential information, deleting software / apps from devices

  • Reinforcing NDA

  • Policies on termination / Exit interviews

  • LinkedIn profile, representation as employee


IT Administration / Back Office Policies

  • Accounting for all devices, - recover, reconfigure devices upon employee termination

  • Removal of sensitive information

 

Employee Training & Compliance with WFH policies

  • How often should employees take training, self-educate on WFH policies

  • Acknowledge compliance

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