Homeworking Policy

An increasingly large proportion of the workforce in the UK is likely to work either on a part-time or full-time basis remote from the facilities operated by their employer (or by an organisation which may not be their employer), particularly using their own home for this purpose. With the development of communication technology (e.g. faxes, personal computers, modem links, the internet, e-mail, etc.) it is likely that the trend to an increased number of people working from home will continue to grow with the type of work thus undertaken no longer being restricted to manual assembly and the like, but encompassing the whole range of duties formerly performed on site.

The fact that the arrangement is itself flexible has tended to encourage some organisations to deal with the arrangements casually although it can be argued that there is need for greater delineation of expectations and arrangements than is needed with a workplace-based employee since there is no directly adjacent supervision.

Ideally a homeworking policy should be developed as this can provide both guidance and control of the situation. This policy can be used as an example precedent for these purposes.