Working from home and hybrid working – beyond the global pandemic.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people working from home has dramatically increased.

However statistics indicate homeworking figures are on the rise, regardless of government guidance. Prior to 2020, working from home was the exception, not the rule, however in April 2020, nearly 50% of people in employment did some work from home.

Fast forward to 2021 and 24% of businesses state they intend to continue using increased home working and 85% of working adults currently homeworking maintain they want to use a hybrid approach in the future (source).

With flexible working becoming more in demand it is important for employers to understand their legal health and safety obligations to ensure their business is compliant for home and hybrid working.

Below, we’ve looked at a number of considerations employers must bear in mind when allowing employees to work from home.

Who is responsible for the health and safety of a home worker?

Employers have a duty of responsibility to ensure their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing. This is the same for people working at an office, or anyone working remotely – including those working from home.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK’s workplace health and safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has updated its guidance. The revised support covers anyone that works from home for the long term, hybrid workers and anyone working at home on a temporary basis (i.e. during coronavirus restrictions).

Employees also have a responsibility to take reasonable care of their own health and safety whilst at work. Anyone working from home should keep in regular contact with their manager, to openly discuss any physical or mental health and safety risks, and any working arrangements that may need to change because of caring responsibilities.

Employees are also advised to inform their insurers that they are working from home. Whilst in many instances no changes will be required, there are certain conditions that may affect insurance policies. As a result, it’s important to check whether additional cover is required.

Are risk assessments needed for home and hybrid workers?

In short, yes. Employers are required by law to protect their employees from harm. They should undertake risk assessments to identify potential hazards, assess associated risk and remove or minimise risks to employees. This should cover home and hybrid workers too.

Whist it isn’t a legal requirement to visit your employees’ homes to perform the risk assessment, you should work together to assess and adapt their home working setup to ensure they have a safe and healthy environment to work in.

This assessment would identify risks from the type of work that is expected to be carried out from the home, monitor whether it can be done safely and outline any measures required to protect employees from them.

Work environment.

It is the employers responsibility to ensure a home workers environment is appropriate, comfortable and safe.

This can be done through a home visit, video calls, or by completing questionnaires.

They should encourage a safe set up of a home working office environment. This can be done through the provision of suitable information about how to work comfortably and how to set up any display screen equipment (DSE). This will ensure risks to physical harm are appropriately managed.

Staff should be further supported in this by being encouraged to take appropriate breaks away from their desks and screens.

Stress and mental health

Home working is having an impact on people’s mental health. Feelings of stress, isolation, anxiety and uncertainty are all on the rise. Employers must pay attention to this.

Employers should assess how they can monitor work and stress levels for those operating remotely. Employees should be given appropriate opportunity to report mental health and wellbeing issues and raise any health and safety concerns.

Actions to minimise risks could include regular contact with the employee, providing guidance on how they can protect, or get help with, their mental health and establishing clear expectations and boundaries in relation to working hours and availability.

Employees who work from home may feel pressure to work whilst they are ill. Employers should encourage staff to take sick leave if they are unwell, and ensure staff know what sick pay they are entitled to.

Providing employees with sufficient opportunity to talk to their manager or a designated colleague will help to ensure your staff remain healthy, safe and happy, wherever they work.

ACAS have produced specific guidance on how employees can support their mental health whilst working from home.

Do I need to do a DSE assessment for homeworkers?

A significant proportion of homeworkers largely work on computers, telephones and screens. It is the employers’ responsibility to protect workers from any health and safety risks that may arise from using this equipment at home.

Risks can include physical issues arising from prolonged use of the equipment, working long hours and not taking adequate breaks.

If your staff are regularly using screens and computers to undertake their work, it is likely you will need to carry out a DSE assessment for individuals, to ensure they can achieve a comfortable, sustainable posture whilst working, and that any equipment is safe and suitable for use.

If your employees are hybrid working, your assessments must cover both situations.

Working from home can be beneficial for both employees and business. Many individuals report being more productive and enjoy the flexibility – not to mention the reduction in travel time. However working from home and hybrid working brings with it its own health and safety hazards.

We’ve devised the following checklist for staff that are working from home on a temporary, permanent or hybrid-working basis, to help employers identify and mitigate any health and safety risks that may present themselves to remote working employees.

For more information, please contact our team on 07956 074798 or email clive@cthealthandsafety.com.