Working from home can be an enrichment based on a solid plan. Ideally, the employee and employer will meet in advance, discuss the options and then draw up a corresponding contract.
Employers have various statutory obligations towards their employees. These continue even if the employee works in the home office for a short or long term. With the following tips, employers stay on the safe side organizationally and legally and can confidently let their employees work remotely.
Mandatory Or Not? Can Employees Request A Home Office?
In many professions, employees don’t need to appear in the office in the morning. But what legal requirements apply to the home office? As of 2023, no law in this country regulates the right to home office for employers and employees. If an employee wishes to work remotely, this is only possible with the company’s approval.
Exception: If a right to work from home is written down in the employment contract or the works agreement, employees can insist on it. On the other hand, the employer may not order the home office unilaterally if the measure does not prevent damage. So if employees do not want to work from home, the company must not force it! However, a survey shows how advantageous working from home is for many employees.
Occupational Safety For Remote Work – The Safe Workplace From Home
During working hours, employers are responsible for the well-being of their employees. But what does it look like in the home office, where the employer usually has no access? We recommend a one-off workplace inspection by the occupational safety officer or the employer. A home visit by the company doctor is also possible. If the employee does not desire this, a risk assessment can also be done in a personal interview. The following factors, in particular, must be taken into account:
- The type of workplace: remote work mainly occurs at the computer workstation. Damage is possible due to a lack of work equipment, little movement and wrong posture. Employers also provide their employees with the appropriate work materials (ergonomic office equipment) when working from home.
- Determine mental stress: Mental impairments from the workplace can also become a problem. The employer must ensure that the content of the work and the new place of work are fine.
- Working hours: According to the Working Hours Act, employees are allowed to work a maximum of eight hours per day with a break of at least 30 minutes in between. After a day’s work, 11 rest hours are mandatory. It must also be ensured in the home office that the employee only works what is required by law!
- Tip: It has proven to be a solution to extend digital time recording systems to the home office. In this way, the employer can see when his employee is working and intervene to regulate permanently over time.
Also Read: Home Office: How Companies Develop Sustainable Concepts
The Equipment Of The Home Office Work Must Be Ensured
The workplace ordinance contains precise guidelines and specifications for the equipment of a workplace. Whether an employee works from home or is in the office is fine. The most important factor is compliance with ergonomics, which employers must do! There are some very clear recommendations for VDU workstations that should be implemented:
- The work chair: Ergonomic seating in the home office is important to prevent occupational diseases and overwork. This includes a chair with armrests and a relieving backrest designed for long-term work.
- The work table: Although height-adjustable tables are optimal, they are rarely available in the home office. The worker should sit upright at his desk and be able to relax his shoulders. The best position is when the upper and lower arms form a right angle.
- The Monitor: When seated at work, the monitor should be about 50 to 70 cm away from your face. It is important to ensure that windows do not trigger reflections to ensure optimal work.
- The working environment: An optimal working atmosphere also means that family or roommates cannot access the workplace. Noise protection against external stress helps to avoid noise pollution.
Attention Data Theft – IT Security In The Home Office Must Be Guaranteed
Appropriate cyber protection is hence additionally essential in the workspace. This is the obligation of the business, which should guarantee that the appropriate defensive measures are taken. Then again, the worker is answerable for agreeing with the given defensive measures and shielding the working environment from outsiders. Outsiders may not utilize hardware like cell phones and PCs. One possible chance is working using a VPN organization yet additionally encoded associations with the business’ cloud. It is fitting to offer instructional classes that bring issues to light of the developing web-based danger when a worker moves to the workspace interestingly.
Accident Insurance – How Are Employees Protected When Working From Home?
If mishaps happen straightforwardly with the work played out, the business’ mishap protection produces results. This likewise applies to the workspace today, even limitlessly. Toward the start of the work space-time, going to the ice chest was not guaranteed at home; for instance, however, going to the scanner was. A change has now been made because of the Works Committee Modernization Act. Protection insurance in the distant working environment is currently equivalent to eye-to-eye work. This additionally incorporates courses assuming that representatives must give their kids care beyond the home.
The Home Office Agreement – This Is How Both Sides Play It Safe
Before the permanent work in the home office starts, a corresponding passage should be included in the contract. The same components of the new job can be written down here so that both sides are protected. Such an agreement should include the following facts:
- Working hours: Working from home doesn’t set representatives free from the Functioning Hours Act. The greatest working hours and rest periods should likewise be noticed at home. Managers ought to feature this to their representatives and demand logging working hours.
- Place of work: If there is no workplace in the present office, the work environment ought to be determined by the extra guideline for the workspace. This isn’t so much for observing. However, essentially for the protection insurance of the representative.
- Right of access: It makes sense for employers to be given admittance freedoms to the worker’s condo. Presently the worker needs to legitimize convincingly why he rejects the business’ review of the working environment. If he can’t do this, a notification change with resulting mandatory participation is conceivable.
- Work equipment: The employer is responsible for setting up the working environment in the workspace. This incorporates warming, lighting, acquisition of work gear (counting support), room rental and all necessary work hardware. It ought to be avoided that the hardware might be utilized secretly. There are an excessive number of risks here regarding information assurance.
- Occupational safety and data protection: It should be remembered that similar commitments apply to the working environment in the workspace as in the workplace.
Conclusion: Plan Your Home Office Well – For More Security
Working from home can be an enrichment based on a solid plan. Ideally, the employee and employer will meet in advance, discuss the options and then draw up a corresponding contract.
Also Read: 5 Practical Tips And Routines For More Productivity In The Home Office
