At many companies, employees suddenly started working from home early this year. Stuff was taken from the office and put down at home. If you want to facilitate for the long term that your employees can work from home, it is advisable to implement a home working policy. In this article, you can read which steps you need to take to implement a good and structural homeworking policy in which you comply with all health and safety obligations and other legislation.
When employees work or start working from home, the workplace in the home should be set up in accordance with ergonomic principles. These principles are not legal requirements, but can be seen as starting points. First of all, we recommend taking stock of whether the workplace is set up correctly, what tools the employee has at his disposal and what tools may still be needed. For example, it is important for an employee to know whether the desk is at the right height and/or there is sufficient lighting at the home workplace.
Proper information is very important here. To help employees determine whether the working conditions at home are good, for example, a checklist can help. Employees can then use the checklist to assess for themselves whether their workplace is set up correctly. Fill in your details below to have an example of such a checklist emailed to you.
If an employer wants to implement a homeworking policy, the works council may have the right of consent with regard to certain aspects. Right of consent means that the employer must first seek the works council's consent before implementing the homeworking policy.
Agreements on whether employees may/can work from home do not, in principle, need to be submitted to the works council. If, on the other hand, an employer changes the health and safety policy or wants to implement a new system such as a communication system for work meetings at home or a system that measures employee performance or attendance at home, the right to consent does apply. For example, the works council has the right of consent regarding working conditions, staff appraisal, work meetings and facilities for monitoring attendance, behaviour and performance. Thus, when implementing a homeworking policy, the works council may well have the right of consent.
It is therefore advisable to map out what changes are needed to optimally implement homeworking and/or whether the required changes fall under the works council's right of consent.
There are different tax rules when facilitating facilities for working from home. If you want to purchase facilities for your employees to work from home, it is advisable to determine in advance which facilities you can purchase and under which tax regulations they then fall.
For example, there are various targeted tax exemptions for purchasing facilities. You then only need to determine which targeted exemption falls under each provision. The most relevant exemptions are:
Tax regulations also allow you to value certain provisions at nil. Only then there are strict requirements for the home workplace.
It is best to map out in advance under which tax regulations (the targeted exemption or nil valuation) the provisions fall, so that you avoid subsequent taxation.
It is important to put the arrangements around working from home in writing, if only so that it can be shown that the arrangements have been made. This is also important for tax reasons. This can be done through a homeworking policy. This policy then includes, for instance, agreements on working from home, use of facilities, provision of facilities, tax rules and health and safety legislation. This policy can of course be included in a staff handbook. It is also advisable to make individual agreements and record them in a homeworking agreement. In this agreement, parties can make individual agreements on, among other things, the set-up of the workplace, the costs/ budget for the set-up of the workplace, the use/eventual damage and liability/consequences in case of disability or termination of employment.
Now, if you have any questions as a result of the above, or would you like us to help you formulate a homeworking policy or review/draft your homeworking agreement? If so, please contact us.