Dealing With Remote Working Requests

Dealing With Remote Working Requests  – It would probably be no exaggeration to say there has been a workplace revolution in the UK, and in many other countries around the world. Over 18 months ago working from home was still seen as a rarity looked upon with envy and cited as the ‘dream’ for many employees.

Fast forward through a global pandemic and working from home has become in many office based industries part of the norm. From cat filters in court to questionable backgrounds, children making cameo appearances and the multitude of takes on the ‘bookcase’ that appears in so many video calls, remote working has very much become part of life.

It may have worked for your organisation, it may not. You might be one of those managers who is desperate to get your team back together feeling the loss of the personal connections and your staff suffering with Zoom fatigue. Or, it may have revolutionised the way you all connect, communicate and you have found it has brought the best out of your team.

Either way, the initial drip feed of remote working requests from 18 months ago has in some sectors become a torrent. Commuting, childcare costs, lack of social and leisure time have become the new pet hates of those who worked from home during the peak of the pandemic and have been asked to return to the office.

So how do you deal with remote working requests? Do you have to agree to them just because it worked for a period during the pandemic? Is the right automatic?

The answer is no.

You don’t have to agree them simply because it has been done for a period and the right is not automatic. You do however have to deal with any requests fairly and in line with any policy that you may have in place. If you do not have a policy in place we would suggest you follow ACAS guidance and consider the use of their template in the interim.

In the absence of a specific home working policy, it should be dealt with as a flexible working request (though bear in mind an agreement to home working doesn’t mean that flexible hours have been agreed unless this is part of the deal, an employees core hours would remain the same).

Any employee with over 26 weeks continuous employment can make a statutory request for flexible working.

An employer should follow a process, where the request is considered, a meeting is held with the employee to discuss the request and a decision is provided with reasons. An employee should also be given the right to appeal.

In terms of making that decision, an employer can only reject a request on the following grounds:

– Burden of additional costs

– Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand

– Inability to reorganise work among existing staff

– Inability to recruit additional staff

– Detrimental impact on quality or performance

– Insufficient work during the periods your employee wants to work

– Planned structural change

If an employee has worked from home for a long period during the pandemic, it won’t be impossible to say no but an employer would need to be able to provide clear evidence as to why it is no longer possible given it may have worked well for a significant period.

 

Jaimie Whiteley