Your Work From Home Policy

The purpose of your company’s Work From Home Policy should be to optimize for the benefits while limiting the risks, ultimately setting up your employees to be as successful outside the office as they are in it. Here’s what your policy should include to ensure it does just that.

Define who is eligible to work from home. Not all job functions can be conducted remotely. Clearly lay out which teams are eligible to work remotely, and which have to be in the office. 

You may set eligibility criteria – i.e., only those employees who have been at the company for 90 days and hit 90% of their goals can work remotely. Of course, this doesn’t apply during a health crisis like COVID-19, when working from home might be mandatory.

Establish an approval process. Likewise, once you establish eligibility criteria, clearly outline the personnel and process for approval. Employees should know how to request work from home privileges, who will be approving, and the timing for approval. Weladee allows employees to request Work From Home, managers can respond from mobile phone.

Set regular working hours. Your Work From Home Policy should clearly state when employees are expected to work, and when they should call it a day. If you value flexibility, this might mean setting a total number of hours (i.e., employees are expected to work a total of 8 hours per day).

More likely it will mean establishing a range of working hours (i.e., employees are expected to be working and available from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.). A best practice is to mirror your standard office work day, which may vary by team.

For salaried employees, this policy isn’t just about making sure your team stays on task. The bigger benefit is to empower employees to establish their own boundaries so they don’t feel pressure to be “always on,” which will prevent burnout in the long run.

For hourly employees, remember that federal non-exempt rules apply. Make sure employees understand they must continue to track their time and request manager approval to work overtime.

Provide guidance on timekeeping for hourly employees. Hourly, non-exempt employees will still need to accurately record all hours worked and submit these records to their managers. Make sure hourly employees have a way to accurately record their time while working remotely.

Create attendance and availability standards. One challenge you’ll find working remotely is that you can’t just pop by someone’s desk to get their input on a time-sensitive project. Sometimes, it will feel like you’re constantly hunting people down, hitting them up on Telegram, email, and text message. Minimize this by setting standards around when and how team members will be available.

Streamline communications channels. With in-person communication no longer an option, your internal comms must be dialed. This means auditing existing communications channels and designating the primary purpose for each. This might also mean sunsetting redundant channels. For instance, if your company uses both Line and Telegram, you should require team members to stick with one or the other to reduce inefficiency. Avoid Line in company you certainly better to impose Telegram, you will get a better control.

A typical breakdown might be:

• Telegram for rapid, lightweight, informal communication, and as a second touch for timely announcements.
• Email for longer communications, team-wide announcements, and internal programming (like news digests).
• Google Meet or Zoom for meetings.
• Weladee for employee time attendance, timesheet and any remote employee engagement, HR resources and company policies.
• Company intranet for frequently asked questions.

Provide IT support. While working from home, employees will rely on technology more than ever. Performing the most basic communication and job functions require working IT. Providing IT support is both more important and logistically more difficult for a dispersed workforce. Especially if you are engaged in remote onboarding, you’ll need to ensure new employees and IT can communicate with each other effectively.

Create a helpline and ticketing system specifically for remote employees, and outline the procedure that employees must take in order to escalate technology issues.

Maintain security standards. You may want to invest in an encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect all system users. Likewise, instruct employees to avoid vulnerable public Wi-Fi. Instead, encourage them to use hotspots or provide encryption software. Lastly, make sure employees keep work data on work computers, not personal ones. Most commonly, this will mean that employees should only answer emails on work devices.

Continue internal communication programs, including all-hands meetings. Constant communication is key. Weladee announcements updates should continue. Your weekly or twice-monthly all-hands will be more difficult to continue, but you should make every effort to do so, even if the format changes. A weekly email from company leadership or shared slide presentation can be just as effective.

Maintain a connection to your culture. Continuing perks and amenities as much as possible will help maintain a sense of normalcy and continuity with your employees.

Create a dress code. While wearing sweats throughout the workday seems like it should be a perk of any Work From Home situation, employees may still have to interface with customers, clients, or partners via video conference. A note about acceptable wardrobe in these situations is appropriate.

Gather feedback and iterate. You won’t get everything right the first time. Create avenues for feedback from managers and individual contributors alike. Anonymized feedback is best. Most importantly, implement changes where appropriate. Weladee allows your employee to provide feedback, they do it right away from their mobile phone.

Finally, whether you realize it or not, implementing your Work From Home Policy will require change management. Your goal might be business as usual, but achieving that means widespread adoption of new behaviors. Use these tips to set the right expectations for your employees and help ensure their success.

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