Remote working - the future?

Wonderful to see how the growth in remote work is continuing

Are you making the assumption that all employers who insist on return to office are not providing a safe environment?

So after everything that has happened, 80% are office based? Hardly a seismic shift considering.

Remote is here to stay, absolutely no doubt about it now. It's providing huge opportunities especially in IT for people to join major multi-nationals in the bigger cities while remaining where they want to live. A win-win for everyone.

The Dept of Health leading by example

well, those businesses that are struggling need to think about reinventing themselves. Covid has only accelerated a flexible working trend that was starting to gather momentum anyway…..it’s not created anything new.

Those companies that are struggling to retain their people are just going to have to take a look at themselves

Most understand that instead of employers being responsible for H&S in a single building, they are now responsible in multiple workplaces which are not of their making. How you travel to your place of work (Luas) remains your business, regardless of whether you work in an office or remotely. And if managers struggle to ensure remote workers are doing their work, that will not auger well for long term remote working. Remote working on a mass scale is comparatively new, there will be a lot to work out, and it may not work for every business, so one view cannot be applied accross the board.

Indeed. There are two issues with it

1. it assumes that WFH is new. It isn’t. I’ve been hybrid working 2/3 days at home for nearly a decade now, even when technology was nowhere what it is now. H&S has been achieved, in my experience, through training and self assessment
2. ‘more work for managers’ should be rephrased as ‘more work for bad managers’. There is no reason as to why it should be harder to manage productivity remotely compared to in the office unless you are a micromanager who needs to see a bum on a seat to be confident that there is work being done

Would like to it a little perspective on this from a point of view of somebody who was a H&S rep and responsible for employees and the public in my workplace. I worked in the public service, where H&S was theoretically taken very seriously, although I have mentioned elsewhere in forums why too often it has been pure lip service & box ticking. In principal the structures are there and fundamental, and in a lesser management role (responsible half the week for running a public premises & second in line remainder of time) my top responsibility was to oversee its safe operation, a role I took very seriously and where I made many interventions.

During lockdown staff were deployed to work remotely, mainly contributing to online sociaL media content and informational write-ups. Senior management, of course, took up the entire responsibility for H&S in those circumstances, and it was an essential temporary measure and insurance covered the stopgap. Whilst undergoing formal H&S training for supervisors and for being a H&S Rep, I learned to make risk assessments and the scope of responsibility of the employer, the scope of which which covers their working time as well as any time spent on the premises of the employer. Getting to work, what you consume on the work premises (unless provided by employers) has nothing to do with the responsibility of the employer. You must conduct yourself in a responsible manner both during your working time and on the employer’s premises.

The WFH H&S scenario can be extrapolated from the above, with the exception that you are not on your employer’s premises. The employer is accountable for your H&S whilst you are on working time, so it is important to define your working time by logging on/off etc, which most employers require anyway.

Companies are liable to end up having successful legal action taken against them if they have not demonstrated to have exercised due care. Sometimes that’s a bit of box-ticking, as a good portion of the responsibility is on the part of the employer. Eg, if they place equipment poorly and trip over it and suffer an injury. Given that example it would be the responsibility of the employer to ensure the initial set-up is safe, and may require some evidence, be it an inspection or photographs etc. Then if employee moves the equipment to an awkward position and suffers a broken wrist whilst breaking their fall after tripping over it (and is unable to work or even sues because of injury) the employer may be able to de y payment/defend (in case of legal action etc) by demonstrating that the employee had significantly contributed to accident.

Because of the aforesaid, companies are likely to make regular inspections (probably virtual) mandatory, which would probably be a sensible solution.

With latest news about Covid I believe that remote working is definitely going to be an accelerating norm, but as I pointed out in previous posts it does take a lot of adaption by organisations, most especially when it comes to rather important insurance matters and also supervision (especially in certain areas) that work is being delivered for the payment given. As others have indicated, in many areas, it is very obvious if an individual’s due share of the work isn’t being completed.

Insurance companies will adapt, risk assessors themselves can assess by video link, and it will work out. Currently there is a fairly steep learning curve, and no doubt there will be some legal cases which will direct practices in future. Where there’s an injury there’s a litigant, and no shortage of them in this country.

Post?

Outside of archaic practices among the legal professions I can't think of anything where using the internet to communicate, rather than snail mail, would result in the removal of a persons rights

Care to elaborate?