Regular working from home is now a well-established practice and has become an expectation/requirement for some employees.
Working from home
Working from home (full-time or part of the time) may benefit certain job roles, employees and employers.
While there may in some cases be benefits it may have negative impacts and hidden costs. Employers have a legal obligation to do what is ‘reasonably practicable’ to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees, which extends to home-working. This requires a risk assessment of the employee’s home workspace and entails regular review. Issues of availability, confidentiality, data protection as well as productivity and suitability also arise and need consideration.
Do employees have a legal right to work from home?
Here is currently no legal automatic or statutory right to work from home.
Employees do, however, have the legal right to ask for flexible working arrangements, including the right to work from home, from day one of their employment. The request must, by law, be considered in a ‘reasonable manner’, with refusal only granted for a valid business reason under one of the eight statutory reasons:
(i) The burden of additional costs.
(ii) A detrimental effect on meeting customer demand.
(iii) Inability to re-organise existing staff.
(iv) Inability to recruit new staff.
(v) Detrimental impact on quality.
(vi) Detrimental impact on performance.
(vii) Lack of work during requested working hours.
(viii) Structural changes to the business.
The Employment Rights Bill is, amongst other areas of reform, presently set to expand employees’ right to flexible working arrangements. Under the new legislation, it is envisaged that employers may only refuse a flexible working application if reasonable to do so. If implemented, any changes are expected to be rolled out in 2027.
Dealing with requests to work from home
If an application is not addressed (a) with a reasonable procedure, (b) timeously, (c) with the employee being consulted, or (d) refused not in line with one of the above statutory reasons, an employee may have grounds to bring a claim against their employer in the Employment Tribunal for a ‘declaration’ and / or compensation. The employee may also bring a separate discrimination claim.
Employers should consider each flexible working request reasonably and in accordance with their obligations. Employers should reasonably consider requests and follow a fair, documented process.
Employers also need to take care that employees are not unlawfully discriminated against because of pregnancy or any other protected characteristic.
Even when an employer is happy to grant the right to work from home, consideration needs to be given to the practicalities and impact on others. A trial period should perhaps be considered as well as the provision of risk assessments, equipment, confidentiality, data protection, etc. Employers must also stay in regular contact to track their progress and look after any mental health concerns around stress, anxiety or isolation. The employer should have a specific working from home policy to cover these issues.
We would be happy to discuss and review your policy and or any issues around home working.