By LawBite Team
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many office workers had to work solely from home, something which was mostly unheard of before the pandemic struck.
As time progressed and the pandemic restrictions started to ease, employees were asked to come to the office for a few days a week or month and then work from home/remotely for the rest of the time.
This measure was to help curve the spread of Covid-19, but for many companies, this type of working model has remained despite restrictions being lifted. This has now become known as hybrid working, but what does it mean for the future of work and what are the benefits of hybrid working?
Hybrid working is a type of flexible working model where employees work partly at home/remotely and partly in an office. The amount of time an employee is expected in an office varies from business to business and in some cases employee to employee.
Other types of alternative working models include;
If you are running a business which does not rely on daily face-to-face contact, then there are many advantages to hybrid working. These include;
Before you implement a hybrid working, you will need to determine whether your employees' home environment is suitable for the type of work you require of them. People have different living circumstances so you shouldn't assume hybrid working is right for everyone.
You should also consider the impact a hybrid workplace can have on company culture, mentoring and knowledge sharing - and if you believe employees will be able to adapt to this type of working arrangement.
You should discuss and consult with your employees about the way forward, obtaining their consent to try hybrid working. You would want to set out clearly the terms of the hybrid working arrangement in a hybrid working model and alter their contract of employment (with their consent) to reflect that.
You must of course be careful in administering this, and any other policy, so as to avoid discriminating against your staff and causing constructive dismissal claims.
The hybrid working model should include details such as:
All of our employment contract templates now contain a hybrid working model which you can remove based on your requirements.
Free employment contract templates
Changing the terms of an employment contract should be done under the supervision of an experienced employment lawyer or HR professional. If you require legal guidance from our expert team of employment specialists, just click ‘Get started’ below to book a free 15 minute consultation.
Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice on which you should rely. The article is provided for general information purposes only. Professional legal advice should always be sought before taking any action relating to or relying on the content of this article. Our Platform Terms of Use apply to this article.
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