Generally, an employer may suggest home working to staff. Working from home can be beneficial to all, but it can also be difficult: Insurance for home workers is not the same across all professions. Can you even equip your home office ergonomically? Although the use of a home office is becoming ever more popular, it shouldn’t be taken as an ‘easy’ option, which is why a proper application should be made. How to make this application will be explained below, but before you dive in, you may wish to know what kind of a response you could receive, and to know whether you are being treated fairly.
As mentioned before, all employees can make a request to work from home, meaning that everyone does have, in a loose sense, an entitlement to work from home, or rather they at least have the right to request this possibility. Gov.uk state that ‘‘Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’’. Unfortunately, it is not entirely clear what reasonable means here, but this of course depends on the context. Luckily, ACAS have developed a code of practice on flexible working requests, and your right to work from home could be considered fairly, if your employer sticks to these guidelines. Check out ACAS’ advice on the subject, available as a PDF download. On their flexible working page, gov.uk state that employers are encouraged to:
- Ensure that they have considered the pros and cons of their employee’s application
- Make sure they communicate with their employee and have a meeting to talk about the request with the employee
- Make sure the employee knows about the appeals process