Working at Home during the Coronavirus

With the current business situation, we are being asked about “working from home” and Employer Work Health & Safety obligations. Working from home policies It is important to have policies covering things like, working from home and a safety at home checklist, leave (including your stance on leave without pay or possibly negative leave), personal health/hygiene information for staff and even a policy covering pandemic. Stand down provisions Depending upon how this situation goes and how the Government may classify the situation in the coming days, there are rules for stand down provisions within the Fair Work Act under certain circumstances which may apply, such as natural disasters. Alternate work arrangements Some employers are considering alternate work arrangements with variation to work hours. This can be tricky ground and will need to be in agreeance with the staff members and the interim arrangements will need to be documented with a valid reason, what the arrangements are and for how long. There is a risk of making a person’s role redundant exposing you to other costs if not done correctly. Please let us know if we can assist with any of the above, as at this stage it is still “case by case”, level heads & common sense. #workplacehealth #workingathome