Don’t forget about on-site staff!

The advantages of working from home have become more well-known throughout 2020, thanks to the enforced remote working of the pandemic. Higher motivation, fewer sickness absences and more productivity.

Many companies are planning to allow more employees to work from home in the future, after the pandemic, than the companies would have considered feasible in 2019. It has highlighted shortcomings: In a recent CIPD survey, 59% of employers surveyed said they were going to improve the quality of technology and 51% aimed to improve the quantity of laptops of computers available.

However, it is important for companies not to gloss over employees who remain on site.

Some might return out of choice. Problems with remote working reported by employers included reduced well-being among staff (47%), reduced staff interaction (36%) and the lack of effectiveness of line management (33%). Almost a third of those surveyed (28%) reported a decline in their productivity away from their usual workplace.

Many jobs simply cannot be done from home, and yet very few companies are thinking ahead to provide fair and equal forms of flexible working, such as annualised hours, term-time working, compressed hours or job sharing, which can be used by on-site workers. 

Peter Cheese, CIPD CEO, comments: 

“The step-change shift to home working to adapt to lockdowns has taught us all a lot about how we can be flexible in ways of working in the future. This should be a catalyst to change long held paradigms and beliefs about work for the benefit of many. Employers have learnt that, if supported and managed properly, home working can be as productive and innovative as office working and we can give more opportunity for people to benefit from better work-life balance. This can also help with inclusion and how we can create positive work opportunities across our economies. 

“But it doesn’t suit everyone and increasingly organisations will have to design working arrangements around people’s choice and personal preference over where and when they would like to work, whilst also meeting the needs of the business.

“Employers will also have to redouble efforts to introduce flexible working arrangements for staff unable to work from home otherwise they will increasingly have a two-tier workforce of those who have opportunity to benefit from home working and flexibility and those who don’t.   

“It is often essential workers and lower paid front line staff who are not able to work from home and it is crucial these workers are not left behind when we think about flexible working. Making the right to request flexible working a day one right would support the uptake of a wider range of flexible working beyond home working.” 

Our software can easily adjust for flexible working, rotas and shifts, our self-service mobile app makes remote clocking quick and simple, and our facial recognition time and attendance systems mean that even on-site employees don’t have to put themselves at risk.

For information on how Time and Attendance UK can provide secure time and attendance management software for small business, global businesses and everything in-between, please get in touch today.