As we ease out of lockdown and offices begin to open their doors, inevitable issues will arise for many employers assessing working arrangements for the future. While managers and HR professionals have become well versed in some of the concepts that go hand-in-hand with homeworking during the last 12 months; many of these issues have been dealt with on a reactive basis as a result of the demands of the pandemic. However, in my view, entering into large-scale permanent remote working arrangements raises new considerations which require careful assessment.

Most employers accept that their employees and workers are likely to have personal expectations when it comes to homeworking and more flexible working moving forward. There can of course be tangible financial benefits in the reduction of overhead where employees spend some or all of their time working at home. The opportunity now presents itself to review remote working and associated policies to ensure that they are both robust and work effectively. In doing so it will be important to assess how the balance might work as between remote workers, ‘hybrid’ workers and those who wish to return to the office full time.