Why Councils may want to consider home working

COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 2021

Why Councils may want to consider home working

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the number of people asking to work from home.  For Councils this can work for a number of posts, which don’t require staff to be physically present every day.  Councils are increasingly finding that they can give their staff the opportunity to choose where they want to work.

The home working option has the benefit of widening the scope of people who can apply for vacant posts.  Currently many Councils are struggling to fill important positions.  At the same time, people who could fill the vacancy may be struggling to accommodate caring responsibilities for relatives/children, or disabilities which restrict their mobility.  These hurdles can be addressed to an extent, by providing a home working option.

There are also tax benefits to be taken into account, such as home working allowances, and travel expenses if the home is the Employees principal place of work.

However, there are hurdles to overcome:

·       Effective communication technology is essential.  Councils must have access to their Employees during their normal working hours, regardless of where they are; office based or at home. 

·       For many Employees the need to separate the home and work cultures is essential.  They can struggle with the intrusive nature of having to deal with colleagues, Councillors and the public from the ‘sanctuary’ of their home.

·       Home working Employees need equipment to do the job, such as laptops, printers, mobile phones.  There is also the concern that these expensive assets can be held hostage if the Employment relationship breaks down, and not returned.

·       Confidentiality is also an issue for Councils to consider.  How confident is the Council that sensitive personal data is being securely stores at an Employee’s home?  Again, if the employment relationship breaks down, is the Council confident this information will be returned?  An option could be for all data an information to be stored on an encrypted memory cloud, to which only key people such as the Clerk, Chair and Vice Chair have access to the password.

What is becoming more apparent is that traditional office based 9-5 working is coming to an end, and more hybridised forms of working are gradually becoming the norm for a lot of Councils.

PROFILE

Chris Moses LLM Chartered FCIPD is Managing Director of Personnel Advice & Solutions Ltd.  He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and has a Master’s Degree in Employment Law. If you have any questions regarding these issues please feel free to contact him on (01529) 305056 or email p.d.solutions@zen.co.uk

www.personneladviceandsolutions.co.uk