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By Sanjeev Kumar
Founding Attorney

While some companies have been offering remote work opportunities for years, others may have been pushed in this direction by the COVID-19 pandemic or by an increasing demand for such arrangements by potential employees. Regardless, if your company has always offered remote work, is newer to remote work, or is considering remote work options for your employees, the time is now to make sure you have a comprehensive remote work policy in pace. Here are some tips to creating such a policy.

Creating a Remote Work Policy

Remote work can be a great way to attract a broad range of qualified employees who enjoy the commute free life of remote work. As a unique work arrangement, however, it is important to put a solid remote work policy in place so that everyone is clear as to the expectations for the remote work arrangement. The more detailed the remote work policy is, the clearer the employee will be on the ground rules and expectations, including productivity expectations, of the role.

Some of the must-haves in your remote work policy include who is eligible to work remotely and how often are eligible employees able to work remotely. While some positions may be full-time remote, others may be hybrid positions where the employee is allowed to work remotely sometimes but is still required to go into the office a certain amount of time each week. Most companies are likely to have remote workers, office workers, hybrid workers, or some combination.

Remote workers, just as workers that come into a traditional work or office setting, are likely to require certain technology in order to do their job. Your remote work policy should detail what type of technology and equipment will be provided to remote workers. Alternatively, a company may choose to reimburse an employee for their purchase of work-related equipment.

Your policy should also detail the standard parts of an employment agreement that all employees, remote or not, should be clear on. For instance, include company rules and policies as well as sick and vacation days available to remote workers. These policies may be different for remote workers than in-person workers or the same.

Setting clear expectations for productivity and performance is important for all employment arrangements. However, it may be even more so for remote workers as there is not the same sense of being able to be kept updated of what is going on in their day-to-day work routine. Be clear that, despite them working from home, there are still performance standards that must be met.

Communication is another important part to include in any remote work policy. Technology provides us with a multitude of ways to connect with one another. Specifying what platforms and tools will be used to communicate with a remote worker should be detailed in the remote work policy. Knowing what forms of communicate a remote worker can expect can help prepare them for this type of work arrangement. Also, if you are going to have regularly scheduled meetings and other check-ins with the remote worker, this may also be good to include in the policy.

Texas Business Law Attorney

These are just some of the basics of what to include in a remote work policy, but the business law attorneys at Kumar Law Firm can develop a strong, comprehensive remote work policy tailored to the unique needs of your company and your employees. Contact us today.

About the Author
Sanjeev Kumar is the founder and principal at the Kumar Law Firm, which provides a wide range of legal services to entrepreneurs and business owners in the area of business & corporate law and intellectual property along with related areas of interest to clients such as business succession planning, wealth preservation through estate planning, and alternate dispute resolution.