| Acas

You could have different arrangements depending on the role and the needs of your employees. You could talk about:

which roles can and cannot be done from home
who may or may not want to work from home
any concerns and how best to handle them

For example, you might need some roles based full-time in the workplace. Some might work 3 days in the workplace and 2 days remotely. Others might work from home most of the time, coming into the workplace only occasionally.

Think about how employment contracts might be affected and consult with your employees and their representatives.

Considering employees

Discuss your employee's needs, and consider how you can support them.

For example, consider:

any reasonable adjustments
their home working environment
any caring responsibilities
other flexible working needs

Avoid generalising or making assumptions.

For example, Sam is a wheelchair user. Their manager thought they might prefer to work from home to avoid public transport. But Sam is worried about being isolated and would prefer to come into the workplace.

Considering roles

Consider whether work in your organisation could be done remotely or if it needs to be done in the workplace. Think about:

if technology could help
how teams communicate
if there are any concerns about health and safety, and how to address them
why a task might need to be carried out in the workplace

Consider how important it is for work to be done at a specific time. Think about:

if there are core times that employees need to work together
how often teams should meet in person
if a client or stakeholder expects meetings or work to be done at specific times
how you manage the maximum number of hours an employee can work
how you encourage employees to take rest breaks

Find out more about:

Considering practicalities

As you consider where and when work could be done, you should think about how that affects other practical issues – and ensure you cover these in your policy.

Example of another practical issue

Most of an organisation's customers are happy to deal with them over the phone or by video call. However, some customers prefer to come into the office and speak to someone face to face. Their policy allows employees to work from home most of the time, but states they must come into the office to meet customers when needed.