Telecommuting Company Policies

It is imperative to thoroughly consider all of the implications of telecommuting for the worker and the company before you develop a telecommuting program or related policies and procedures. Implications include, but are not limited to security, compensation, conflict of interest, and liability.

These types of policies should be specific, and each party involved should agree to abide by them. The following are a list of policies that you may wish to include in your program. Templates for all of these policies are available as downloads or on CD.

Writing policy

When writing your telecommuting policy, you should consider Work Concerns, Location Concerns, and Policy Concerns.

Work concerns: There should be very clear expectations for the employee and employer in this case. verifiability of the work must be managed. times or work hours may need to be agreed upon. Depending on the position, you may still need to be available to others via phone, email, or I.M. during certain periods. Just because someone is telecommuting does not necessarily mean they get to set their own hours.

Equipment

What type of equipment must the telecommuter possess? Will the company provide the equipment, or is the employee expected to furnish it? If internet access is required will the company reimburse? Will there be need for the employee to have a static IP address or business class broadband service? Security is also an issue. If an employee access sensitive data how will be accessed? If a user is not using a company provided P.C., what steps are in place to prevent the moving of company data to a local P.C.? What about virus and spyware protection? Also, a plan must be in place for the physical security of all company provided equipment and documents. Safety is another issue. O.S.H.A has always long held the belief that the employer's responsibility for the workplace is broadly defined and does not end at the four walls of the office or factory. Many types of employees are covered by this, truck drivers, sales reps, and telecommuters. While a full home inspection would be overkill, verifying that the employee is working in an environment that will be safe them to do their job must be taken into consideration.

Concerns over the telecommuting policy itself must be taken into consideration. If you allow one employee to telecommute, others will soon be asking for the same privilege. You must have in place a plan to determine what employees can and what employees cannot telecommute. You also must take into account what percentage of time each employee can telecommute. While some may only need to come into the office on occasion, some may only be telecommute one day a month.

When working on your telecommuting policy you must also decide on the rigidity of the policy. Will the plan be a set in stone in plan for everyone, or will there be multiple policies to handle multiple types of employees? Who will be in charge of determining policy requirements? Will the individual department heads be able to determine their employees telecommuting needs, or will the single corporate policy determine for all?