Whether or not employees work just as well in their homes as they do in the office is up for debate among many CEOs. While most of us were forced to learn how to work remotely during the height of the pandemic, is it acceptable or even legal to insist on a complete return to the office during the current ‘endemic’?
Whether or not employees work just as well in their homes as they do in the office is up for debate among many CEOs. While most of us were forced to learn how to work remotely during the height of the pandemic, is it acceptable or even legal to insist on a complete return to the office during the current ‘endemic’?
Although the employer has the right to determine where work will be performed as outlined in the Offer of Employment/Employment Contract. In typical legal situations, the only way that work location can change (to anywhere) is with reasonable notice. So, even if employees worked from home temporarily because of the pandemic, it’s still at the employer’s discretion to require a return to the workplace.
As the employer, just because you can insist everyone return to work full time, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
Why?
Skilled employees are hard to come by and many are leaving their roles for new opportunities, often employment that is exclusively based from home. It may be time to review your return to work policy and ask yourself if your staff need to be in the office full time, or is it just being implemented because that’s the way it’s always been?
It comes down to whether you want to keep employees happy and allow them to continue doing their job efficiently from wherever they do it best, or force them back to the office. We encourage businesses to be flexible in their work arrangements as long as employees are meeting their performance goals.
If your organization is interested in revamping your return to work policy or performance metrics, we’re here to help.