THE INCREASING COMPULSION OF REMOTE WORKING AND NECESSITY OF PROCESS GUIDELINES

THE INCREASING COMPULSION OF REMOTE WORKING AND NECESSITY OF PROCESS GUIDELINES

Drafting of remote working guidelines is essential for every business whose employees work remotely or for those who plan to implement a remote working structure.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic from the epidemic, the numerous businesses pressured to manage the working in a remote environment due to lockdown and security concerns. The increasing number of coronavirus cases indicates that this is not going to finish early. We need to be real and need to opt for the remote working environment in our working culture. The recent news articles showed the move of major companies to the work from home environment for a long period, like:

• • • Tata Consultancy Services (The major Indian IT Company) announced that it will follow the work from home trend even after the lockdown ends and by 2025 they aim to reduce their number of employees working in the office by 25%.
    • Nationwide Insurance (US-based insurance company), which has gone to 98% work from home during Covid-19, announced a permanent transition to a hybrid model, with working-from-office in four main corporate campuses and working-from-home in most other locations. The company plans to close offices in Gainesville, Florida, Harleysville, Pennsylvania, Raleigh, North Carolina; Wausau, Wisconsin; and Richmond, Virginia; and move employees to permanent telecommuting positions.
    • Morgan Stanley CEO, “James Gorman” said he doesn’t know what the future of work will be but added the company would need “much less real estate” in the future. The company said 90% of employees have been working from home during the pandemic.
    • Barclays‘ CEO “Jes Staley” that crowded offices could be ‘a thing of the past’, offices may never see the same crowds again after the Pandemic subsides. There will be a long term adjustment to our work location strategy.

Many companies are surviving with the successful execution of remote working culture. One of the main components of that culture is the guidelines of remote working. Indeed the remote working is coming as a force majeure there are major benefits are also there for the execution of the same.

Key Benefits of Remote Working for businesses:

• • • Deduction of infrastructure expenses like rent, maintenance, etc.
    • No time spending on commuting.
    • Reduced location restriction in the appointment of skilled employment.
    • Increased productivity.
    • Increased performance.

While the advantages of a remote working environment are almost clear many companies are still not prepared to execute the remote working guidelines. The drafting of remote working guidelines is essential for the businesses with remote employees and especially for those companies whose just starting or planning to start the remote working.

Instructions to create sealed remote working guidelines:

• • • Create guidelines if you don’t have in place, your business can be liable for employees who work remotely.
    • Keep it simple clear and concise.
    • Review your policy with Junior to senior to executive level staff before ruling it out.
    • Take feedback in the first few months of guidelines for any mandatory inclusion of any practical experiences.
    • Include links to any relevant or overlapping policies or any that would be affected by the implementation of new guidelines.
    • Update and review policy every year

MBG (“MBG Corporate Services”) offer service Drafting of Guidelines for Remote Working Environment for the companies containing documentation of policies for usage of :

• • • IT framework for management approvals,
    • Authorizations,
    • Segregation of duties,
    • Verification & reconciliation of Transaction,
    • Attendance monitoring,
    • Performance evaluation,
    • Succession planning,
    • Security of assets and controls over Information Systems; etc.

Last Updated: 22nd August 2020

This article is contributed by: 

Abhijeet Sharma Director, RITS

Tag: Remote Working