Have you considered Workers Compensation for remote employees?
Implementing working from home and remote work flexibility into existing positions in your business could affect your employer liability. Now is the perfect time to closely examine how your liability may have been affected by previous years’ events. Consider how you can move forward into 2022 with a renewed outlook of what can work.
As a core responsibility, you must be sure that you protect your employees’ health and safety in the workplace. When it comes to remote working, the workplace landscape changes considerably and will vary depending on the worker’s conditions.
Despite this, employers like you must protect your employees’ wellbeing and safety from the risks involved in the premises that the employees work (even in their own home).
If there are employees in your business who will be consistently working from home or who usually work remotely, you as the employer need to consider your liability.
Workers Compensation Remote Employees – How To Manage
Keeping in mind that the welfare of your employees is a paramount concern, as an employer, you may consider:
- Ensuring that the employee can do the work expected of them from home so safely and free of potential harm
- Making changes to the work or task so that they can do it safely from home
- Equipping your employees with the tools and equipment necessary to complete the work safely (which could include ergonomic computer equipment)
- You are making arrangements to install heavy company equipment into your employee’s workspace rather than leaving it to the employee.
- Giving employees the relevant information or training to operate all equipment provided to them safely.
- Making reasonable accommodation for employees who might have disabilities related to the work they need to perform.
- Taking additional steps to ensure your employees’ mental welfare, including wellbeing check-ins, accommodations, etc.
Try to find ways through which employees can interact with one another whilst working remotely. Interaction might be as simple as remote office drinks, online meetings, skype/zoom calls to keep connected etc. Another step you may need to take is to ensure that remote workers in your business have access to mental health support and that they are aware of how they can access these measures if required.
Keeping these things in mind will not only protect employers from liability but ensure that your employees remain a productive and critical component of your business throughout the year.
