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Template of a Remote Work Policy / Work From Home Policy for a company’s internal use. The policy aims to provide guidance for employees who work remotely from the Company.
Work From Home Policy
A. General Purpose
(the “Company”) is dedicated to supporting work-life balance for its employees, ensuring the health and safety of employees and to explore flexible working arrangements under unpredictable and special circumstances. Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic situations, it is of the Company’s prior consideration to provide contingency measures and allow employees to work under safe conditions shall the pandemic situation remains unsettled or any other unexpected events arise.
The purpose of this policy is:
- To set out the eligibility for application for working from home;
- Provide guidance for employees to work from home effectively and safely;
- Clarify appropriate workplace behaviour and workplace expectations; and
- Explaining the employees’ roles and responsibilities under such arrangements.
This policy applies to all levels of employees who are currently under a fixed-term contract, permanent contract part-time contract, interns, and casual workers, subject to the eligibility as stated below. This policy is endorsed and fully supported by the Company and its senior management. The Company reserves all rights to amend the content of the policy at any time.
While this policy is meant to be comprehensive, it is impossible to anticipate every certain situation which could arise under this policy. As such, we will apply discretion in order to ensure fairness under this policy. Employees are also expected to apply the same level of discretion and judgement.
B. Terms and Conditions
a. Working from Home
Employees are considered to be working from home when they work at a place outside of the office.
Generally, working from home does not affect employment terms. If changes need to be made to employment terms to make the work from home arrangement permanent, a new contract will be made to reflect such changes.
b. Eligibility
All employees may be eligible to work from home shall they meet the following criteria:
- Their duties can be fully executed through basic hardware and software;
- The employee has a solid record as a trustworthy and self-motivated employee;
- The employee has fully complied with the application procedures as stated in the next section;
- The employee’s work from the home application has been approved by the Human Resources Department; and
- Prior consent and permission by the company and the employee’s immediate superior have been obtained.
However, employees may be required to return to work if:
- Their job duties require face-to-face contact; or
- They are requested to do so by the Company.
Employees who have entered their employment relationship with the Company with the following position are prohibited from applying for working from home:
c. Application Procedures
Employees who are eligible may apply for working from home under special circumstances, in which the special circumstances include but are not limited to:
- Parenting;
- Pandemic situations (such as SARS, COVID-19);
- Weather (such as heavy rain, typhoon, hail);
- Natural Disasters (such as hurricane, earthquake, volcano eruption);
- National Emergencies (such as a terrorist attack);
- Medical Reasons; and
- Personal Emergencies with a legitimate explanation.
Employees may request to work from home due to reasons including but not limited to:
Employees might raise other reasons shall they consider working from home as a necessary arrangement. However, the Company has full discretion in determining whether the reason raised by the employee is considered as legitimate.
An employee who intends to work from home must ensure full compliance of the following procedures:
- The employee should inform the Human Resources Department and his/her immediate superior regarding the intended arrangement in writing or via email at least days in advance;
- In the request letter/email, the employee should specify the reason for working from home, whether the employee intends to work from home on a full-time basis, or on certain days and the intended period of working from home;
- The employee must obtain formal approval from the Human Resources Department, his/her immediate superior, and the Company. The Human Resources Department will issue a letter to notify the employee regarding whether the application is successful; and
- If the employee is working from home for a period longer than a week, he/she should arrange a meeting with his/her immediate superior to discuss specific goals and deadlines before the commencement of working from home.
Employees who have to work from home immediately for unpredictable and urgent reasons should file their requests and submit their application as soon as possible to effectuate the application process. Please note that applications are decided on a case-by-case basis.
d. Attendance and Availability of work
Employees who work from home are still subject to the terms stipulated in their employment contracts, hence they are still required to work 8 hours per day with 1-hour mealtime.
Employees are required to sign in the attendance system as provided by the Company and punch in for the Company to keep a record of his/her attendance. The employee is required to insert information regarding his on-duty time, off-duty time, and mealtime on any and every day while he/she is working from home.
Employees who are required to leave their homes to meet clients or to go on business trips are required to notify their immediate superiors and the Human Resources Department by email. Employees who are sick while working from home should follow the original procedures as stated in your employment contract and/or Employee Handbook to take sick leave.
e. Employees' Responsibilities and Duties
Employees working from home should exercise self-discipline and ensure him/herself is acting with no difference from how they act in office settings. While working remotely, they are expected to perform their job duties at their best endeavours, maintain close contact and connection with their colleagues and superiors, ensure the effective and smooth operation of the Company’s business, provide high-quality services to customers, and adhere to all terms and conditions as stated in their employment contracts and/or Employees’ Handbook.
Anyone who breached this policy will be subject to disciplinary depending on the severity of the breach. The Company reserves all right to dismiss employees without notice and with no payment in lieu of that notice shall the breach is so severe that amounts to gross misconduct according to the discretion of the Company’s senior management.
Employees are expected to:
- Choose a quiet and distraction-free workplace;
- Ensure a stable and adequate internet connection for carrying out workplace duties;
- Dedicate their full attention to their duties during the agreed-upon working hours;
- Keep their status on Business Skype as “online” to indicate they are working and their colleagues can contact them via Business Skype;
- Deal with their daily duties as stipulated in their employment contracts;
- Submit work-related documents in a timely manner;
- Be flexible and to deal with all and any unexpected problems that arise;
- Answer any texts, emails, phone calls from colleagues, superiors, and clients as quickly as possible;
- Keep their superiors updated about their working progress, where employees should send an email to their superiors to summarize what tasks have they completed every week; and
- Attend all online meetings punctually. Online meetings will be conducted via Business Skype, Zoom, or Google Meet in the form of video or telephone conferences.
Of course, it is possible that employee performance may be hampered due to circumstances not under their control. Such issues will be treated more leniently and on a case-by-case basis owing to each employee's unique situation.
In order to facilitate employee performance, employees and managers should be in regular contact with each other. They should meet frequently (either in-person or online) in order to discuss goals and work progress.
f. Security
The Company hereby acknowledges that proprietary information and confidential information forms part of the most valuable asset to the Company and should be protected with the Company’s full effort. Employees are expected to fully comply with the terms and conditions set out in the Employee Handbook and the Confidentiality Agreement as signed by employees upon their employment. Any breaches and alleged breaches will be treated seriously under the procedures and punishment stated in the Confidentiality Agreement where strict and swift disciplinary actions will be taken. The Company reserves all right to dismiss employees without notice and with no payment in lieu of that notice shall the breach is so severe that amounts to gross misconduct according to the discretion of the Company’s senior management.
In order to better protect the Company’s confidential information, employees are required to use the Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) created by the Company during work hours to secure connections with the Company’s network and servers. Employees may have access to applications such as Email,
OneDrive with such VPN, and employees may access and share relevant files there. However, employees are not allowed to use the VPN outside of work hours and/or for any uses which do not fall under employees’ expected duties.
g. Benefits and Compensations
Work from home arrangements do not affect any existing terms and conditions of employees’ contract, and hence employees’ existing entitlements including health insurance and workers’ compensation, benefits, and salary will remain unchanged. Employees who work from home are still eligible for promotion, salary increments, and developmental programs in accordance with their employment contracts and the Employees’ Handbook.
Should the work from home arrangement causes any effects on the employee’s benefit and compensation, the Human Resources Department is responsible for creating a new employment contract for both parties to sign.
h. Absence and Leave Policy
We employ the same absence policy when working from home. Do inform us before using any absence or leave days. Also note the following:
On days with adverse weather conditions (e.g. typhoons and hurricanes), we require our employees to work from home. Days with adverse weather conditions do not constitute a non-working day. i. Dress Policy
While working from home, it is understandable that you may wish to dress in more casual attire. Generally, employees may dress more casually when working from home. However, for all video conferences and meetings with clients and suppliers, we require work-appropriate attire. j. Reimbursements
The Company will reimburse the employee for the expenses incurred while working from home, such as electric and internet costs, given the expenses, is necessary for carrying out employees’ duties and the correct protocol for the application was made. Please refer to the Company’s Business Expenses Policy for details.
C. For more information
If you have any questions or need further guidance, please contact your human resources representative at
.
D. Revision Date
This Agreement was last updated on ("Revision Date"). If you were a user before the Revision Date, it replaces the existing Equal Opportunities Policy.
