Offering remote and hybrid working opportunities poses many benefits for both workers and businesses. If you are choosing to get behind this new working trend, you need to consider how you can keep your employees safe when they are working from home. As employees have no direct supervision, you need to make sure they understand how to work safely from home. As an employer with remote and hybrid staff, it is a legal requirement that your employees do not injure themselves at work, even when they aren’t in your office. Below we look at how to ensure the safety of remote and hybrid staff.
Get Your Workers To Conduct A Risk Assessment
Your employees can create their own risk assessment at home, which can be used to ensure that their health and safety needs are met at all times. As you cannot be there and it is not always possible for employers to visit workers in their homes, giving your employee the responsibility to conduct a risk assessment will teach them about their safety whilst working from home.
A DSE risk assessment will be beneficial. It is also known as a display screen equipment assessment, is a type of assessment that remote and hybrid workers can complete by themselves. It assesses the use of computer equipment and screens in the workplace, which can cause back and shoulder pain, and severe headaches due to prolonged use. This will educate your employees on what a safe working setup looks like, so they can take their safety into their own hands.
Provide Regular Training
Your employees need regular health and safety training, regardless of where they work. This should be delivered annually and is a legal requirement for your business. Failure to provide this sort of training could cause problems down the line, especially if one of your employees becomes injured or is affected by a health condition, such as a repetitive strain injury.
The easiest way to provide training for remote and hybrid workers is through an eLearning program. This is a standardized way to give the same information to all employees. Make sure that the health and safety training is tailored to working from home as well as in the office for hybrid workers. Check in with your employees regularly to ensure they understand their training and are carrying our best practices every day.
Training should include things like working ergonomically, taking regular breaks, and the importance of switching off from work. Cyber security is another training program to consider, especially with remote and hybrid workers. If you provide any equipment to your workers, you should also be getting this PAT tested.
Have Weekly Meetings With Employees
When it comes to the safety of your employees, it isn’t just their physical health you need to consider. Working from home, although it comes with many benefits, also poses new challenges that many employees may struggle with. Remote working can be lonely, and if your employees live alone, this could mean they are on their own most of the time.
Weekly meetings will give your employees a chance to get together and participate in something. This can be formal if needs be, whilst you check in with everyone’s progress, but you should also take the time to check on everyone’s mental health and how they are doing outside of work. When home and work merge, sometimes problems at home become problems at work too.
You should also check in at least once a day with fully remote workers. Even a quick good morning message can make employees feel less alone during the working day. Create a messaging platform where your employees can discuss work and other topics, as everyone sometimes needs a quick social break.
Be Clear On Your Working Policies
Clear working policies that are set out in a contract will help your employees stay safe when working from home. This can also be said for cyber safety and security, as remote workers are at an increased risk of security breaches and hacking. Ensure that your workers know how to maintain cyber security at home, to prevent data leaks.
When working from home, it can be easier for employees to spend more time at their computers than they need, and if they have important things on for the next day, some employees might burn themselves out trying to get everything done. Switching off is super important for employee wellbeing, so make your working policies cover clear starting and finishing times.
To keep your remote and hybrid workers safe, get them to conduct a home office space risk assessment. Provide regular training, so employees understand their responsibilities in staying safe when working from home. Have weekly meetings and be clear on your working policies, so employees know what is expected of them.