Working from home policy

  • Customisable to your needs
  • Quick and easy to complete
  • Helps you deal with staff consistently

A working from home policy sets out your business’s approach to dealing with staff who work from home, including how any requests will be dealt with. This includes what your expectations are of your staff whilst they are home working and how your legal obligations will be complied with. It might also be referred to as a homeworking policy or a work from home policy. If your staff have permanent arrangements to regularly split their time between working at your workplace and working from home, you can use our hybrid working policy instead.

This policy will help to make sure that you deal with working from home requests consistently, to ensure that home working is mutually beneficial to both your business and your staff members. It’s also important to set out clear rules for home working at the outset; this will help to avoid any issues arising later down the line.

This policy could form part of your staff handbook or it could be provided as a standalone policy. If you’re looking to produce an entire staff handbook, use our template staff handbook instead.

Alternatively, you can also purchase this policy as part of the Remote working and cybersecurity toolkit.

Q&A

  • When should I use this document?

    If you are an employer, you should use this document to put in place a policy to prepare for situations where your staff might request to work from home, or you may require them to do so.

    Note that some of your staff members have the legal right to make a formal request for flexible working (including home working) and you are under specific legal obligations in respect of those requests. For further guidance see our Q&A on flexible working requests and for a policy you can create to handle those requests, see our template Staff Handbook.

    If you want to produce this policy as part of a Staff Handbook, use our template Staff Handbook instead.

  • What does this document cover?

    This document contains a general statement that your business recognises that there are circumstances in which working from home will be beneficial, and sets out how requests should be made and what criteria will be considered. It then covers different aspects of the working from home relationship, including:

    • how your business will manage its health and safety obligations;

    • how insurance and other legal permissions will be dealt with;

    • data protection considerations and how any confidential information should be protected;

    • the provision of equipment and company devices;

    • the position around working hours; and

    • how communication and performance management will be dealt with.

  • Why do I need this document?

    You’re not legally required to have a formal policy in place when your staff work from home, but it will provide clarity and transparency to your staff and will help to ensure that you deal with any requests to work from home consistently. Equally, clearly setting out your expectations of your staff and your respective responsibilities whilst they are working from home will help to build a relationship of trust, which is vital for a successful working arrangement.

  • Where can I find out more?

    To find out more about how to manage requests to work from home, see our Q&A on flexible working requests.

    If you’re looking for guidance about how to manage staff who work from home, see our Q&A on Staff working from home.

    If you’re looking for a policy to set out how eligible staff can apply for formal flexible working arrangements, see our template Flexible working policy, which you can generate on its own or as part of our Staff Handbook.

    If you want to create this policy as part of a Staff Handbook, use our template Staff Handbook instead.

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