Working towards effective 'WFH'

By Sunder Rajan

In the past, Work from Home (WFH) was available only to a few employees, who were categorically independent. Requests of working from home were entertained for some personal reasons. To some extent, nursing mothers were also allowed to work from home, so companies could continue to utilise their competencies.

Today, what was once seen by organisations as a compromise and an exception, has become the norm. Accordingly, organisations have also learned to benefit from this practice of “permanent WFH” and plan to make it the norm for jobs in some business categories.

For now, this phenomenon is here to stay in most IT organisations. Other companies which do not require direct human interaction are also likely to continue with this.

The need of the hour is to frame a right policy to build a suitable work culture and relook at all operational needs to ensure a successful WFH practice. A good WFH practice must also be aligned with the applicable labour laws to ensure that it is futuristic, avoids conflict and is not controversial.

Prepare a WFH policy: Organisations have to have a WFH policy so everyone is clear about the standard work expectations they have to fulfil.

This policy should broadly cover the various work norms like work timings with sufficient understanding about core-time, dress-code, virtual meeting discipline and norms, employee compensation, overtime as well as the practice of availing leave.

Other important areas include norms for performance appraisal, compliance to Prevention of Sexual Harassment laws and balancing work and home lives.

The idea is to make rules regarding WFH explicitly clear, to avoid disputes.

Confidentiality: The policy frame-work should be explicit on issues such as place of work as well as finding ways to ensure confidentiality of important work and sensitive documents.

Laws governing employment: Remote recruitment and strong onboarding and offboarding are to be complied by the employers to ensure the principles of natural justice are practiced.

The joining procedures and other fundamental processes of employment cannot be brushed aside just to ensure everyone complies with WFH policies. If possible, this need can be addressed by face-to-face onboarding with social distancing norms.

Performance appraisal and compensation: Trust is the cornerstone of the WFH arrangement. It would help to educate employees about the revenue generation process, so they can aid the business continuity of the organisation.

This will ensure employees understand business needs better, can comply with the cycle-time reduction and adopt a mindset of problem-solving, which will ultimately benefit the company.

Communication tools and rules: Communication tools and software are the lifeline for a successful WFH practice and if needed, they should be redesigned.

People are also to be trained in various aspects of communicating with each other, like the dos and don’ts of participating in virtual meetings, to make it more participative and effective.

Maintaining work-life balance: It is also very important for the organisation to facilitate work-life balance. Ensuring discipline when it comes to work schedules is important. Sometimes, there might have to be adjustments to work schedules and timelines of deliverables.

(The author is a Human Resources mentor)