Homeworking & Remote Working
As a leading provider of Health & Safety eLearning, our team has recently been receiving a variety of different questions regarding Homeworking & Remote Working. We’ve collected some of those questions and answered them for you below…
Frequently asked questions
In the UK, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working. Employees can do this through a process called “making a statutory complaint”.
Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s individual needs, which can be anything from having flexible start and finish times or working from home.
Legally, to be eligible for flexible working, employees must have been working for a single employer for at least 26 weeks.
Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’, which involves:
- assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application
- holding a meeting to discuss the request with the employee
- offering an appeal process
Research by YouGov Omnibus tells us that 20% of HR managers believe that staff work to a slightly higher standard at home than they do in the office, and a further 7% believe they work to a “much higher” standard.
Even if the evidence for increased productivity from working from home isn’t enough to convince you to allow it, 49% of HR decision-makers think that it has no effect at all on output.
70% of organisations actively encourage employees to work from home.
For some roles and organisations, remote work might be impossible. With that said, an employer can refuse an application if they have a good reason for doing so.
If you do choose to refuse a flexible working application, as an employer, you must inform the employee that you’ve rejected their application.
Employers can reject an application for any of the following reasons:
- extra costs that will damage the business
- the work cannot be reorganised among other staff
- people cannot be recruited to do the work
- flexible working will affect quality and performance
- the business will not be able to meet customer demand
- there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
- the business is planning changes to the workforce
- work physically cannot be done from home
Whilst working from home might present new hazards and risks, considerations shouldn't sway too much away from the same areas of consideration of risks that a workplace might have.
For example, in an office, a responsible person might highlight general Health & Safety, Fire Awareness, DSE, and GDPR & Cyber Security as potential risks and then sort out plans (and training) accordingly.
These same risks will be present in a home working situation but they'll more than likely present themselves in different ways.
According to the HSE, employers are required to protect the health, safety, and welfare of homeworkers who are employees. If you employ homeworkers you should carry out a risk assessment of the work activities and take appropriate measures to reduce any associated risks.
White papers & guides

Managing a Remote Team White Paper
Understand how to build structure and trust among remote teams, remove obstacles, effectively communicate, strengthen relationships and more.
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Longer term home working action plan
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Working from home white paper
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Managing Flexible Working
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Documents & other resources
Longer term home working action plan
We've partnered with Citation to provide you with a short guide to help you plan ahead for longer term homeworking.
Working from home white paper
Almost overnight, remote work has become mainstream. Our white paper contains guidance, advice and free resources to help support those that are regularly working from home.
Working from home daily timetable
Set goals and track successes and struggles with our working from home daily timetable sheet.
Mental Health & Wellbeing Toolkit
Produced to support our Mental Health Awareness Training.
The 4Ds of Prioritisation
Struggling to get some perspective and prioritise work when working from home? Take a look at the 4Ds for prioritising.
Mental Health Resources Pack
It's important that home workers consider their mental health. Share our Mental Health Resource Pack which contains useful resources, tips, and external guidance.
Managing Flexible Working
Employers must consider each request fairly and decide if it can be accommodated, without a negative impact on the organisation. This guide takes you through some key pointers.
The Tips & Tricks of Time Management
Time is valuable. So, here are some of our top tricks and tips to help you improve your time management. Give some a go and see what works for you!