30 Work

Avoiding Home Working Hell….

By Mandy Garner

Working from home is the nirvana parents have been waiting for, right? Well, maybe, but NOT when combined with looking after children full time.

Here are some tips on successfully working from home as the school holidays and exhaustion kick in.

Manage expectations - not just those of your employer, but your own and those of your family. Creating a routine that allows you to work can help everybody. For instance, some quiet time after lunch when your children know that you will be making phone calls.

Ask your manager if you can work around your childcare responsibilities, perhaps in the evenings or at weekends, tag teaming with your partner, if you have one. Or consider reducing your hours if this is affordable, and explore this with your employer.

As with flexible working negotiations, if you spell out the issues, explain how you are trying to tackle them and suggest potential workable solutions, managers are more likely to listen.

The right set up - it’s not just about the hours you can work. You need the right long term setup, given fears of commuting and a second wave of infection. Can your employer help with technical support and ergonomics?

It’s sensible to have a back-up if your laptop goes down or to have someone you can call with technical issues. This is far less stressful and time-consuming than trying to work things out for yourself from YouTube tutorials.

You also need the right workspace and furniture. There are reports of increased back pain as a result of people working from sofas or beds during lockdown. Ask your employer for support - it’s a health and safety issue - and for help with work-related phone/internet bills if they don’t provide phones and laptops.

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The Changing Face of Furlough

By Georgina Thomas

As quickly as “furlough” became a household name for us, we are now looking towards the end of it, with the proposed scheme closure in October.

This will have wide ranging impact on employers and employees and so we have set out a summary of what to expect as the scheme is withdrawn over the coming months. From 1 July, flexible furlough begins and we are advising clients to ensure a written agreement with staff, with clear terms upon which they intend to implement arrangements.

The main headlines of flexible furlough are that, subject to certain conditions, employees can be brought back, part time, for any hours with full pay for hours actually worked and furlough pay calculated as appropriate to the time spent on furlough i.e. wage caps proportionate to the hours actually furloughed. Only employees who have already been furloughed (you must have submitted a furlough claim for them for three consecutive weeks between 1 March and 30 June) and for whom you have already received a furlough payment are entitled and there are a number of additional convoluted rules here around claim periods and calculations. We advise getting advice before implementing any arrangements to ensure that plans to use flexible furlough are carried out correctly.

Be aware that employees returning from statutory parental leave e.g. maternity or paternity leave, shared parental leave, adoption leave or parental bereavement leave are treated differently regarding the exclusions to flexible furlough that apply to other employees and so, again, take advice in respect of any employees in these categories to avoid discrimination and other claims.

Is there a minimum furlough period of three weeks like before, under the extended scheme?

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