Another question employers often ask when considering home or hybrid working is ‘what equipment do we need to provide?’ While you don’t need rush out and buy everybody a new desk or kit out their home office – indeed many businesses wouldn’t be in a financial position to – you do need to ensure that people can work safely and effectively.

To help you identify what’s needed, we recommend having everybody complete a homeworker assessment (see our ‘Homeworking Checklist and DSE Risk Assessment’ above, which is free to download). Some organisations have decided to send somebody into people’s homes to do this but this is best avoided at present due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, these assessments can be completed remotely and are essentially a questionnaire, with the aim of determining what people have in their home already and what additional equipment they need. (Any equipment must be safe to use, i.e. PAT-tested).

It may be as simple as providing a laptop riser, an additional screen or wrist rest, or simply helping them to make adjustments. This equipment should be provided at the employer’s expense; however, by conducting an assessment, you can identify exactly what’s needed. There’s also no reason why desks and other equipment that is no longer needed in the office can’t be provided for staff to use at home or kept to one side in case somebody requests it.

This doesn’t have to be an expensive exercise, but it is important to get right, as the correct equipment can prevent costlier issues such as injuries, stress and less-productive staff.