Hybrid Working | addressing issues around office attendance
With employees now accustomed to the flexibility of working remotely, many organisations are noticing issues surrounding office attendance beginning to creep in.
Join our upcoming webinar for practical insights into setting clear policies, enforcing attendance requirements, and managing the balance between remote flexibility and necessary in-office presence so that your organisation can thrive in the evolving landscape of hybrid work.
13 June, 12.00 - 1.00 pm
Overview
With the pandemic forcing a widescale work-from-home experiment, 83% of organisations have since adopted hybrid work models. For the most part, this appears to be working for both employers and employees.
However, as this trend continues and employees become more accustomed to this newfound flexibility, organisations are encountering a raft of new challenges, as employees test the limits of what’s acceptable within a hybrid working framework. Namely, what should employers do when expectations around office attendance begin to slip?
From family emergencies to minor ailments and office anxiety, maintaining attendance on scheduled office days is proving to be a challenge for many organisations in 2024, as ‘excuses’ for needing to work from home begin to pile up. Some employees may simply prefer to work remotely, perhaps leaning into these reasons to stay at home.
In many cases, issues stem from a lack of expectation setting. Without clear policies and managers enforcing them, employees may take it upon themselves to pick and choose when they attend the office, leading to inconsistent attendance and undermining the hybrid work model. Left unchecked, this can cause confusion, reduce accountability, and ultimately impact overall productivity and team cohesion.
What's on the agenda?
Hosted by Principal Employment Law Adviser and Solicitor, Amarjit Raj, and Trainee Solicitor, Katie Proctor, this free, 60-minute session will explore the issue of attendance in a hybrid working context.
Our experts will answer common queries, address specific scenarios, and help you reset expectations so that you can minimise issues and get hybrid working arrangements back on track. They will cover:
- Setting expectations: Employers implementing hybrid work models must articulate precise expectations regarding home versus office attendance, ideally from the outset. Learn what your contracts and policies need to include to ensure managers and employee understand your position and prevent issues. Plus, should you let employees choose what days they attend?
- The role of managers: It’s imperative that managers receive proper support and training to manage hybrid working and its challenges. Crucially, we’ll explore how to differentiate between general push back to office attendance and protected reasons so that managers can have effective conversations and take appropriate, decisive action.
- Practical tips for promoting office attendance: Attendance issues are less likely to arise if employees are on board with hybrid working and understand your organisation’s arrangements. Learn how to promote the benefits of hybrid working, set expectations, and establish protocols for dealing with non-attendance and rescheduling office days. Plus, could there be blockers preventing staff from attending, such as a lack of space?
- Addressing reluctance to attend the office: Learn how to respond to common non-attendance reasons such as mental health, neurodiversity, or simply a preference for working from home, including how to deal with flexible working requests. Plus, what should you do if staff say they are too sick come in, but can work from home?
- Understanding different kinds of leave: Sometimes life happens; childcare issues arise, cars break down, and family members get sick. These unforeseen situations can prevent people from attending the office. Learn how to navigate these unplanned absences, including other types of leave that might be available, for example carer’s leave, parental leave, and compassionate leave.
Have a question?
If you have a specific query you would like our hosts to answer, submit it when signing up – we’ll address as many as we can at the end of the session.
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Webinar review
“Having attended a few WorkNest webinars, I am always impressed with the no-nonsense, well-balanced guidance they provide. Their advice gives me confidence to deal with situations that may arise in an appropriate way and the fact that they follow up with answers to all the questions posed during the webinar is an added bonus.”
Mary Greig, Scaled Solutions
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