COVID-19 and the rush to work from home: the basics

The coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been declared a pandemic, and employers across the United States are shutting their doors, laying off nonessential employees, and directing essential employees to work from home. With the rush to telework, small and medium-size employers have been put in a tough spot and are facing difficult questions.

In many cases, asking management employees to work from home is a relatively easy matter. If an employee has a laptop, an Internet connection, and a cell phone, remote work isn't difficult. But what about support staff who field telephone calls, deal with clients, customers, or vendors, and perform other traditional office support functions? Typically, those employees, who are often the backbone of a small business, are only set up to work in their employer's office, and they don't have a company laptop and phone or remote computer access.

Establishing a remote work policy

Whether your business already has a telework policy or is just beginning to look at policy options, it's absolutely vital that you spell out the details of the policy up front. The first step is establishing clear expectations for whatever policy you choose to adopt. You must have well-defined standards so that both supervisors and workers understand the rules, including the hours you expect them to work and the work options that will be available (e.g., phone or video conferencing).