Largescale working from home has caused companies plenty of headaches since the pandemic began. IT issues have been tricky to navigate, from distributing and maintaining equipment to providing appropriate access to data. Much attention has also been paid to the emotional aspects of working remotely, with companies scrambling to take care of their employees’ mental health.
Home working and insurance
Now, nearly 18 months after the first lockdown began, companies are dealing with a different kind of headache: insurance. James Moir, Director of Operations at Work Here, Work There, explains:
“Businesses are obliged to provide safe working environments for their staff. When employees work from home, companies need to undertake risk assessments for each and every remote worker. That’s a huge task for larger businesses but there’s no scope for avoiding it, not if they want to keep their insurers on side.”
Keeping employees safe
DSE assessments aren’t required for people working from home temporarily, which is why many companies were initially relaxed about the situation. However, as hybrid working and full-time remote working models become more established, safety and insurance issues are coming to the fore. As such, a growing number of companies are focusing on home worker safety assessments, whether they want to or not!
This is, in many instances, being driven by insurers. Insurance companies need to know that the businesses they insure are doing all they can to keep workers safe. This means companies need to undertake display screen equipment (DSE) assessments and electrical safety checks at workers’ homes.
“Having to undertake electrical checks and provide DSE assessments for remote workers can be very time-consuming,” adds Moir. “Many of the businesses we work with are delighted that they can outsource this service, as it removes an operational pain point. Most simply don’t have the time and resources to focus on this right now, so they need a neat solution. Work Here, Work There is that solution.”