That will of course be easier for some employers than others and will be dependent on your industry and the type of services that you deliver. In many cases it may be the case that within your own business you have some teams and individuals that can work from home whilst others cannot. So where do you start when there is an increasing pressure for us all to limit our social interactions and limit all non-essential travel?

If you haven’t already done so, your priority should be talking to and working with employees so that you can understand individual circumstances and are able to support your employees and your business through the coming weeks and months.

Where you aren’t able to take a blanket approach of allowing everybody to work from home, the quickest and easiest way to understand the impact on your employees and your business is by collating data from your employees on the their individual circumstances. Then use this information to make informed decisions about your next steps.

Ask your employees direct and pertinent questions in a short questionnaire, explaining that you are gathering this data to help support employees and the business through the challenging times that lay ahead.

• Do you have a weakened immune system or a long-term medical condition such as diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease or respiratory conditions such as asthma? Or do you live with anybody who has any of these conditions?
• Are you pregnant or living with anyone who is pregnant?
• Do you have any regular caring responsibilities for sick or elderly relatives or anybody who is considered to be in a high-risk category?
• Do you need to use public transport to get to work?
• Do you have the necessary physical equipment (computer, phone, desk etc) to work from home if this was needed?
• Do you have the necessary applications or software to work from home if needed?
• Do you have access to a reliable and secure internet connection?
• What business tasks would you be unable to perform from home?
• Are you able to use call forwarding to take calls at home or on your mobile?
• What additional equipment would you need to work from home for a sustained period of time? 
• Will you require additional training or support to work from home or to use any remote working systems?
• How long could you work from home before your work productivity is seriously affected?

Please also remember that you have responsibilities as an employer in relation to GDPR and data security and these are things that need to be accounted for in any planning that you undertake.

We know that every business is different and the difficulty for us all is that there is no one size fits all approach as we navigate our way through this period of uncertainty. If you require any specific advice, please contact us today.