Working with staff

Contents

On this page you will find both practical tips for making sure staff can stay safe and well, along with an explanation of relevant government policies and financial support. It is aimed primarily at senior leaders in voluntary organisations who have responsibility for human resources and employee engagement but may be useful for any manager. 

Working from home 

• Under national lockdown in England, the government recommends that people work from home where they can effectively do so. 
• Where people cannot work from home, they should continue to travel to their workplace. Employers and employees should discuss their working arrangements and employers should take every possible step to help their employees to work from home. Learn more about going to work during national lockdown on the GOV.UK website.

Supporting staff to work from home

• Employers have a legal duty of care to support the health, safety and wellbeing of their staff when working from home. This also includes making sure that there are reasonable adjustments for disabled employees.
• It is good practice for your organisation to have a written record of your approach to home working and make sure this is applied consistently for all staff. You should build in flexibility to respond to individual circumstances such as caring responsibilities. You should seek to actively involve staff and any recognised trade union in developing your approach. 
• Some organisations have a home working policy which was designed where a minority of staff worked at home occasionally. It is therefore advisable to consider whether to suspend the policy (especially if it is associated with contractual terms and conditions) or update the policy. 
• Acas have developed advice and resources to help organisations set up and manage staff working from home.  Read Acas’ guidance on working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.   
• The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development published a range of resources for employers to enable their staff to work from home or work more flexibly. They include a home working questionnaire to plan what preparations and next steps are needed.
• Employers should provide equipment which enables staff to work effectively from home. This could include allowing staff to borrow equipment from the office. If doing so, employers are responsible for the equipment and technology they give employees. You can follow guidance from Acas on providing equipment and technology including the duties of both employers and employees.
• Where possible, provide flexibility to staff to work from home. This could include:
• additional flexibility in working hours
• relaxing ‘core hours’
• coordinating cross-organisational times where staff are not expected to be available or in meetings
• setting expectations of keeping in touch with team mates and managers - for example through a different pattern of team meetings. 
• Zurich has issued guidance on considerations when working from home.  
• Holding remote meetings can be difficult. CAST has developed a practical guide to remote meetings.  

Tax and benefits implications of working from home and supporting staff  

• An employer providing home working expenses for employees has certain tax, National Insurance and reporting obligations. You should follow the Expenses and benefits: homeworking guidance on the gov.uk website. 
• Employees but not volunteers may be able to claim tax relief for additional household costs if they have to work at home on a regular basis, either for all or part of the week. They can either claim tax relief on a flat rate of £6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week) or, if above this flat rate, claim for the specific amount. If this is the case you will need to provide evidence. Learn more about the relief on the Association of Taxation Technicians’ website and how employees can claim tax relief for job expenses on the gov.uk website.
• If you provide expenses and benefits to employees during the pandemic such as use of company cars, travel costs of additional testing (not through NHS Test & Trace) then read the HMRC guidance on taxable expenses and benefits when they are paid to employees because of coronavirus.

Supporting staff not working at home 

• Where employees must attend their workplace, the employer should make sure that the risk of covid transmission is minimised. Learn more on our ‘Managing covid risk’ Knowhow page
• Staff needing to attend their workplace can experience worries about how this may affect them and the people they live with or care for. The mental health charity Mind have issued guidance to help with understanding these feelings and tips for taking care and finding the right support. 
• Staff in key worker roles, such as those working in health, care, emergency and education roles face a range of physical and mental health risks. Our Frontline offers round-the-clock one-to-one support, by call or text, from trained volunteers. You will also find a range of resources, tips and ideas to look after your mental health. 

Supporting staff wellbeing

• Employers should be aware that working from home can create new demands, challenges and issues for all staff. It is essential to communicate, reassure and proactively offer support to staff to ensure their health and wellbeing. 
• Every employee will be working from home in different circumstances. Not all employees will have appropriate working space or suitable internet bandwidth and some may be working alongside additional caring responsibilities and disruption to usual support structures. Employers should make sure that managers know how flexibility can be applied to normal working practices to meet the different needs of your team. 
• Employers have legal duties of care to staff including towards their mental health and to not discriminate on the grounds of ill health or disability. You can learn more about your legal duties and practical ways to meet them on the Acas website. 
• Mental Health at Work  produced a toolkit of coping with the challenges of working from home. This includes links to a broad range of additional resources, templated and guides. 
• The mental health charity Mind have developed some tips on how employers can support the wellbeing of staff during covid-19 including publishing a model Wellness Action Plan. Line managers can play a key role in supporting staff. Mental Health First Aid have produced some guidance to support line managers in their role. HR Services Partnership, an NCVO Trusted Supplier, have produced guidance on managing health and well-being while working from home including how to help staff struggling with working at home. 
• Read general advice and information on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic on GOV.UK.
• Learn more top tips about being a compassionate leader and reviewing relevant organisational policies in our blog how to support staff wellbeing during coronavirus.
• Supporting staff wellbeing in a time of change and uncertainty is difficult.  For some tips on how you can do this, watch our webinar ‘how to manage operational change in a time of uncertainty’ (broadcast on 23 July 2020) 
• Business in the Community have produced a toolkit with actions for employers to support employees at risk or experiencing domestic abuse. 

Supporting staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable (‘shielding’) 

• Certain groups of people are at higher risk of covid-19. There are two levels of higher risk: high risk (clinically extremely vulnerable) and moderate risk (clinically vulnerable). You can learn more on the NHS website. 
• Under the under national lockdown in England, people who are at higher risk should not go to work.
• People who are extremely clinically vulnerable should follow resumed shielding guidance. The government will contact people who need to shield. For details, see the guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from covid-19 on GOV.UK.
• Under national lockdown, those who are shielding may be eligible for statutory sick pay, employment support allowance or universal credit if they are unable to work from home and their employer is unable to furlough them. The formal shielding notification that those who are clinically extremely vulnerable receive, will act as evidence of this possible eligibility. For more information read Acas' guidance on coronavirus: shielding and vulnerable people. 
• If someone has a disability or a physical or mental health condition that makes it hard for them to do their job, they may be able to get help from the government’s Access to Work scheme. This might cover extra travel costs if you have been told to not use public transport, additional personal protective equipment or additional remote support services, such as video remote interpreting or British Sign Language interpreting. Full details are on the Access to Work site. 

Self-isolating due to covid-19 symptoms or exposure and sick pay

• Staff with symptoms of covid-19 or who have received a positive covid-19 test result, should immediately self-isolate at home for at least 10 days from when the symptoms started. Anyone in their household must self-isolate for 14 days. 
• Staff should stay at home for 14 days if:
• someone they live with has symptoms or tested positive
• someone in their support bubble has symptoms or tested positive
• you have been told to by NHS ‘test and trace’ service.
• If staff develop symptoms during this isolation period, they should restart a 10-day isolation period from the day they developed symptoms. See government guidance about households with possible or confirmed coronavirus symptoms.
• It is a legal obligation on workers to notify their employer if they are required to self-isolate when they are due to work anywhere other than the place they are required to self-isolate. They must do this as soon as reasonably practicable and before they are next due to start work within the isolation period. The rules also apply to agency workers who must tell either their employer, their employment agency or their principle. Whoever is informed by the agency worker must pass the information onto the other two parties. Any worker who fails to do so will face a fine of at least £1,000.
• Similarly, it is a legal obligation for employers who are aware of the requirement of a worker to self-isolate to not knowingly allow them to attend any place other than where the worker is required to self-isolate, for any purpose related to the worker's employment.  Any employer who fails to do so will face a fine of at least £1,000. It is advisable for employers to keep a record of the worker’s reported self- isolation records and dates they attend the workplace.
• Employees who self-isolate are entitled to sick leave and statutory sick pay from the first day they are absent from work if:
• they have coronavirus
• they have coronavirus symptoms
• someone in their household has coronavirus symptoms
• they have been advised to stay at home by a doctor because of underlying health conditions
• they have been told to self-isolate by a doctor or NHS 111
• they've been told to self-isolate by a government 'test and trace' service.
• To learn more, Acas has issued guidance on sick pay for self-isolation during coronavirus. 
• If you're an employer, you may be eligible to use the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to claim back employees' coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Employers can learn more in HMRC guidance and they can check online if they are eligible. 
• Croner, an NCVO trusted supplier, has an HR and employment law helpline available to all voluntary sector organisations, free of charge.  Call 0844 561 8133.

Self-isolating due to international travel 

• It is a legal obligation on anyone who arrives in the UK from a ‘non-exempt country, territory or region’ to self-isolate for 10 days after arrival. Learn more in the guidance how to self-isolate when you travel to the UK. 
• You do not need to self isolate if the country, territory or region you are travelling from is exempt. This includes: 
• those listed on the travel corridors list
• Ireland
• the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
• Employees are not entitled to statutory sick pay if they're self-isolating after returning from holiday or business travel and they cannot work from home.
• Employers have discretion to grant unpaid leave for emergency travel. For details on this and other employment rights issues see guidance for workers and employers on self-isolating after returning to the UK on GOV.UK.

Meeting your equality duties as an employer

• Employers have specific legal obligations to treat employees equally and fairly. The
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission has issued guidance about covid-19 and managing staff fairly, including during redundancy processes; making reasonable adjustments for disabled people and meeting duties around pregnancy and maternity. 
• Learn more about your general equality duties as an employer on our main KnowHow pages. 

Coronavirus job retention scheme (furloughing)

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) gives employers access to support from HMRC to continue paying wages and avoid laying off staff or making them redundant due to the covid-19 pandemic. The scheme was introduced in March 2020 and has now been extended until 30 April 2021. 
• The CJRS will reimburse 80% of salary (to a cap of £2,500 per month). Employers do not need to have used the CJRS previously to access the extended scheme. Employers can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 30 October 2020. 
• Any of the following can be put on furlough whether they work full or part time: 
• Employees 
• Workers
• Agency workers
• Those on zero hour contracts 
• Apprentices 
• Employers can also furlough those who are temporarily unable to work because: 
• they have been advised to stay at home by their doctor because of an underlying health condition (‘shielding’) 
• they have childcare responsibilities 
• they are caring for a vulnerable person in their household.
• Employers can flexibly furlough employees. This means they can work for any amount of time and any work pattern.  They cannot work for you when they have been recorded as being on furlough.
• Furloughed staff can do volunteer work as long as it is for another employer or organisation. For a detailed overview of what furloughing means for those who want to volunteer or take on volunteers, please read our blog on furloughing and volunteering. 
• If only some employees are furloughed, consideration should be given to capacity and demand. You must be careful not to discriminate and to make furloughing decisions based on roles, not on personal characteristics. It may be appropriate to use a similar selection process as in a redundancy situation. 
• Public sector organisations and organisations receiving public funding specifically for salary costs are expected to continue to use that funding for salary costs rather than furloughing staff.  
• Read detailed government guidance to find out what happens when your employees are on furlough.
• Get the last update on the CJRS from HR Services Partnership, one of our Trusted Suppliers.  

Annual leave and furlough

• Employees on furlough continue to build up:
• statutory holiday entitlements 
• additional holiday provided under their employment contract.
• While on furlough employees can take holiday without disrupting the terms of their furlough. For example, if an employee is on furlough for four weeks and takes five days holiday during that furlough period, the start and end dates of that furlough period remain the same and will not be extended by five days. 
• Employees on furlough can request holiday through the usual channels at work. 
• Workers on furlough must get their usual pay in full, for any holiday they take while on furlough.
• Standard notice requirements still apply if:
• requesting an employee to take holiday
• refusing a request for holiday. 
• If requiring an employee to take holiday during furlough, consider any restrictions the employee is under. For example, social-distancing or self-isolation would prevent them from enjoying leisure time - a fundamental purpose of holiday. 
• As of 27 March 2020, the law changed regarding carrying over annual leave into the next calendar year.   
• Employees can now carry annual leave forward into the next two years.  This is the case where the impact of covid-19 meant it was not ‘reasonably practicable’ to take leave in that year. Check what can be considered ‘reasonably practicable,’ on the GOV.UK website 
• For more information on holiday entitlement and pay during covid-19, refer to the government guidance.

The Job Support Scheme 

• The Government intended to replace the Coronavirus job retention scheme (furloughing) at the start of November 2020 with the Job Support Scheme. This scheme gives less financial support to employers. 
• The scheme has now been postponed until at least 30 April 2021. 
• Employers should continue to check for revised details of the postponed Job Support Scheme.