Companies and workers had to rapidly adjust and improvise during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that work-from-home routines and policies have become more established, employers are creating policies to provide their remote employees with tools for productivity and comfort.
Creating a policy
Every office has its own requirements for equipment, stemming from the business’s industry and the personnel concerned. But the ways to address needs can be reduced to four overall models, which you can adapt to suit your operations.
1. The genial employer. In this model, you furnish remote workers with most or all of the equipment they would have had at the office. This includes desks, chairs, computers, copiers and office supplies. You may be able to source some of these from an office that is shuttered or partially reduced. You, as the employer, purchase support systems, such as
internet access, for the employee.
If you are supplying a significant amount of gear, you may have to transport it to the employee’s home. It may make sense to use a professional company to provision, deliver, manage and eventually retrieve office equipment. (Contracts should specify that equipment will be returned and contracts will be terminated when employment ends.)
2. The cordial employer. In this model, you provide a few, limited essentials — perhaps a laptop and a basic printer. The clear benefit of this model is that it is less expensive and easier to manage. However, employees might resent the amount they have to pay out of pocket to equip a home office and to cover the cost of internet access.
3. The employer stipend. In this model, the employer covers what the employee spends on needed equipment, supplies and services. The stipend might be a one-time payment or a recurring allowance (paid, for example, each month). The stipend will not be taxable to the employee as income if they provide receipts showing that the full amount was spent for business expenses or return any stipend they don’t spend. Although stipends are a flexible solution, you should stipulate that any equipment purchased be compatible with that used elsewhere in the company and that your technicians be able to support it.
4. Bring your own. Some employers require employees to purchase and use their own devices. While this is simple to administer, the downside is the company has no control over what is purchased, and it may be hard for IT to be sure the equipment is compatible and serviceable. The employer also runs the risk of appearing to be a cheapskate.
Shopping list
To choose the best model for your company, decide what you consider to be the necessary equipment for a comfortable and practical workspace. A basic list might include:
- A laptop; ideally, this is preloaded with work software
- An office chair; ideally, one that is ergonomic and correctly sized for the user
- A desk; preferences and size will vary from user to user
- A monitor, which should be at least 27″ x 32″, with 4K or higher resolution
- A wireless mouse and keyboard
- An ergonomic wrist rest
- A laptop stand
- A webcam
- A background for videoconferencing
- A headset with noise-canceling capability
- A scanner and a printer
- A paper shredder
- For executives, a vault/safety box
- A high-quality surge protector with multioutlets
- Blue-light glasses or a computer screen filter
Be aware that people with disabilities must have their specific requirements addressed.
More than comfortable
Early in the pandemic, we learned that makeshift workspaces impinge on productivity. Generous support for home offices is money well spent, both because it supports good work and because employees feel their needs are being met.
Further, helping to build home offices may not be as much of a financial hit as it initially seems; companies can boost their bottom lines by shifting workers out of the workplace. Research from Global Workplace Analytics in March 2021 estimated that an employer could save $11,000 per employee annually by letting them work remotely half the time.
Many employees have come to expect remote work as a right more than a privilege. Make sure they have what they need to maintain consistent standards.
