Government working on legal framework for work from home

The Central Government is aiming to bring a legal framework for work-from-home employment in the country. The working hours of the employees will be fixed. Provision will be made regarding the cost to the employees in internet and electricity. The Centre's move comes on the heels of an assessment that the work-from-home approach will continue even after COVID ends.

According to those acquainted with the plan, the goal is to create a legal framework for new work modes that have emerged in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, such as work from home or hybrid working, in order to safeguard employees from the extremely infectious coronavirus.

A consultant firm has been hired to examine the 'future of work' in the context of the epidemic and the benefits it provides to stakeholders, according to sources.

The government formalised work from home for the services industry with a standing order in January of this year, allowing businesses and employees to agree on work hours and other service requirements. The move, however, was viewed as a sham because the services industry, which is mostly comprised of IT and ITeS, has already been allowing employees to work from home under specific circumstances.

According to the official, the administration now aims to create a comprehensive formal structure for all industries. Other countries are putting in place similar structures at the same time as the United States. A recent law in Portugal defines labour standards aimed at providing more security to employees who work outside of the company's facilities. Within the government, there is agreement that legislation be introduced to provide legal support for working from home.

Lot of industries especially in the IT sector had started asking their employees to return back to office from the work-from-home model. However they are now beginning to consider different permanent work models for their employees as the coronavirus pandemic, and the spread of the Omicron variant, destabilize their latest return-to-office plans. Many employees found that they were more productive working from home as they did not have to deal with pronounced traffic conditions that could span three to four hours each way. 

Even though technology firms were using collaborative tools for remote working much before 2020, their use was limited. When the government issued a statewide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 in March 2020, and work from home became the norm. In fact it was a blessing in disguise for some parts of corporate India who had never worked remotely before. In the time they would have spent commuting, they were able to work and spend time with their family, reflect, learn new things, and pursue hobbies. Even the Central Government had  come out with guidelines for ‘work for home’ for the central government employees Read: Work from home - Details of draft guidelines

Even though the current work-from-home is due to the COVID pandemic, considering various advantages, the system is likely to continue. However, the physical connection and camaraderie will be missed. It is believed that the future of workspace will be combination or work from the home-office hybrid. As more and more services are moved online even government employees may be in the future working in this mode