Working from home is a crucial part of the talent retention program that we have in place for our business. We have a number of staff who work from home and it works very well – they get the flexibility that they need and we get to keep some great people who might otherwise have to move on.
So it is with some concern that I have been reading about a case where a Telstra worker who was working from home and slipped down the stairs – twice.
She successfully took action and received compensation, creating a worrying precedent – that employers are responsible for the safety of employees when they are working from home.
If you have employees working from home, you need to start thinking about this case and how it might affect you.
You may need to ask your staff members who work from home to complete a safety check and report any potential issues back to you. If there are problems, you will need to work out how to address them.
You may even need to get out to your employees house and do a check yourself.
I will be talking to my HR adviser about this. You should seek similar advice.
Get it done – today!
COMMENTS
SmartCompany is committed to hosting lively discussions. Help us keep the conversation useful, interesting and welcoming. We aim to publish comments quickly in the interest of promoting robust conversation, but we’re a small team and we deploy filters to protect against legal risk. Occasionally your comment may be held up while it is being reviewed, but we’re working as fast as we can to keep the conversation rolling.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please subscribe to leave a comment.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please login to leave a comment.