HOME AND REMOTE WORKING To assist in the promotion of work-life balance it has been relatively common for employers to authorise homeworking where the job role enables this to take place successfully. Hence, homeworking has traditionally referred to when employees normally work on their employers’ premises but are allowed to work from home occasionally. As the pandemic has taken hold, more employees are working from home. This differs from traditional homeworking as this work arrangement has taken on a semi-permanent status, for example until Covid-19 infection rates decline and locations are not in some form of lockdown. As such, those engaging in home working have found themselves becoming “remote workers”. Remote working can encompass
a range of different work situations. Traditionally
it has referred
individuals who either work permanently from home or from a co-working centre (a non-company provided workspace). Remote workers may visit their employing organisation on an infrequent, occasional basis. Other forms of remote work include arrangements where employees can work from anywhere. Typically such workers might work in their employers’ premises, hot-desking for example when they are on-site. However, because their job role does not require
12 to
physical presence on the employer’s worksite, they can opt to work in a location of their own choice. This could be their own home but also might be any other location.
VIRTUAL ASSIGNMENTS In relation to global mobility, remote working is most likely to take the form of a virtual assignment. This might indicate a range of home/remote work options. For example, the virtual assignee might remain in their home country and deliver their work obligations in one other country – potentially in place of undertaking an international assignment of some kind (long- term, short-term, commuter, rotation, etc.). Alternatively, or even in addition to one primary host location work obligation, an assignee may remain at home and
contribute to work duties
and objectives across a range of different international locations. Remote working might also
take place whereby the assignee is based in the host country, delivering work objectives for the host country operation (and potentially other locations as well), but works from their own host country home. There is also the potential for assignees to live in a third country (neither the home nor the host location) and again deliver their work remotely to home/ host/global business operations. Where necessary, and possible given Covid-19 restrictions, individuals might supplement remote working
with business trips to home, host or third country employer premises. Clearly it can be seen that remote
working opens up a plethora of issues for global mobility professionals. Looking beyond compliance (immigration and tax requirements), virtual assignments raise issues linked to talent management strategies and global team outcomes.
TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Talent attraction and retention is critical to business success. The use of virtual assignments and other home/remote work arrangements can prove to be an attractive proposition to draw in individuals with valuable competencies. It can also aid organisations seeking to widen the diversity profile of their workforce with all the attendant benefits that diversity brings to the workplace. It is important to start by
identifying which roles can be carried out remotely – some functions lend themselves more easily to this than others. Similarly with virtual assignments, it is important to identify the need for physical country presence and to determine whether assignees can be home country based but work globally or whether there is a need to be physically located in the host country but with the potential to work from home and visit the worksite when necessary. A third country location as a base might prove useful if assignees can
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