Does a company have the right to dictate to an employee WHERE they work if they're working remotely? Specifically, I'm concerned about temporary situations where an associate goes to another state or location for a week, but continues to maintain their work schedule from that temporary location. I had an associate go to another state for a week to visit family. The associate maintained their work schedule, attended all meetings virtually, put out high quality work, and met all deadlines. I was then told that if an associate goes to visit family, they have to stop working and use their PTO time. I'm interested to hear thoughts of HR leaders in other organizations.
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VP of HR7 months ago
I wholeheartedly concur with Morgan Williams. Understanding the regular work locations of employees is vital for businesses to optimize resource allocation, adhere to legal and regulatory requirements, tailor communication channels, and foster employee engagement.Beyond the potential significant financial implications of taxation violations, the lack of precise knowledge regarding employee work locations can give rise to other risks, including:
Informational Security: Sensitive information displayed on screens in public places could be compromised.
Cybersecurity: Employees working or traveling in state-controlled countries may face security threats.
Environmental Health and Safety: Ensuring home office safety and ergonomic practices is essential.
Crisis Preparedness: In case of natural disasters or crises, being unable to locate an employee poses challenges.
As part of our flexible work policy and program, we meticulously considered these factors. Our approach involves requiring all employees to specify their workplace type (office, hybrid, or remote) in our Human Capital Management (HCM) system and confirm their work location. Virtual workers pledge to adhere to all Flexible Work policy requirements.
Key features of our Flexible Work policy include:
Approval Process: Hybrid or remote employees must obtain approval from their manager or leader regarding their workplace status and specific work location(s).
Safety Assessment: Before transitioning to a non-standard work location, employees must provide evidence of passing a workplace safety assessment.
Location Limits: We define limits on the number of days per month an employee can work in a location not specified in the HCM. For instance, while vacationing in Belize, an employee can work for a week, but maintaining a second home there for weekly work is not permitted.
Guidelines for Public Spaces and Travel: Additional guidelines cover working in public spaces and traveling for work, especially in certain countries.
VP of HR7 months ago
I have always used an approach where a fully remote associate could work from anywhere of their choosing so long as they abided by tax regulations, followed appropriate information security protocols, and met job requirements which may include being available during certain hours of clients or customers. Other than that, remote workers can use their judgement on their location.
A lot of people ignore this but it can cost a company a ton of money and even shut the company down (not adding for scare tactics) once they’re caught. The business would also need to file taxes there AND so would the employee.
These are not new rules, the IRS just didn’t really care before and it wasn’t so broad. It gets tricky when you live in a state like NY but are working in TX a majority of the time and don’t want to file state taxes so you file in TX yet your business shouldn’t even be operating there.
This is why it’s important to notify HR so the correct taxes are taken out of every check and when the person and business files they’re both compliant. Next time you file your taxes you’ll see it ask how long you’ve been in certain locations this is due to taxation.
I hope I’ve answered your question and gave a good example.