Hello Respected Members !

Kindly advise me on the following situation in my organization-

As part of our policy, we allow 12 work-from-home days for our employees in one calendar year... In case someone exceeds those days and works from home even beyond the stipulated quota, can we deduct the excess work-from-home days from available leave balance/ salary( in case leaves have been exhausted) ?

Waiting for your valuable suggestions.

Regards,
Barnali Sengupta
Chief People Officer
Shreyansh Innovations Pvt. Ltd.

From India, Kolkata
Dear Bernali Sengupta,

Please note that "Work From Home" (WFH) and "Employee Leave" are two independent things. There is no need to establish a relationship between the two.

In a few companies, WFH is an employee welfare measure. In fact, in the post-pandemic era WFH has entrenched and hybrid work has become a norm. A few companies prefer employees working from home as they feel that employees save time in commuting to the workplace and thereby spend more time with the family. WFH is a blessing in disguise to strike a work-life balance.

Under the Provisions of Factories Act or the Shops and Establishment Act, as applicable, the attendance of the employee decides the eligibility of the employee. The method of working, whether work rendered from the office or from home, does not dilute the eligibility. The eligibility for leave remains intact.

Have you done a study to understand the productivity difference between WFH and Work From Office (WFO)? Do you have statistical data that proves that productivity declines if the employees work from home? A decision taken without having sufficient data at hand could prove counterproductive.

If you have data proving the company incurs losses because of WFH beyond 12 days, then I propose to conduct a town hall meeting and give a presentation. Later, ask the employees to give suggestions on how to plug the losses. Possibly a better solution or a creative solution may emerge. When the employees participate in the decision-making process, then it is a higher acceptance. A participative style motivates employees. On the contract, a decision based on one's perception if pushed through the throats of the employees, there could be a recoil. It also runs a risk of employee demotivation. Which course to follow, directive or participative, is a call that the administration of your company has to take.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

From India, Bangalore
Hi,

As per your Company Policy employees are allowed to work from home for 12 days per Calendar year . Now your question is if some one exceeds beyond 12 days and continue to support from home whether those days can be adjusted against leave or salary in case of no leave balance.

As you claim those employees had worked for those days from home and hence considering those work days as leave or deducting salary in case of no leave balance is not ethical. I'm not sure what type of business your Organization is carrying out. I hope as part of work from home those employees will be carrying out the work from home by accessing the server through remote VPN or any other tool. Why not you can advise your IT team to disconnect the Server access thereby those employees will not be able to access server. Added to the above you may advise employees to resume to back work from office through email.

Also you can pass a circular for all employees that all employees should strictly adhere to WFH Policy of the Company and should not exceed beyond entitlement days.

In case of any repetition from employees you may issue warning letter to those employees who are regularly exceeding the WFH without any prior authorization.

From India, Madras
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