WORKPLACE & EMPLOYMENT LAW
In a survey last year by international employee health care and investment consulting firm Mercer , more than 90 percent of employers said productivity had stayed the same or improved with staff working off-site . to live out of state and more . ( HR rules for out-of-state employees get complicated : Among other requirements , the employer has to adjust the payroll tax withholding of an out-of-state employee to reflect the other state ’ s rules , though the amount has to at least equal California ’ s .) Just as important , project teams need to regularly revisit , at least once a quarter , how well their systems for working together are functioning , writes Neeley .
In devising a policy , most experts suggest getting input from staff . Blackwood says starting in March 2020 , she sent her staff Google surveys every two weeks to check in : How were they feeling mentally ? Was the frequency of communication with the team and managers working for them ? How were they doing at home , and could they be effective working there ? She ’ s also a big fan of Gallup ’ s Q12 employee engagement survey , which asks staff questions about factors influencing their level of engagement that Gallup ’ s research shows affect productivity — whether they clearly understand what ’ s expected of them , whether managers are talking to them about their progress and more .
Planning for the new virtual-hybrid world also might mean redesigning the office space . With so many more video calls , companies are setting up “ Zoom rooms ” for on-site employees working in open layout spaces , says Naaz Alikhan , principal at Williams + Paddon and a member of Comstock ’ s Editorial Advisory Board . They ’ re a bit bigger than phone booths , offering privacy in a minimal footprint , she says .
Employers can turn to many local resources as they develop a policy . Devitt says the California Employers Association has a full remote workplace toolkit , and it provides member
training on developing remote work policies . The Society for Human Resource Management offers remote work policy templates and agreements companies can use or adapt , Letizia says . And Blackwood says businesses — including those not members of the Sacramento Metro Chamber — can call its free hotline . “ We can tell you what people did that worked ,” she says . “ We can tell you what didn ’ t work . You don ’ t have to figure it all out .”
42 comstocksmag . com | January 2022