The rise of COVID has led to more opportunities to work from home, especially if the job can be done as well from home as in the office. Not only does this decrease the cost of maintaining employees’ work environments for employers, but it also provides a more comfortable and flexible workspace. However, some employees may be taking advantage of the seclusion by working on freelance jobs or personal matters during work hours.
How can employers prevent and respond to employees taking advantage of working from home?
Legal Implications
Part of preventing and responding to two-timing employees is understanding the legal and ethical implications of an employee freelancing the same work they do for your company. It raises the risk that their freelancing clients can access company information and client data. This poses a privacy risk to your company and clientele that could lead to legal ramifications. Additionally, the remote employee may not be turning in their best work if they do not have the accountability of the office environment. This could also lead to legal ramifications if the clientele is not happy with the work being done for them, impacting the company and its reputation.
Writing Policies
Writing policies and contracts could be the legal preventative measure for keeping employees focused on the work they are being paid to do. Blatantly stating the rules about what an employee should be doing during work hours, how many hours they should be working, and how to ask for time off to handle personal matters not only informs the employee of the rules but also keeps them liable for any damage to the company related to their remote work. Companies should also write a policy on both intellectual property and nondisclosure to ensure the private company information is staying in the company and not being released to any third parties.
Tracking Activity
Many companies with remote workers (or even in-person workers) use programs that allow employees to manually track their hours and deceive employers on how much work they are doing. However, some programs are made for automatically tracking how much time is being spent on specific tasks, making it easier to see what an employee is spending their time doing during work hours. Especially if an employee is given a work computer, a program can easily be installed that monitors their computer activity. Finding ways to track your employee’s activities and hours could inspire them to keep on task and allow for easier responses if they take advantage of company time.
Staffing with ClearStar
ClearStar is integrated with SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting to deliver accredited, award-winning, mobile background and medical screening capabilities to clients. ClearStar is certified by the SAP ICC to ensure quick and easy implementation and is also a partner in the SAP PartnerEdge program. As such, our company is empowered to build, market, and sell software applications on top of market-leading technology platforms from SAP. To quickly and effectively find new qualified employees, work with ClearStar and SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting on background screening and hiring.
To learn more about ClearStar’s integrations with SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, visit https://www.clearstar.net/sap-successfactors/. To place an order for a social media screening report or other background checks, contact ClearStar at +1.888.982.4648 or visit https://www.clearstar.net/contact/.
