Common work-from-home practice could get you fired, expert warns

An employment expert has warned against a 'work from home' trend sweeping social media, which sees remote workers swap their home office for a spot on the beach.

Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, remote working has become pretty standard across Australia, with 46 per cent of the employed population working from home at least one day a week (or more), according to Roy Morgan.

But a new trend of 'beach offices' is exploding online in Australia, with TikTok and Instagram flooded with remote workers taking their laptops to the seaside – often without their employer's knowledge.

If the work is getting done, then it is relatively harmless; however, an employment expert told nine.com.au that there are hidden dangers to the popular practice.

Partner and employment expert at employment specialist law firm, Citation Legal, Lisa Qiu, says if the location you're working at impacts your output, it can result in disciplinary action.

"If the employers managing their performance can see that the employee is doing well, they are hitting their KPIs, then where the employee works generally does not become an issue if there is an agreed hybrid working arrangement in place," Qiu said.

"But if you're doing work that requires you to sit in front of a laptop, requires you to be able to pick up a team's call with a client or with a colleague, and you can't do that because you're working at the beach, then I think there can be legitimate performance concerns which could lead to disciplinary issues."

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"There's a difference between saying you're working, but you're lying on the beach, tanning and going for a swim, compared to you sitting on a park bench at the beach and working."

Qiu added that employers are well within their rights to tell their employees that they can't work remotely from anywhere other than home if it's in their contract or part of the company policy.

"If someone's signing up to a hotspot or Wi-Fi in a public area, the Wi-Fi connection can't guarantee the security of the network," she adds.

"Depending on what they're actually logging in to do while they're working remotely on, and what security networks they're accessing, they could be in breach of their company's IT policy.

"There's also a whole lot of risks for the company because company property, like their phones and their laptops, could be damaged in an environment like the beach, where there's water, sand, and the sun beating down on electronic devices."

"There's also the risk of a breach of confidentiality if they are working on confidential documents or having confidential meetings or phone calls in a public space."

She says the best way for employees to protect themselves from getting into trouble when working remotely is to know what's in their contract, be aware of the company's policies around working from home, and keep an open line of communication with their managers about what work they are doing.

"If their employment contract says you can work remotely from any location, as long as you're hitting these performance goals and not in breach of any company policy, then it may not be a problem for the employer," she said.

"On the other hand, it can become a workforce management problem, especially for larger employers who may wish to have the same benchmark and expectations for all employees in terms of appropriate remote working locations, so that all employees are being treated the same."

"If your contract says that you're able to work remotely at your home residence, and you're working away from your home residence as a precaution, I would say have that conversation with your manager and see what the expectations are."

Qiu said that the work-from-home dilemma is a "grey area" as some people do actually work better in hybrid working arrangements, adding that expectations from employers about what is and isn't allowed aren't always clear.

"During Covid, there were some people who didn't have a good work-from-home office or whose home office became difficult to work in because kids were around or everyone in the home was WFH," she adds.

"They might have gone out to a quiet cafe to do their work, and they might have actually performed better doing that than having to work in a busy household.

"We're seeing more employers looking to have these conversations with their employees and ensuring that contracts, policies and internal communications about hybrid work are clear".

The key takeaway, she says, is to speak to your employer and make sure they're across where you are working from to make sure it's not an issue.

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