Commentary: Hybrid working may change contractual terms and conditions for employees

SINGAPORE: Certain countries, such as the Netherlands, have had a head start in putting in place hybrid working legislation, well before COVID-19 brought homeworking to the forefront, to protect the interests of both the employer and its employees.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah's exhortation to employers to consider offering staff a hybrid work arrangement beyond COVID-19 to allow them to attend to elderly parents or young children, has also been met with broad support and approval. An extreme yet entirely plausible example of this is as follows: During office hours, an executive, seated at his desk at home, takes a work-related call on his mobile. He gets up and walks across the room to retrieve a document needed for the call, trips over his toddler’s toys and fractures his foot.

Employers may also follow the example of France, which has rolled out self-assessment forms to be completed by employees in respect of occupational risks related to working from home. Employers are also clearly stipulating working hours, rest days, overtime and other terms that remote-working employees must abide by in order to avoid claims of breaches of the Employment Act by employees, given that working times are less defined in a homeworking environment.Employers are potentially facing the reverse challenge of ring-fencing employees' personal and home lives from the increasing encroachment of work – which have led to complaints of depression, anxiety and burnout.

The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being at Workplaces, introduced in November 2020, educates employers on progressive ways in which they can support employees’ mental health, such as providing access to external counselling services. While laudable, the advisory lacks bite and doesn't compel employers to adopt the suggestions.

In the interim, it is crucial that companies put in place measures, benefits, and policies to safeguard their employees' long-term mental health, taking into account the unique stressors posed by hybrid working.

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