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

An employment expert has warned against a ‘working from home’ trend on social media, in which home workers exchange their home office for a spot on the beach.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working has become fairly standard across Australia, with 46 percent of the workforce 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 TikTok and Instagram was flooded with remote workers taking their laptops to the coast – often without their employers’ knowledge.

When the work is done, it is relatively harmless; However, an employment expert told nine.com.au there are hidden dangers to the popular practice.

Partner and employment expert at Citation Legal, an employment law firm, Lisa Qiu, says if the location where you work affects your performance, it could result in disciplinary action.

“If the employers managing their performance can see that the employee is doing well, they meet their KPIs, and where the employee works generally does not become an issue if there is an agreed hybrid working arrangement,” Qiu said.

“But if you’re doing work that requires you to be in front of a laptop, and where you need to be able to answer a call from a team with a client or a colleague, and you can’t do that because you’re working on the beach, then I think there could be legitimate performance issues that could lead to disciplinary issues.”

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“There’s a difference between saying you’re at work, but you’re lying on the beach, sunbathing and going swimming, compared to when you’re sitting on a bench at the beach and working.”

Qiu added that employers are well within their rights to tell their employees that they cannot work remotely anywhere other than home if it is in their contract or part of company policy.

“If someone logs into a hotspot or Wi-Fi in a public place, the Wi-Fi connection cannot guarantee the security of the network,” she adds.

“Depending on what they’re logging in for while working remotely and what security networks they have access to, they could be violating their company’s IT policies.

“There are also a lot of risks to the company because company assets, such as their phones and their laptops, can be damaged in an environment like the beach, where water, sand and the sun shines on electronic devices.”

“There is also a risk that confidentiality will be breached if they work on confidential documents or conduct confidential meetings or telephone calls in a public space.”

She says the best way for employees to protect themselves from problems when working remotely is to know what their contract says, be aware of company policies around working from home, and keep an open line of communication with their managers about the work they do.

“If their employment contract states that you can work remotely from any location as long as you meet these performance goals and don’t violate 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 issue, especially for larger employers who want to have the same standard and expectations for all employees in terms of appropriate remote work locations, so that all employees are treated the same.”

“If your contract says you can work remotely from your home residence, and you’re working out of your home residence as a precaution, I would say have that conversation with your manager and see what the expectations are.”

Qiu said the work-from-home dilemma is a “gray area” because some people actually work better in hybrid work arrangements. He added that employers’ expectations about what is and is not allowed are not always clear.

”During Covid, there were people who didn’t have a good home office or whose home office became difficult to work in because there were children around or everyone in the house was unemployed,” she adds.

“They may have gone to a quiet café to do their work, and they may even have performed better there than having to work in a busy household.

“We see more employers wanting to have these conversations with their employees and ensure that contracts, policies and internal communications about hybrid work are clear.”

The most important message, she says, is to talk to your employer and make sure they are on the other side of where you work to make sure there isn’t a problem.

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