Guidance: Flexible Working (Work from Home)

This Guidance is issued under Section 95(a) of the Public Service Act 2020 by the Public Service Commissioner. It should be read in conjunction with the 2024 Government Workforce Policy Statement.

This Guidance replaces the Hybrid Working Guidance 2022 and the Flexible-By-Default Guidance 2020. Workplaces now have a better understanding of the benefits and risks of flexible working arrangements and have foundational policies and approaches in place. This Guidance clarifies that all flexible work arrangements must be agreed and managed to support a high-performance culture.

Existing policies and approaches should be updated where necessary, to align with this Guidance. However, where any agency has agreed to any express terms in its employment agreements, these will apply to the extent of any inconsistency. Further, this Guidance should be read together with any legislative requirements, including the Flexible Working provisions set out in the Part 6AA Employment Relations Act.

This Guidance focuses on working from home, but agencies may consider and agree other forms of flexible working, such as part-time hours and flexible start and finish times.

This Guidance applies to Departments and Departmental Agencies, Interdepartmental Executive Boards and Interdepartmental Ventures. Crown Entities and non-Public Service departments are encouraged to consider this Guidance.

Government expectations

On 23 September 2024, the Government set out its expectations for the Public Service on working from home. The Government’s expectations are:

1. Working from home arrangements in the Public Service are not an entitlement and should be by explicit agreement between an employee and their employer.
   Chief Executives and managers should ensure that where any arrangements are made, they are subject to consistent monitoring and oversight.
2. Working from home arrangements should only be agreed to where they will not compromise the performance of employees, their teams or their agencies.
   This requires agencies to adequately weigh the benefits of employees being physically present for work, the cumulative impact of widespread working from home arrangements, and to consider performance in its widest sense: including potential impacts on learning and development, productivity, team culture and engagement.
3. Agencies should actively monitor the prevalence and impact of working from home arrangements and be able to regularly report to the Public Service Commission about the number and nature of the agreements they have in place, including having a clear understanding of the impact these agreements will have on particular days of the week.

What agencies need to do now

The Government expectations do not mean public servants cannot work from home or that public servants must work in the office on a set number of days each week. Nor do they change existing arrangements that have been explicitly agreed with employees or which are rights and obligations prescribed by law.

Alignment with this Guidance will look different for each agency, and this is expected and supported. At a minimum though, agencies should:

• Review existing flexible work and work from home policies to ensure they align with the Government’s expectations and the agency’s legal obligations [1].
• Ensure all individual work from home arrangements:
  • Align with the agency’s policies,
  • Are expressly agreed with the employer, and
  • Are recorded in accordance with the agency’s policy.
• Ensure managers regularly review all work from home arrangements and assess their ongoing suitability and impact on the team’s and organisation’s performance in its widest sense (including impacts on learning and development, productivity, team culture and engagement).
• Give effect to the expectation of monitoring and oversight - both at an individual level (by managing clear performance expectations as part of a high-performance culture) and at the agency level (by having visibility of all work from home arrangements).
• Be able to report on the number of employees regularly working from home and on what days of the week.
• Regularly report their work from home data to the Public Service Commission from time to time.

Consider whether activities are suited to working from home

When considering whether roles or activities can be performed from home, it might be helpful to consider:

• Frequency: Activities that are regularly repeated may need less in-person contact than activities that are infrequent.
• Novelty/ambiguity: Activities or tasks that are new or ambiguous may need more in-person contact than work that is familiar and undertaken often.
• Individual/team experience: Where the staff member or team is developing, they may need more face-to-face support than those who are fully proficient. The needs of the team at that time, and ongoing, should be considered.
• Trust: Activities that build trust and are important for relationships may need face-to-face contact.
• Task interdependence: The more that tasks require collaboration and the input of more than one staff member, the more face-to-face contact will be needed to complete the work efficiently and effectively.
• Cumulative impact: The cumulative impact of the number of people working remotely across a team and the whole agency may

Set clear performance expectations and manage to them

Having a performance culture that supports people leaders to set and manage to expectations is critical. It requires additional consideration when putting in place flexible working arrangements. Managers get the best from teams when they make delivery and quality expectations clear and measure performance against these expectations. Team members, whether they work flexibly or not, do their best work when they manage their time, deliver to expectations and maintain good lines of communication with managers and colleagues. Subject to any special arrangements or accommodations that may have been agreed, managers should address performance issues in the same way for all employees, whatever flexible work arrangement has been agreed.

Be deliberate about ways of working

When working flexibly, it is especially important that managers, employees, and teams talk regularly about flexible arrangements, how they are working and how any challenges can be addressed.

When building good performance management practices, managers should:

• Agree and record agreed norms of behaviour within their team. For example, maintaining oversight of team members’ location, how and when they can be reached, how regular and urgent communication will be maintained, and how/when arrangements will be reviewed.
• Ensure all employees, regardless of location, share in unexpected and urgent work, as well as long-term challenging projects.
• Hold regular team check-ins to maintain good team relationships.
• Constantly communicate about work deliverables, quality standards and timelines.

Manage health and safety

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 employers are primarily responsible for their workers’ health and safety, while they are at work. That means that when employees ask to work from home, agencies must consider the risks their employees might be exposed to in that environment, the degree of harm those risks could cause, and how those risks can be mitigated. Examples of common risks of working from home include workstation setup, and isolation/loneliness.

Agencies should specifically consider the risks to the psychological health of hybrid workers and how this can be managed. Working physically alongside team members is an important way to stay connected. It helps social cohesion, inclusion, builds trust and helps create a common culture. Feelings of isolation can be harmful for mental health. Equally, hybrid working can support mental health by providing quiet space for concentrated individual work.

What is most important is that workers and employers are aware of the risks and have plans in place to manage risk and support wellbeing. When work is designed, organised, and managed well, it will reduce the likelihood of harm and will also enhance wellbeing.

Agencies can find more information about aspects of flexible working arrangements and mentally healthy work on these websites:

Staying mentally healthy when working from home – WorkSafe.govt.nz

Supporting workers to work from home – HealthandSafety.govt.nz

Resources | Government Health and Safety Lead – HealthandSafety.govt.nz

Manage Protective Security Risks

Agencies must ensure that appropriate measures are in place to manage the protective security risks of workers/staff working from home.

Specific guidance to staff on IT security may be required, as well as on records management. This should include transporting and sorting hard copies of information created in the office, whether hardcopy information may be created at home, and how this information will be stored, incorporated into records management systems, or archived/destroyed as appropriate and any security clearance requirements of employees.

For further information, including handling requirements for classified information, visit:

ProtectiveSecurity.govt.nz

Active monitoring and reporting

Any flexible working arrangements need regular monitoring to ensure they continue to meet the needs of the team and the agency, and that the impact on the team’s and organisation’s performance in its widest sense is known and managed.

From time to time the Public Service Commission may request flexible working data from departments and departmental agencies. The Commission may also collect information to understand agencies implementation of the guidance.

[1]Public Service Act 2020 employment legislation (including but not limited to, the Employment Relations Act 2000 (Section 6AA flexible working), Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the Human Rights Act 1993 (reasonable accommodations)).