Work From Home Employees In India Will Have Fixed Working Hours, Allowance For Electricity, Chair, Desk!

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 the world, and India for that matter has seen a lot of change. It has changed the way people interact with each other. It has also changed the way people work as well. And now, we have even government of India is preparing to bring a legal framework to protect employees in the new normal of Work From Home.

India to bring a legal framework for Work From Home

According to recent reports, India is gearing up to bring a comprehensive framework for work from home set up. This framework will define the liability of employers towards employees working from home.

Behind this new framework, idea is to provide a legal framework for the new models of work that have emerged during the pandemic, such as work from home or hybrid working to protect employees from the highly infectious coronavirus, people familiar with the move said.

The framework can bring in new guidelines for fixing work hours for employees and payment of additional expenses incurred by them towards electricity and internet usage because of working from home.

‘Future of Work’ is being determined

According to a top government official, discussions have started to ascertain ways in which India can regulate work from home, which is expected to become a norm going forward. “A consultancy firm is being roped in to determine ‘future of work’ in the backdrop of the pandemic and the benefits it brings to stakeholders,” the official added further.

Notably, the government had in January this year formalized work from home for the services sector through a standing order. This order had allowed employers and employees to mutually decide on the work hours and other service conditions. However, this move was being seen as a token exercise as the services sector, which largely comprises IT and ITeS had already started the following work from home to employees under special conditions.

Now, the government wants to bring a comprehensive formal structure for all sectors. The latest move comes at a time when other countries put in place such frameworks. Recently, Portugal passed a law for the greater protection of employees working away from the company premises.