Ms Joanne Mangan:

The reasons for refusal should reflect the feasibility and reality of whether the job can be done.

The first reason, then, is that the job cannot be done remotely. Even with that, companies need to interrogate their assumptions around certain jobs. I say that because we are still seeing, even after the last two years, that it is the same types of jobs in the same types of industries that have more remote working than others. Examples include the technology sector and other professional services. Other jobs can be done remotely as well. With a little bit of imagination and open-mindedness, companies could see that certain jobs could be done remotely, or be done remotely some of the time. However, if the job that needs to be done involves practical aspects such as serving customers face-to-face or working a machine, for example, then it is not possible for people to work remotely in those situations. Other similar practical aspects involved include Internet connectivity and a lack of suitable desk space or a place to work safely because of health and safety reasons. Those are all valid reasons jobs cannot be done remotely.

For businesses, there are also other reasons. I feel we must give businesses a little bit of a break in this regard as well. Sometimes perhaps, and in the media especially, there is a misconception that there are some big bad companies that just do not like remote working and that they are dinosaurs making everyone go back to the office. Perhaps there are a few of those companies, but as I said earlier many challenges are encountered in making the transformation. It is not as easy as everyone just going home and working remotely. It is very difficult. I talk every day to representatives of companies that are struggling, including those that have significant resources and large budgets to spend on this undertaking. Therefore, we must give a little bit of leeway to companies.

Having said that, however, some reasons given do not make sense. I mentioned one of those already in the context of ensuring remote working can be embedded. Another example is the distance from the office to the home being judged too far. That really questions the whole logic of remote working, because where anyone lives should not be a factor. Given everything I have said already, location should not be a factor when it comes to remote working. Another reason given that is subjective is the quality of work being impacted. Again, the question here is how it can be proved that the quality of work has been impacted. This is about measurable, objective and fair grounds being used in the context of remote working requests and giving employees the option to be able to question decisions. If they are not happy or satisfied, then what is required is to provide frameworks to enable them to take a request further, while also balancing the needs businesses have in respect of the time, space, resources and support they require to overcome some of the challenges faced.