Social Security

United Kingdom | Back to the office – are you prepared?

The detail

In recent times, media outlets are quick to report on large corporations introducing flexi-work limits, and a need for employees to return to the office for a fixed number of days per week, if not full time. Many companies are following suit with some big names recently instructing their staff to return to the office for 3+ days per week. Often, such employer policies do not take into account the special circumstances of the employee population that lives abroad – or perhaps even more risky, they do!

In terms of global social security, the concept of hybrid working is not necessarily supported by international legal frameworks. As the tide is turning on (unlimited) working from home, cases of remote work may fly under the radar and come to the attention of HR/Global Mobility, only when the work abroad has already begun.

Combining such trends, Global Mobility may experience that the drive to have employees return to the office triggers yet another wave of constant compliance firefighting.

Common pit-falls and caveats

Even with a clear and specific back-to-the-office policy, compliance issues may arise. Such situations include:

• Special employee or business circumstances drive a need for (temporary) increased hybrid work.
• The need to retain certain employees requires a deviation from the general back-to-the-office policy.
• Foreign new hires unwilling to relocate for the job, either for an initial period or indefinitely.
• Line managers agreeing to individual hybrid working arrangements with their direct reports, without consulting HR/global mobility.
• Employees working remotely during workation/vacation, without consulting HR/global mobility.
• Employees working remotely outside regular office hours, e. g. during commute time or in the evenings.
• Complexities with calculating working splits when travel extends beyond the confines of Europe.
• Having different policies for employees living abroad to that of domestic employees which may not favor equal treatment of staff in terms of hybrid working limitations and flexibility.

How can we assist?

• Review your hybrid working policies against industry standards as well as general best practices.
• Review ongoing hybrid setups against existing EU (and wider) legislation.
• Understand how a back-to-the-office policy may support equal treatment of the full employee population.
• Ensure that your A1 compliance function is fine-tuned against internal working policies.
• Reviewing and applying for an A1 certificate in special cases falling outside internal working policies.
• Closing compliance gaps of employees having worked “too much” from home.
• Mitigate foreign exposure through education of working thresholds and the cross border regulations.
• Implement appropriate tracking functionality, internal thresholds and assistance with remote working policy guidance to simplify the management of cross-border workers.

Contact us

For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:

Craig Smith
Senior Manager

Gary Chandler
Director

Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com

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