Practical and legal implications of hybrid working from the GC’s perspective

Practical and legal implications of hybrid working from the GC’s perspective

13 Oct 2022 | 9 min read
Practical and legal implications of hybrid working from the GC’s perspective

Our September 2022 session for senior in-house counsel—hosted by LexisNexis in collaboration with Radius Law and Flex Legal – delved into the world of hybrid and remote working.

Sarah Rosser, General Counsel & Executive Director for Lenovo Solutions & Services Group, shared her experiences and gave us practical considerations of hybrid and remote working. Sandra Martins, head of employment at Radius Law, also set out some of the legal implications of hybrid working.

LexisNexis provides a wide range of practical guidance to help in-house lawyers develop and update hybrid working policies. Useful links include:

The Senior Counsel session kicked off with a series of questions and polls. First, senior in-house counsel were asked what would help their organisation implement or manage hybrid working arrangements. Trust and senior buy-in were the main points put forward.

The next question: where do your staff work from? In the vast majority of cases (84%), it was a hybrid mix of in the office or at home.

The participants were then asked whether their organisation had a hybrid working policy in place. The most common answer was that they did, although this was only just over half of all responses. A quarter of organisations are still working on it.

The next poll asked whether the participants’ organisations had updated their employment contracts or policies in response to hybrid working. The most common answer was no, however there was a fair amount of those who either had or were in the process of doing so.

The final poll put to the participants: has your organisation taken steps to safeguard personal data that could be accessed when working remotely? More had introduced safeguards than not, but there were a number who were still in the process of updating these policies.

Hybrid Working – practical considerations and insights

Sarah Rosser shared her personal experiences of hybrid working. In her current role as GC of Lenovo Solutions & Services Group, Sarah’s team is based in the US, UK and Hong Kong. Previous roles have also involved a mix of hybrid and remote working, working with colleagues and clients around the world. Before the pandemic, Sarah managed around 30 people in the same office who would come in every day. As such, Sarah is no stranger to hybrid and remote working, and has also experienced with working with people face-to-face every day.

Sarah pointed out that many people are reluctant to go back to work full time in an office, and that this is something a lot of companies and employees alike are struggling with. She set out five key observations from her experiences.

1. Trust, flexibility and choice

Her first observation was that everyone wants trust, flexibility and choice. Where work and life has become so interlinked, people want flexibility and to be trusted. They don’t want to sit in an office to show that they’re working. The pandemic has proved that employers can give people this choice and flexibility.

On the flip side, employees also need to be realistic. Sarah shared that Lenovo recently carried out a survey about returning to work which prompted responses such as people would only come into the office if there were free lunches or that they didn’t need to come in just to send emails.

People need to be mindful as an employee as well as an employer about the working relationship. Realistic expectations need to be set and employees need to be mindful of the bigger picture in which their company operates.

2. One size doesn’t fit all

Her second observation was that one size doesn’t fit all. What’s useful for a working mum might not be what’s needed for a recent graduate worker living alone and wanting to develop connections. This is especially important for new team members and junior team members who might need more face-to-face training.

Teams need to think about what all people might need. Sarah pointed out that one of the post-pandemic dangers is the shrinking of our worlds where everyone sits in their home offices and never meet in person.

3. Meetings should have a purpose

When teams do get together, organisers should be mindful about the purpose of doing so. In Sarah’s experience, people often want a reason why, even if it isn’t a particularly convincing one! When asking people to come in on a certain day or at a certain time, it should be made meaningful experience where people can gain something.

4. Be mindful of maintaining a work-life balance

Sarah shared that personally her world shrank as a result of WFH. She had to reconnect with people and make the effort to put herself back out there. It can feel easier not to move onto a new post-pandemic world of hybrid working but balance is needed, and people need to think about managing their mental health.

This is especially important in global roles where you could talk to someone at any hour of the day, and there has been an increased expectation of being available 24/7. Sarah advised putting boundaries in place for yourself and setting expectations about when your workplace can expect to contact you. 

5. The art to being present when you’re not present

Finally, Sarah highlighted that it is important that you make yourself present and seen when working remotely. There are lots of easy ways to do this e.g. virtual coffee chats, putting informal catch-up sessions in the diary, sending people messages in the morning etc.

Legal Implications Around Hybrid Working

Sandra Martins from Radius Law then spoke to highlight key legal considerations for hybrid working from the employer’s perspective.

Consultation is key

A staff survey is a great starting point when deciding whether you want a more formal approach or you want to review what is in place so far. These surveys should ask questions on what staff like, don’t like, their thoughts, concerns, what they would like to change and things they would appreciate if put into place. Employers should try to come up with a policy that would suit most people. Once this is done, they should consult with employee representatives and employees on implementation and reviews of policy e.g. are there any changes to pay as a result, such as losing a London allowance.

Consider the impact on other policies and procedures

Sandra emphasised that employers should step back and consider the impact on other policies and procedures that may be affected by hybrid working arrangements.

Some examples she gave included data protection policies. Questions that should be asked in relation to this include whether people will be accessing and processing personal data, how they will they be doing so and whether the policy needs to be updated. Employee monitoring policies should also be considered. This includes whether employees will be monitored, whether they are aware of this and how they will be monitored. Other examples included performance management and considering how dips in performance would be managed.

Other key considerations 
Sandra set out further key considerations when implementing a hybrid working model.
  • Impacts on the organisation’s physical space and related costs – can you accommodate people in the office? How many people can you accommodate at once?
  • Assess which roles are suitable for hybrid working
  • Consider the risk of creating a “two-tier system”
  • Health & safety
  • How to minimise the risk of discrimination, bullying and domestic abuse
  • Assess impact on trainees, junior staff and managers
  • Tax implications
  • Data protection issues
    • How will confidential information and personal data be protected?
    • What devices and online collaboration tools can staff use?
    • Will staff be monitored?
  • Remote working considerations
    • Carry out risk assessments of remote working locations
    • Where are staff allowed to work from?
    • Is remote working abroad allowed? If so, you need to make sure you and the individual comply with immigration laws, local tax laws, consider whether you will create a presence in that country and whether that will have an impact on corporation tax status. For more information, see Practice Note: Working remotely outside the UK—considerations for UK employers.
    • What hours are staff required/expected to work? Will there be flexibility?
    • Are restrictive covenants and other post-termination restrictions up to date? Are there any restricted areas?
  • Are current insurance policies fit for purpose?

How to implement a hybrid working policy

Sandra gave some key areas to consider when deciding how to implement a hybrid working policy:

Hybrid working - help and guidance

Sandra shared some resources which give guidance on hybrid working:

For more information on hybrid working considerations, see the subtopic: Hybrid working which includes Practice Note: Hybrid working, and Checklist: Hybrid working—checklist of issues to consider.

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About the author:
Ellen is an assistant commissioning editor in the LexisPSL hub. She graduated in International Law from the University of Leeds in 2020 and has been at LexisNexis UK since January 2022. She commissions core content for t...