The government may soon come up with a comprehensive framework for work from home (WFH) that will define the liability of employers towards employees working from home.
According to a report in the Economic Times, the government wants to provide a legal framework for the new models of work that have emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as work from home or hybrid working to protect employees from the highly infectious coronavirus.
Fixing work hours for employees and payment of additional expenses incurred by them towards electricity and internet usage because of working from home are among some of the options being considered for the provisions of the policy.
The government had in January this year formalised work from home for the services sector through a standing order, allowing employers and employees to mutually decide on the work hours and other service conditions.
The financial daily citing a top government official mentioned that 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 publication quoted the official as saying.
A top government official told ET that discussions have started to ascertain ways in which India can regulate work from home, which is expected to become a norm going forward.
Just as the Indian workforce was gearing to get back to offices, the threat of a new Omicron variant may push the extension of work from home even further.
The World Health Organisation said as more countries report cases, the new COVID-19 variant carries a "very high" global risk of surges. Scientists have said it could take weeks to understand its severity, although early indications were that most cases were mild.
The prospect of a fast-spreading variant has raised fears of a return of the sort of restrictions that shut down a swath of industries in 2020.
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