Trust

Establishing trust between the homeworker and their manager is key to successful homeworking. Union reps have often reported that, despite having excellent homeworking policies in place, the problem of line managers not trusting their staff to work properly at home has been a huge problem. One rep told the Labour Research Department: “The difficulties are with the line managers who still don’t fully trust employees who they cannot see. Some managers still need to ‘see the whites of your eyes’ when your role should be based on results.”

Successful homeworking depends on overall organisational support, and support at management level. The manager needs to value homeworking as a reliable way of working and believe in the benefits it can bring.

Employment relations service Acas warns that, if employers choose to monitor employees’ activities and it becomes too much or does not respect the employee’s privacy, it can damage employees’ trust in the employer, cause stress and reduce productivity (see Chapter 9).