How to support your Remote team members during a crisis

During a crisis, it's crucial to be aware of and sensitive to the needs of affected employees. As a customer, you can't predict when a disaster or instability will happen, but you can prepare to offer them support. The health, safety, and security of these individuals should be the top priority for everyone involved, above the business or organization's interests.

During emergency situations or a crisis

To guide you through such unfortunate events, we will outline some useful information about employment during these times.

Reasons why affected employees might not be able to work:

• Employees who are willing and able to work during the agreed-upon hours may not have access to a suitable and secure workplace.
• They might not be able to access the workplace because of restrictions out of your or their control (e.g. road closures, safety issues relating to adjoining buildings, evacuation due to flooding or tsunami risk).
• They (or their dependent) might be sick or injured and unable to work.

We can't assume that time away from work in during such a time would be paid or unpaid without reviewing the Employment Agreement or workplace policies. All parties should refer to the Employment Agreement to see if such a situation is covered. If it’s not, then it is up to all parties to decide in good faith if the time off from work is paid or unpaid. Employees have the right to stop work if it’s not safe to be at work due to health concerns.

Support that you can offer affected team members

• If team members need to relocate for security reasons, please contact us so that we can assist you.
• Take care of the health and safety of your Remote employees, yourself, and your customers.
• If the employees' workplace is unsafe, do not make it necessary for them to work there.
• Communication and support are very important. Keep them updated about the workplace situation and your expectations of them.
• Offer them care and support. Provide regular updates even if they are not physically at work, as they may be under additional stress.
• Consider wider infrastructure issues (e.g. road closures, power outages or water restrictions). Be flexible about working hours and availability expectations.

If you'd like further assistance regarding this topic, please reach out to us and we will gladly assist.

NOTE: You can reach out to our team via email at help@remote.com or directly on the Remote platform via the Support chat widget.