Employees working from home

Kitting out people who work at home

You're likely to be responsible for providing, installing and maintaining all equipment unless the employee uses their own Equipment. Equipment you need to provide may include:

• suitable desk, workstation and chair
• filing cabinet, drawers and shelving
• PC with office software, email and Internet connection
• dedicated business telephone line
• printer and fax machine
• stationery and office supplies

For more information about IT provision, read the page in this guide on how technology can facilitate working from home.

Remember that you still have health and safety responsibilities for people who work at or from home. For more information, see the page in this guide on your health and safety obligations towards homeworkers.

You'll probably need to extend your business insurance to cover equipment used by employees in their homes. The employee's home insurance policy is unlikely to cover this. They should check with their insurer to make sure they're covered for working at home. It's also worth mentioning to potential homeworkers that if they use part of their home exclusively for work, they may have to pay business rates for that portion of their home. It's a good idea to get them to check the position with their local council.

You also need to ensure that employees take care of business equipment in their possession. Establish procedures to be followed if any item is damaged or lost.

You can also download more information on equipment for teleworkers from the DTI website (PDF).