Remote work, which has taken hold in companies for good, still raises many questions about the time of its performance. Employees feel that they are working non-stop.

They miss the completion of their work duties and the physical “transition” from the workplace to home. They expect the introduction of the right to be offline. Employers, on the other hand, believe that with remote working they have lost control over employee's working hours. The employee may start work later than usual, end work early unnoticed, take more breaks, work nights, overtime and days off without the manager's knowledge or approval, be distracted and inefficient.

Meanwhile, the law gives employees protection and employers a variety of tools to respond to the challenges of remote work. Their choice depends on the employer's preferred way of organizing work and the goal it wants to achieve.

With regard to employees working remotely, the employer may apply the same working time system and schedule that applies to them when they work on the premises. They are regulated by a collective bargaining agreement or work regulations, and in the case of employers with fewer than 50 employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, by a notice. For both full-time and hybrid remote employees, a basic working time system can be introduced (8 hours a day, an average of 40 hours a week in a fixed reference period, as a rule no longer than 4 months), with rigidly defined working hours.

Sometimes, however, employers want to give more flexibility to employees who work remotely. It can involve making working hours more flexible or introducing task-based working time. Less frequently, an equivalent working time system is used, although it too is legally permissible in this case. 

If the employer has rigid working hours (from-to), they can be make them more flexible for remote workers by introducing a certain range of hours in which remote workers will start and finish work. Thus, it can be established that the start of work will take place, for example, between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and the end of work will be after 8 hours, respectively. The employee will choose for himself/herself at what time, within his designated range, he/she will begin and end his/her remote work. Such flexible working hours, however, require an agreement with the company's trade unions, or, if there are no unions at the employer, with employee representatives. 

Flexible remote working hours allow employees to combine their work life with their private life, e.g. driving their children to kindergarten/school in the morning or doing other household chores, and start working remotely at a time that is convenient for them, but still in a range that suits the employer. Thus, they address the needs of employees and ensure good organization of work at the employer.

If the company already has moving working hours, one can expand the range of hours in which work will start and end, for example, instead of 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. for those working remotely, one can introduce 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. However, this requires maintaining the same implementation procedure as described above. 

If there are objective reasons for this, the range of hours can be made more flexible not for everyone, but only for certain groups of employees working remotely. In this case, the most objective criterion will be the type of work they do. 

Flexible remote working hours can also be introduced for individual employees, upon their individual requests. 

Increasingly, task-based working hours are being introduced for employees working remotely. The employee is then not subject to work start and end times, but to tasks. The work schedule is therefore in his/her hands. The rationale for the introduction of task-based working time only for employees working remotely will be the place where the work is performed, which in this case is outside the work establishment, which results in very limited possibilities for the employer to control the employee's working time.

The introduction of such a hybrid working time solution, i.e. the use of the basic working time with rigid working hours for an employee working on-site and task-based working time for the same employee when working remotely is therefore legally permissible. It can only raise challenges for the employer in keeping working time records. 

Research shows that the vast majority of employees want to continue working remotely, and with task-based working hours. However, since major international giants have announced a return to offices, employers in Poland are also following this trend. HR departments are racing to implement more and more interesting benefits, which will make it more attractive for an employee to work in the office than at home. Thus, pizza Fridays, employer-sponsored breakfasts on Mondays and the holiday benefit of ice cream Wednesdays have returned.

There are also new benefits addressing such employee needs that were not reported before the pandemic, such as days on which you can come to the office with children and pets, psychologist visits to the company, training with a well-known person on how to take care of one's wellbeing, a room with a massage therapist or a nap room. It is gradually becoming standard to subsidize the cost of commuting to work, meals at the office or attractive places near the office.

Employers are also increasingly financing flu vaccinations, consultations with a psychiatrist or subsidizing laser vision correction. They also allow remote work abroad or work done after a leave of absence in the place where the employee was resting (workation). Those working remotely appreciate a day without turning on their cameras.
Such a benefit is the equivalent of casual Fridays at the office, when there is no strict formal dress code at work.

Certainly, as the incidence decreases, pressure from managements to return to the office will increase to make teamwork more efficient, and with it will come new non-wage benefits.