The teleworking regulations require, among other things, that the costs of working from home are borne by the employer. What are the costs? The costs seem relatively small, but, as experts say, in the case of large companies, economies of scale can work, and as a result they do not want to implement a home office.
It has been three years since the pandemic reached Poland. Shortly after the first cases appeared, the government began to impose restrictions. Almost overnight, most companies sent employees to work from home. Remote work, which until now was a rarity, was supposed to become commonplace for a while. As the pandemic on the Vistula began to ease, some companies reintroduced stationary work, others settled on a hybrid model, and still others found that working from home worked great and implemented it permanently.
Distant work. Employer’s expenses
The popularity of remote work has required regulation in this regard in the Labor Code. Some time passed until, finally, in mid-January, the Seimas adopted an amendment to the Labor Code, and at the end of January it was signed by President Andrzej Duda. The amendment introduced provisions for working from home. They will go into effect April 6th.
Experts note that the regulation provides for the complete transfer of all costs for working from home to employers. The employer covers, for example, the cost of electricity used for remote work, as well as other services such as Internet access.
What are the costs involved? The cost of electricity alone is - at current prices - about PLN 0.30-32 for each hour of remote work. It turns out about 50 zloty per month. As Dr. Pavel Luchak from the Faculty of Management of the University of Lodz notes in a comment to Money.pl, the size of the unit is small, but in the case of large enterprises, economies of scale can work. Ultimately, burdening an employer with the additional costs associated with a home office may discourage many companies from adopting one, especially in the context of the recent rise in labor costs.
Employee expectations
Luchak recalls that the employees themselves expected the employer to cover the costs associated with working outside the office. This is evidenced by data from a recent Deloitte study on hybrid work. They show that almost two-thirds of the employed wanted monthly subsidies for expenses such as electricity, internet, equipment depreciation.
The expert, on the other hand, praises the new rules for exempting remote work equivalents and lump sums from social and health contributions, as well as personal income tax.
Source: Wprost
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