Is HR Keeping Up with Virtual Employees?

Virtual office technology has changed the way modern offices operate, and human resources professionals must take into consideration the needs of those doing remote work for the company as well as those working in-house. HR departments need to carefully track those who work in virtual office settings, especially when it comes to hourly work and salary requirements, benefits, and enrollment periods. Keeping up with virtual employees can be challenging, and many companies are rising to the task out of necessity.

According to Marv Dumon, more Americans than ever are working from home. This fact poses a series of challenges for modern human resources professionals. Remote work requires embracing technology that allows potentially sensitive information to travel across company intranets or the Internet at large, and many issues may arise due to this situation. Virtual office software may include encryption technologies, but many companies are turning to careful monitoring of work done remotely to ensure that employees working from home are not violating company policies or established laws.

Human resources professionals often walk a tightrope between protecting the privacy and rights of employees working both on site and in virtual office settings, and doing what is necessary to ensure that employees are following policies. While technology provides extensive tools for monitoring work done on work computers, whether they are installed locally or in the homes and remote offices of employees, you must take care to ensure that you are not unnecessarily snooping on employees. Companies that do not provide computers and connections specifically for work purposes are at even greater risk and must train their HR teams to ensure that they do not access private information on the computers of those working from home.

Technology is only one of the challenges facing modern HR teams when dealing with those working from home. Taxes, payroll, and benefits rules may change greatly depending on whether or not employees work from outside state or national boundaries. You should take care to ensure that all local, state, and federal laws regarding employment and pay are followed for each applicable location. Likewise, benefits that may work for employees in one location may not have the same availability or options for those in different states or nations. Companies that fail to keep up with changes in this arena can face major fines and legal action from state and federal government entities.

Companies that employ those who work from a virtual office often do a very good job of keeping up with virtual employees and tackling the twin concerns of legal compliance and privacy protection, but failure in these areas can have massive repercussions. If your company is considering hiring virtual employees and using virtual office software, take care to ensure that you are ready to deal not only with potential changes to the office environment, but with privacy concerns and laws on taxation, payroll, and benefits as regards to interstate or international boundaries.

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