DSE Assessment - Why an online DSE assessment is so important with the new hybrid flexible working office and home working working model?

2020 and 2021 has seen a big long-term disruption in where staff work from and how they work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A DSE assessment must now be offered to staff who work from home and in the office under a flexible hybrid working model.

This has resulted in a hybrid workforce where staff are offered flexibility as to where they work from and therefore health and safety / facilities departments need to offer a completely hybrid flexible workstation assessment for office workers, homeworkers and hybrid home/office workers.

Hybrid working is a very flexible business working model and some companies may adopt a different approach to hybrid working. Some of the options are highlighted below:

• Some companies will offer all their staff the flexible option of working On-Site in the office 2 or 3 days a week and remotely 2 or 3 days a week.
• Some companies will require some staff with specific functions to work in the office 4 or 5 days a week and some will be offered more flexibility to work from the office some of the week and remotely some of the week.
• Some companies will allow staff to work remotely most of the time and work in the office maybe 3 to 5 days a month.

There are any variations of a DSE assessment for hybrid workers and as companies open up their offices again they will roll out their official hybrid working policies.

What are the advantages of a DSE assessment for hybrid workers?

• Significant improvements in work / life balance and creative thinking
  Staff will see significant improvement in work / life balance as they can decide where they are working from today and how to spit their day. They will be able to go for walks, or exercise during the day during their breaks and also they may decide to work from a coffee shop for a couple of hours and then at home. This type of working model is very much appreciated by the employee and often results in a more creativity and inspiration. Employees have greater control of their time and will still get all their work done. For parents of young children, and babies, it offers them the flexibility to pickup their children from school and nursery and they can easily run errands and make up the time by working later in the evening. This breaks the mould of the 9 to 5 working model.

• Less chance of getting illness in the office
  Staff are less likely to get sick from illnesses and infections caught in the workplace and as a result overall less days will be lost due to illness by the company.

• Companies can cut their costs of renting office space
  Companies may be able to reduce the amount of office space required by 30% to 40% by operating a hybrid working model as there will be fewer staff On-Site at any point in time. They may offer to pay for some home expenses but the cost of renting expensive offices will drop significantly.

• Staff can live further away from the office in a cheaper location
  Staff may be able to move to cheaper parts of the country that has good commuting links so that they can be present On-Site in the offices when required. Companies may invest in cheaper small satellite offices for their staff.

• Access to a much larger talent pool from further around the country
  Because staff will be able to work remotely some of the week employers can target potential employees in more remote locations from their offices and this can more than double or treble the talent pool they get to choose from.

Posture Group are experts in delivering an online DSE assessment for hybrid office worker and home worker employees and can tailor our system to meet your needs. We have delivered more than 4 million online homeworker risk assessments since the COVID-19 pandemic began to more than 5,000+ Client's.