Fórsa has welcomed the imminent publication of a Blended Working Policy for the Public Health Service. The policy covers all employees in the HSE and Section 38 organisations.

Under the policy, an employer’s work premises will continue to be the primary workplace for all employees. Workers will, however, have the option to apply for a blended working arrangement.

In order for blended working arrangement to be approved, management must first identify the roles which are suitable for remote working and ensure that the following criteria is satisfied:

• Business needs and role suitability
• Employee suitability
• Designated workstation requirements

It is important to note that there will also be a requirement to attend work on-site in certain situations such as:

• on specific days each week agreed with the manager
• an agreed percentage of days per week or month as agreed with the manager
• on days as and when required by the manager, for example for collaboration, meetings, training and key events. The employee should be given an appropriate period of notice in such cases.

In general, no employee should work 100% remotely.

Fórsa national secretary, Ashley Connolly explained that the possibility of blended working brings wider possibilities and benefits to both employers and employees.

“Remote working has largely sustained or increased productivity since its introduction during the pandemic, while bringing wider benefits to employers, workers, and society,” she said.

Ashley said the policy meets most of the union’s objectives for a fair policy.

“Fórsa successfully introduced a similar policy in March which gave all civil servants the right to apply for remote or blended work. The new policy hits the majority of the union’s priorities in developing a fair and transparent approach to remote working,” she said.

The policy is underpinned by the following key principles:

• Blended working arrangements must align with business/service needs and support the delivery of efficient, high-quality health and social services.
• Senior management will encourage and facilitate blended working where practical based on a role identification exercise and determination of eligibility criteria to be undertaken by management within each HSE area/division/division/unit and Section 38 organisation.
• Management will inform employees of the outcome of the role identification exercise and eligibility criteria.
• Blended working applications will be dealt with in a fair, consistent, transparent, and timely manner. Where an application is refused, the reasons for refusal will be clearly communicated to the employee in writing. The employee will also be informed of their right to appeal the decision under the organisation’s Grievance Procedure.
• Blended workers will generally have no automatic right to a dedicated workstation, or single occupancy office at the employer’s work premises but will have a suitable workspace available to them when required to attend. The employee should be advised of the specific arrangements that will apply in relation to allocation of desks/offices prior to confirmation of their blended working application (if approved).
• The approval of any blended working arrangement is at the discretion of management. Blended working agreements should include an initial trial period. In general, the trial period should last no less than three months and no more than six months.
• An employee may submit a Blended Working Application for consideration no more than once every 12 months unless their role and/or unit changes or there have been significant changes to their proposed home work station.
• Employees must be able to carry out all the responsibilities of their role when availing of remote blended working. Blended working must not be used as a substitute for annual leave or sick leave. While blended working may have benefits for persons with caring responsibilities, any caring responsibilities must take place outside of working time. The introduction of blended working will not reduce the availability of current flexible working options such as part-time working under the Flexible Working Agreement, the Shorter Working Year Scheme, parental leave and carer's leave.