By Pamela DeLoatch – HRDrive

The framework for a remote investigation won’t differ greatly from its in-office counterpart, but sources warned HR departments to look into employee complaints quickly.

In recent years, businesses have inched toward allowing employees to work remotely. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, companies have leaped into the work-from-home world. Sixty-two percent of Americans in an April 3 Gallup poll have worked from home during the crisis — a figure that has doubled since mid-March.

The transplant of the U.S. workplace has caused serious upheaval. As freshly remote work environments create new sources of discrimination, harassment, and other types of misconduct or the perception thereof, experts say HR departments will need to strategize to stop and correct misconduct.

In a March Gartner poll, 76% of HR leaders said their top employee complaint was managerial concern about productivity or engagement for remote teams. That’s a typical employer worry, Dana Barbato, CEO at InvestiPro, told HR Dive in an interview. Employers may think: “Gee, I can see they were logged in, but what were they actually doing?” Barbato said.

But the issue of time theft isn’t as big a problem as employers anticipate, she said. On the contrary, employees appreciate being able to work from home because of the added focus time and the chance to get back to the normalcy of the work they feel good about, she said. Numerous studies indicate that remote employees are more productive than those who work on-site. Such research, of course, does not account for the current conditions, which may bring remote workers additional distractions in the form of partners, roommates, and children.

But employers face a more pressing issue than productivity, Barbato said: communication. “Our biggest problem comes from the quiet,” Barbato said. When employees work from home versus in the office, it can take longer to get questions answered about projects or procedures. That delay can make employees feel confused or worse —intentionally left out of the loop, Barbato said. “What we’re hearing is that it creates a perception on the part of employees of discrimination or favoritism.”

Within this new work environment, employees must adjust to newfound autonomy — freedom that some leaders worry could lead to misconduct.

Remote misconduct can vary

The types of misconduct that can occur within a remote environment vary drastically depending on the type of employer, Shayna Balch, Fisher Phillips partner in Phoenix, told HR Dive via email. “Inappropriate behavior such as violation of anti-harassment policies or cyberbullying can certainly occur — especially with the current politically charged environment and exceedingly different views on COVID-19 [shelter-in-place] orders,” she said.

The less formal nature of the work-from-home environment can make it easier for employees to slip into inappropriate behaviors, Nancy Castro, director of HR & business operations, JoTo PR Disruptors, told HR Dive in an email.

“The main challenge I face these days [is that] remote workers are having too much of a relaxed approach when attending meetings,” she said. “Even though we are working from our homes, it does not mean we are all at a social gathering. There still must be a level of professionalism. Employees must still keep their comments, jokes, and political opinions to themselves.”

This informal environment also can contribute to unintentional misconduct, Barbato said. Sometimes, interactions can be perceived as cyberbullying. “With noises, spouses and kids, it can come off more harshly,” she said. And misunderstandings become more frequent as workers’ stress levels continue to rise.

Set the stage: Prevent misconduct

Employers should periodically remind employees of workplace expectations, Balch said. Also, update workplace policies and procedures if needed. “Try and keep messaging as positive as possible, and if any negative feedback or workplace counseling needs to be communicated, be as fair and transparent as possible,” she added.

Castro, whose company has been 100% remote since 2015, keeps specific ethics policies in place with organizational guidelines that include an employee manual, documented processes for each position, quality control checklists, and continuous spot-checking of work.

“We continuously train our teams so they have a clear understanding of what our policies are and how they should be following these policies,” she said. “Staff are monitored by statistics — keeping ‘personality’ or arbitraries out of true production,” she said.