The Home Office is one that is performed for the employer outside the company environment, and can be in the employee’s own residence, in a shared office, or anywhere outside the company’s environment, and can also be provided outside the country.
The new Brazilian labor law sought to formalize this model of work in the face of the chaos of moving from residence to work, as well as the costs of maintaining a structure to accommodate the employee in the company environment. Thus, they opted for the possibility of reducing costs and maintaining the employment contract with their employee.
The Home Office contract must be established according to the specific needs of each employer, considering the activity of the company, the service to be provided by the employee, whether or not there will be a working day’s control, as will be agreed the responsibility for the acquisition, maintenance or supply of equipment and infrastructure necessary and adequate to the provision of home office, of the clauses of the collective agreement, among other issues that the company considers convenient.
The reduction of cost with transportation costs, meal, company transportation, uniform, as well as with the company’s fixed assets such as desk, chair, telephone, computer, among other fixed costs that the company maintains by having a job in its environment, can be considerable, compared to the possibility of having the employee providing the same services in the residential environment, not counting the physical and mental exhaustion that each worker has only with commuting.
According to art. 75-C of CLT, the employer may make the change between face-to-face and home office arrangements, provided there is mutual agreement between the parties, recorded in a contractual addendum. The employer is also responsible for instructing the employee about the precautions necessary to avoid work-related illness and injury, according to Art 75-E of the CLT.
This model of work is growing in Brazil. Data confirm that 36% of companies in Brazil adopt some kind of work at a distance, and this number rises to over 70%, in the state of São Paulo, which may actually indicate a trend.
