chance or choice...1 | p a g e for private circulation only chance or choice work from home is a...

1 | P a g e For private circulation only

Chance or Choice

Work from home is a growing trend in today’s work environment especially during COVID-19, in which

employees can easily plug-in from just anywhere they are. A work from home policy is nothing but an

agreement between the employer and the employees who prefer to have the work from home privileges.

The work from home policy defines the expectations, responsibilities, the eligibility and the other work

from home guidelines. In short, it ensures that all employees understand what is required of them when

they choose to work from home.

While some companies have a regular option of remote working, others take it up during emergencies

like, the current condition. COVID-19 has sparked a revolution in the work from home scenario. As the

terror of Covid-19 continues to spread, many employers have already considered the work from home set

up quite seriously, to avoid reduced productivity.

Whatever be the circumstances, companies need a defined work from home policy to make it work. The

work from home policy can be tailored as per the company’s needs and requirements. In the due course

it can be modified according to the company’s specific values.

The Key Elements of a Work from Home Policy

1. Policy Brief and Purpose

Mention clearly what the intent of your work from home policy is, and what you are aiming to achieve by

providing work opportunities from home. Communicate the importance of the policy as well as how it will

be implemented going forward. It should improve the overall employee value proposition, maximizing the

work experience of your team members.

2. Scope and eligibility

Specify which areas of work are available for remote work within the organization considering client-

facing responsibilities, software limitations, and cybersecurity risks. It will help in reducing excessive or

unnecessary work from home solutions for each and every employee.

Also, clarify who will work on what work-from-home applications, and on what basis each application will

be assessed. Will HR supervise the process, or will the individual manager review it?

However, they should consider the following elements before deciding 'who' can work from home:

• Does the nature of the employee's job allow them to work from home?

• Are there any security or privacy issues?

• Will communication with the remote employees be difficult?

• Do they have the required software or equipment installed at home?

• What are the conditions in the employee's place of work?


Apart from these, the work from home policy should also mention 'when' the employees can work from

home. Generally, they can work from home:

• On certain occasions.

• Full time.

• Every day, by dividing their time between being at the physical workplace and their remote

workstation.

3. Attendance and Availability Standards

The availability expectations of the remote workers must be clearly outlined in work from home policy. It

can be a challenge to bring your people to the desk and get their input right on time. To avoid this problem,

you must set standards around when and how your remote workers should be available.

4. Productivity measures

The policy should also specify how remote workers' productivity will be measured. It can evaluate in a

variety of ways, like depending on the time spent on the project, number of cases handled, number of

tasks performed and completed on time, amount of customer interactions, and more. companies need to

decide how they want their remote workers to be assessed.

5. Equipment and Tech support

It needs to state what equipment’s (hardware or software) and tech support will be offered to their

remote employees. If the company expects them to use their own laptops, for example, it must be

mentioned in the policy. It should also outline what they are supposed to do when having technical

difficulties have an action plan for that as well.

6. Response measures

The policy should define in what manner the remote workers are expected to respond to the manager or

a colleague immediately. Also, it should streamline the communication channels, promoting a healthy

bonding between workers and supervisors.

7. Compensation and Benefits

If working from home has any effect on the compensation and benefits of the employees, the policy

should mention it.

8. Dress code

While working from home, employees still have to be in touch with colleagues, clients, or business

partners via Video conferencing. For this condition, a note about the suitable dress code while remote

working is reasonable.

9. Security


All the specific requests regarding official security and client confidentiality must be stated in the policy.

For example, if you don't want your remote worker to use a public Wi-Fi, then that should be mentioned

for employees to be cautious while working from a public place.

Ten Benefits of a Work from Home Policy and Reasons Why We Need It Right Now

1. No or a Lot Less Office Space

Office space rental is a significant expense for most small and medium-sized companies. Besides,

maintenance and repairs cost extra. Work from home allows you to save the money on office space which

can be utilized better in many other ways.

2. Hire the Best talent, Globally

No matter where they are based from, you can hire the best talent to work with. Technology and the

internet are making it easier to hunt, review and hire great candidates around the world.

3. Higher Retention

Work-from-home opportunities play a significant role in the decision of an employee to quit a job, and

companies that offer it see a significantly less turnover than those who do not. There are two main

reasons: First, most remote workers stay happily engaged and are less likely to search for a different job

with other companies. Second, they experience a better work-life balance and do not experience burnout

easily.

4. Lesser Absenteeism

Working from home is the best viable option for decreasing employee absenteeism. It allows your

employees to take care of themselves and still get the work done. In simple terms, working from home

gives them the flexibility to set their own routine.

5. Longer Working Hours

People who work from home wastes less time commuting. They are at your office right when they wake

up. It saves money, energy and acts as a great morale booster. Thus, the time on commuting can be used

for some real job, making work hours longer than usual.

6. Flexible Work Schedule

A work from home policy allows employees to adjust the days and hours of work. Employees feel no rush,

take breaks anytime they want and can manage a perfect work-life balance. This factor plays a significant

role in the lives of parents who have young kids. It’s the best way to balance your family’s need for your

income with your necessities to spend time with them.

7. Increased Productivity

Work from home may increase the productivity of the employees. Few reasons for the same are,

employees can command working conditions. Like say, they can keep the room temperature as they like,


some might like the music playing while others might want to work sitting in the garden. Such advantages

are endless in work from home policy.

8. Reduced Stress Level

When employees work from home, there are hardly any office distractions. There are no annoying co-

workers, no office politics, and no mental pressure. Under this condition, you are free to be as creative as

you can become. Also, you can customize your own workplace setup. One study found that just adding

plants to your workplace could reduce work stress and negative feelings by 30-60 per cent.

IT Infrastructure

For the purpose of working from home, let us analyze what kind of IT infrastructure will be required. IT

infrastructure includes both hardware and software. Computers, servers, operating systems, internet,

security, cloud-based software, and remote access software all form part of this ecosystem.

Laptops

For anyone to work from home the basic necessity is a laptop. It could be a desktop also. But considering

the mobility and practicality, we will talk only about laptops.

During our survey, we found that there are various possibilities

● Some firms provide a laptop to each team member upon joining. The firm can either buy or lease

such laptops.

● Several employees already own a laptop at home. So, during WFH, they can be asked to work on

their own laptops. This concept is also called ‘Bring your own Device’ (BYOD), which is getting

popular in WFH. It means that the firms do not provide a laptop or desktop, but the employee

works on his/her own laptop. The firm only makes sure that the antivirus and other necessary

security and administrative measures are followed as per the policy of the firm. This is a very cost-

effective mechanism.

● During lockdown, a few firms decided to give laptops to teams for WFH. This was a decision they

were forced to make to deal with the situation.

But one decision that everyone can easily implement is not buying a desktop or replacing existing desktops

with laptops at the office. As the laptops can be easily be carried home for work

Internet Connectivity

Today it is not possible to work without the internet. India has a strong base of 45 Crore monthly

internet users (India Internet 2019 report by IAMAI)

With the entry of Jio, internet costs have drastically come down and it is difficult to believe someone

working in any organization will not have access to the internet.

● There are several cable internet service providers in residential areas


● Wired broadband connections are provided by all telecom operators

● Mobile phone hotspots work very well and a basic pack of 1.50 GB per day generally is sufficient

for office work.

Firewall

Data security is very important for securing confidential client data against hackers and ransomware

attacks. A firewall can be software, hardware, or a combination of hardware/software.

A firewall has several features (they may vary from product to product)

● It protects the system against DDoS, botnet and ransomware attacks (these are different types of

attacks on the system by hackers, leaving the system unavailable for use)

● Restrict the use of some sites e.g. social media sites

● Built-in antivirus

● Built-in VPN

● Secure transmission of data

If the data is on the server, located at the office premises, and is to be accessed over the internet from

anywhere else (e.g. home), it is necessary that a proper firewall is installed for data security. This may not

be required if everything is on the cloud.

Data Storage

There can be three different models of data storage

1. On-Premise

2. On Cloud

3. Hybrid

On-Premise Data Storage

Several software programs are used for accounting, compliance, audit functions. If these programs are

not cloud-based, then they need to be installed on a PC or a server. A desktop program can be a single

user or multi-user. A multi-user software is installed on a server and accessed via laptops/desktops by

users

Enable current infrastructure accessible from home via VPN.

In order that team members can access the office server from their homes, the following changes will be

required:

• Keep the server ON during office working hours with proper air- conditioning or ventilation.

• Install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) so that team members can access the server securely via the

internet.


• Install firewall for further enhancing the security of the server.

Remote Desktop

As the name suggests, a remote desktop program permits a user to connect to another computer on a

different location and work on it as if it was local.

Remote desktop is built into Microsoft Windows 10. Several other remote desktop software is also

available

On Cloud Storage

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Another method is to host all the software in a VPS. It can then be accessed by team members via a

remote desktop application on their laptops/desktops.

The table below gives a generic comparison of On-Premise and Virtual Private Server. Since each hosting provider may offer different features, hence proper care should be taken before signing up. Some of these features may not be available with the hosting provider e.g. backup.

Particulars On-Premise Virtual Private Server

Hardware and OS Software

Firm’s responsibility Hosting Server provider’s

responsibility

Upgrade Involves procuring new hardware or enhancing existing hardware

Can be done remotely with few clicks

Cost Capital expenditure. Running and maintenance costs. Depreciation

Monthly Subscription Fees

For Work From

Home

The server must be switched ON so that the team can access it remotely.

Always On or can be managed remotely

While at office Can work with Local area Network

Will still need internet to

connect and work

Security Firm’s responsibility to install firewalls, VPN, etc.

Free or paid security options can be subscribed

Backup Firm’s responsibility Managed by hosting provider


Moving towards Cloud

Some benefits of cloud-based apps:

Cost Friendly

Cloud-based Apps subscriptions come at a low monthly / annual cost which saves on initial one-time investments. If there is an equivalent desktop software, they are usually a one-time cost per user, so it will be a large expense up front.

Updating software is seamless and can be programmed to occur by the software developer during non-working hours. It also saves time as it is one time on the main server and not on every desktop as there is no application installed. Accessibility

Cloud-based Apps subscriptions can come with desktop, mobile, and cloud- based apps all included and allow them to use one subscription over multiple devices. This helps in accessing data easily over your multiple devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, or desktops at home.

The first and the foremost incentive to shift is access to data. Tools that are native on a desktop are of no use on an audit in a different location. Also, the firms can choose to give data access to clients, resulting in the timesaving of the team. The access to data is real-time.

Teamwork and Productivity

Cloud Documents can be shared easily with team members and these documents can be simultaneously worked upon by 2 or more people.

One can see real-time changes in data made by other team members.

Most of the cloud-based apps come with additional features that are seamlessly connected with the data on the cloud so that you can organize meetings, chat with the team members, organize video conferences with team members and clients alike, make and share notes, make plans and track them all while being able to share and collaborate on the Cloud Documents effortlessly. Security

Popular Cloud-based Apps also come with good quality built-in security features.

They cover features like data loss prevention, encrypted email, advanced threat analytics, and mobile device management. Data loss is a major concern for all organizations, along with data security. Data stored on the cloud is available, even if the equipment like laptops or PCs, is damaged. if the data is uploaded to the cloud, it remains accessible from any computer with an internet connection, even if something happens to the regular work computer. Additional Tools and Third-Party Integrations

Cloud-based apps come with additional features that make available the latest tools and technologies at reasonable costs. There are applications that work together and streamline repetitive tasks, allow paperless processes, can help automate procedures, etc.

They also allow seamless integration with popular productivity tools made by third parties. For example, Grammarly, Evernote, Zoom, etc.


Communication

Communication can be divided into:

• Internal Communication (for e.g. Team Members).

• External Communication (for e.g. Clients, Regulators, etc.).

Internal Communication

In a WFH scenario, a team member does not get a chance to glance across the room/ cabin to see whether

his teammate/senior has a minute to spare for a quick chat. This brings in the need for a communication

tool. Communication tools should help to indicate the availability of the other team member and response

time from the other team member.

While emails are a preferred way of formal communication, direct messages have more personal touch

and often results in a faster response. Email is not an effective way of Internal communication. The use of

emails is better suited for external communication.

Constant phone calls often prove to be a distraction for both the doer and the receiver. If the person you

need to speak to doesn’t seem to be available, you can try using “Find a Time” on Google/Outlook

Calendar to set up a call. If your team uses calendars for scheduling meetings, set up your working hours

and share your calendar (available in Google and Outlook Calendar) so that anyone setting up meetings

with you, can effectively schedule meetings. Video call is usually a good option for weekly feedback rather

than daily communication.

When team members are working in the office, they receive feedback from peers and seniors on a

constant basis. Feedback is very essential to maintain high morale and to motivate team members. While

working from home communication generally pertains to work which leads to missing out on important

feedback.

In India, WhatsApp has become a default standard for direct message communication. Telegram, too, is

getting crowded with numerous groups that play the role of a distraction. It is advisable not to use such

tools for team communication.

Collaboration tools

In the WFH scenario, the requirement forms the tool is not just chats, but the one which takes care of

sharing documents, audio-video calls, screens sharing. This will improve productivity and make the

communication more fluid. Tools like Slack, Discord, or Microsoft Teams are precisely designed keeping

collaboration in mind. The unique feature of these collaboration tools is “Channels” where teams can

create channels for each conversation and keep the discussion focused on a topic.

Tip

Team Bonding: Once a week connect with team members for just a coffee break over a video call, keep this video call informal. Talk about health, new learnings, what’s happening in personal life. This helps to strengthen team bonding.


Direct Messaging

(WhatsApp, Telegram)

Collaboration

(Microsoft Teams,

Slack)

Calling/Meeting

(Google Meet, Zoom

Meeting)

Predominantly used

for

Direct Message Collaboration between

team members

Group calls

Screen Sharing No Yes Yes

Meeting Notes No Yes No

Voice/Video Call Yes Yes Yes

File Sharing Yes Yes No

Focused Chatting Using Groups Using Channels No

External Communication

Communication with Client

Emails

Email allows you to communicate in a way that respects the client’s time and attention, as both are

scarce resources; emails are great for external communication. Besides sounding professional, it also

serves as evidence regarding the discussions with the client.

Depending upon client type, direct messaging (WhatsApp / Telegram) can be a useful tool to get a quick

response where a reminder is needed. Example: data request for return filing, a reminder to pay tax,

asking for PO or invoice, sending delivery challans etc.

Online meetings

Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom Meeting are perfect tools when multiple people have to join.

Ticketing tools

If the CA practice involves a lot of task creation based on client emails (for example all clients are

forwarding emails to the firm’s common email ID), then having a centralized ticket management

solution can be an ideal choice. In this scenario, a ticketing tool can help in:

1. Identifying the emails that require action, mark the other emails as “No Action Required”.

2. If the email requires action, the task is created for the appropriate action to be taken.

3. Assigning of the task to the team member for responding to email.

4. Tracking of the task and response by the team member.

5. List of tasks and emails pending to be actioned. For a list of Ticketing tools refer to Annexure C.


Common email One on One Email Ticketing Tool

Information Sharing All Only to the users who are marked in the email (to, cc)

All, can restrict access

Responsibility Everyone / Admin

Staff

The person to whom the email is sent

Can be assigned per email

Tracking Difficult with general email client, can use addons for better tracking

Not possible Integrated

Reporting No No Yes

Escalations No Yes, by manually sending the email to a concerned team member

Automatic, rule-based

Managing Tasks

For any organization, there are numerous recurring tasks and a lot of ad-hoc tasks created on a daily basis.

Assigning tasks to the team and tracking and reviewing them can be quite challenging when working

remotely. This is where a practice management solution comes to the rescue.

Task v/s To-do

The word “Task” has many synonyms like engagement, job, worksheet. Any work that an organization

does for a client with a defined start date and end date, whether recurring or non-recurring is defined as

a task. For instance – Filing GSTR 3B for ABC Limited for May 2020 constitutes a task. Tasks should not be

confused with to-dos or reminders. For example: raising an invoice for a particular client or reminding

clients for sharing the data is not a task. Having a policy on what constitutes a task is critical especially in

a work from home scenario where there can be multiple team members who are creating tasks.

Creating Task

Recurring tasks require special treatment as compared to non-recurring tasks. In case of non- recurring

tasks, there is usually a well-defined event as to when the task shall be created. In contrast, in case of

recurring tasks, it is up to the CA firms as to when the tasks have to be created and assigned. Recurring

tasks mandates maintaining a compliance register which lists down clients for whom the recurring types

of services are provided along with periodicity (Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly), start date, end date. Basis this

compliance register, recurring tasks are created taking into consideration periodicity, the time required

to complete the task, and the due date.


Assigning Tasks

In most organizations, traditionally tasks are assigned based on a register either physical or excel sheets.

The senior team member or the admin staff usually allocates work to the team members on a daily or

weekly basis and again at the end of the day or week they take note of the status of the work. This

traditional approach would simply be time-consuming and highly inefficient in a WFH scenario.

Monitoring Tasks

For team leaders, it is essential to have a birds-eye view of task progress. This would ensure no task slips

through the cracks. Giving each task a unique number will help team members communicate better when

referencing their chatting. Instead of push- based reporting, team members should be trained to use pull-

based reporting, which saves time of junior team members and also ensures timely reporting.

Example: Instead of asking team members to fill up the timesheet and share a report with the team leader,

team leaders would pull up the report of the timesheet at his convenience for review.

Tasks can be further divided into Stages for better progress tracking. This is especially required in the WFH

scenario where team leaders have to rely on task tracking for allocating work amongst team members.

Tools to manage tasks

There are various ways an organization tracks and monitor tasks.

Excel Sheet

One of the most common methods is using a shared excel sheet and updating it periodically with the

status of the work.

Generic Tools

There are several free/low-cost generic tools to manage tasks. One or more such tools in combination are

used to assign and track tasks e.g. Trello, Quire

Practice Management Software

There are specific practice management software created for chartered accountant firms. Most of these tools are web-based and offer a seamless experience of managing tasks, timesheets, billing, and host of other features. ICAI has made a few of such software at reduced rates to CA firms. List of Practice Management Software is given in Annexure C.


Comparison of the above tools to manage tasks

Spreadsheet

Based Tracking

(Excel, Google

Sheet)

General Task

/ Project

Management

software

Practice

Management

Software

Access Management No Yes Yes

Designed for CA Firms /

Practice Management

No No Yes

Client Master No Depends on Tool Yes

Task Management Yes Yes Yes

Change Tracking Yes Depends on Tool Yes

Document Archival /

Sharing

No Yes Yes

Client Access No No Yes

Dashboard Limited Yes Yes

Billing No Depends on Tool Yes

Mobile App No Yes Yes


Annexure A – IT Infrastructure

Item Few Brands Cost Range

Personal Laptop HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer 29,000 - 35,000

Business Laptops HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer 48,000 - 1,50,000

Server Lenovo, Dell, HP 1,50,000 - 6,00,000

Firewall Fortinet, Sophos, Cisco,

Linksys 12,500 – 1,00,000

Open Source Firewall Endian, pfSense Technical setup + a basic CPU

cost

VPN Open VPN, Nord VPN, Private

VPN

0 - 20,000

Remote Desktop Microsoft Remote

Desktop

Radmin Remote Desktop

0 - 2,000/User

NAS Synology,

Windows Digital (WD)

20,000- 1,00,000

Cloud Storage Google Drive, Amazon,

Onedrive, DropBox

6,500 for 2 TB: Google

Drive


Annexure B – Office Suites

G Suite Microsoft/ Office 365

Zoho Workplace

Pricing exclusive of GST for annual commitment

₹125 /user/ month to ₹1650

/user/month

₹125 /user/ month To ₹2115

/user/month

₹ 99 /user/ month To ₹399 /

user/month

Business Email Gmail Outlook Zoho Mail

Minimum Email Storage 30 GB 50 GB 30 GB

Minimum Cloud Storage 30 GB 1 TB 5 GB

Word Processing Google Docs MS Word Zoho Writer

Spreadsheets Google Sheets MS Excel Zoho Sheet

Presentations Google Slides MS PowerPoint Zoho Show

Video Conferencing ✔ ✔ ✔

Administrative Tools ✔ ✔ ✔

Calendaring ✔ ✔ ✔

Browser-Based Versions ✔ ✔ ✔

Mobile App Versions ✔ ✔ ✔

Desktop Versions

✔ (available only from plans ₹660

/ user/month)

Plans G Suite Basic G Suite Business

G Suite Enterprise

Microsoft 365 Business Basic Microsoft 365

Business Standard Microsoft

365 Business Premium

Zoho Mail Lite Zoho Standard Zoho

Professional

Link for pricing and features available in different plans

https://gsuite. google.co.in/intl/

en_in/pricing.html

https://www. microsoft.

com/en-in/ microsoft-365/

compare-all- microsoft-365

-products

https://www. zoho.com/docs/ comparison.html

http://www/

http://www/


Annexure C – Software tools

Team

Communication

Tools for Virtual

Meetings

Remote Access Tools File-Sharing Tools

Flock Go To Meeting AnyDesk Dropbox

Microsoft Teams Google Meet Cisco Webex Google Drive

Slack Skype Team Viewer One Drive

Yammer Zoho Meetings Zoho Assist We Share

Zoho Cliq Zoom

Practice Management

Tools

Project Management/

Task Management

Tools

Surveillance Tools Cloud-based

Accounting Softwares

CA Dashboard Click Up ActivTrak QuickBooks

CCHiFirm Microsoft To Do Panogard XERO

Cordl Trello Team Logger Zoho Books

Jamku Zoho Projects Workpuls

My Task Co

Papillio

Ticketing Tools Password

Management Tools

VPN Service Providers Document Scanning Mobile App

Fresh Desk Lastpass AWS OneDrive Mobile App

Hubspot Bitwarden GoDaddy Google Scanner

Bitrix24 KeePass BlueHost Cam Scanner

Zoho Desk Dashlane

1 Password


DISCLAIMER

The opinion and views expressed in this publication are those of the author. Neither, S S Singhvi &

Associates nor the author is responsible in any way whatsoever for any personal or professional liability

arising out of the same. No part of this publication may be reproduced or translated in any form or by any

means without permission in writing from S S Singhvi & Associates. This publication is circulated with the

understanding that the author will not be responsible for the result of any action taken on the basis of

this work, whether directly or indirectly, or directly for any error or omission to any person whether the

reader of this publication or not.

All products/brands mentioned in this book are only for reference purposes only and are not in any way

to be considered as recommendations. None of the authors are in any way interested in any of the

products/brands. Similarly, prices vary from day product model to model and may change every day.

Sources of information:

1. Work from home manual of ICAI

2. Work from home manual of Chamber of tax consultants

3. Public data available on internet

READER’S SUGGESTIONS AND VIEWS

We invite suggestions and views from the readers for improvement in further such publications and also

the correction of an error, if any, found in this edition. Kindly send your suggestions on

[email protected].

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