Fuel costs are rising globally, commutes are becoming a genuine financial burden for many employees, and in some countries flexible working is already being actively encouraged at a policy level. For some small businesses, that’s already prompting real conversations about how and where their teams work.
You may not need to act on this right now. But the cost of being unprepared is something most small businesses have already experienced once, and it’s worth not going through that again.
So, is your business actually ready if it happens?
Not every business can do this, but yours might
If your team needs to be physically present to do their jobs, most of this won’t apply. But if your people spend their days on a screen, on the phone, or in meetings, there’s likely more flexibility available than you might think.
The question isn’t whether remote work is right for every business. It’s whether you’ve thought it through for yours.
What do you already know from last time?
If you ran any form of remote working during the pandemic, you’re not starting from scratch. It’s worth taking stock of what worked and what didn’t before you need it again.
A few things most businesses learnt last time:
Communication needs to be deliberate
In an office, information travels informally through overheard conversations, quick desk chats, and impromptu catch-ups. Remote teams don’t have that. Clear norms around how and when to communicate make a bigger difference than any tool.
Managing by output beats managing by visibility
Knowing whether someone is at their desk tells you very little. Knowing whether they’re hitting their goals tells you everything. This is the single biggest mindset shift for most managers, and it’s overdue in most workplaces anyway.
Onboarding remotely takes real effort
Bringing someone new into a business they’ve never physically been to doesn’t happen by accident. If your onboarding process hasn’t been looked at since everyone came back, now is the time. HR Partner’s onboarding checklists make it easy to build a structured remote onboarding process, so nothing gets missed and new starters feel set up from day one, wherever they are.
Office-dependent processes break fast
Leave requests, HR documents, approvals: if any of these still rely on someone being in the building, that’s a gap worth closing now, not when you’re under pressure. If you’re still managing these manually or on paper, it’s worth looking at whether your HR processes are actually remote-ready.
If remote work is new territory for your business, these are still the things to nail before you need to, not after.
Which roles could actually go remote?
Before anything else, take an honest look at which roles in your business could realistically work remotely and which couldn’t. This doesn’t need to be all-or-nothing. Some of your team might suit two or three days from home, while others need to be on-site every day.
Getting clear on this now prevents confusion and resentment later. If some roles can flex and others can’t, be upfront about why. People accept limitations much more easily when the reasoning is transparent.
Remote or hybrid: which makes sense for your business?
It’s worth being deliberate about this rather than defaulting to what you did last time.
Fully remote means your team works from home all or most of the time. For some businesses this works well, particularly where roles are largely independent, where you have team members spread across different locations, or where the commute is a significant part of the problem you’re trying to solve. The trade-off is that it requires more intentional effort to maintain culture, connection, and communication.
Hybrid means your team splits time between the office and home, typically a set number of days each way, or flexibility built around team needs. For many small businesses this is the more realistic middle ground. It keeps some of the in-person collaboration and culture that’s hard to replicate remotely, while still giving employees meaningful relief from the commute and the costs that come with it.
Neither is inherently better. The right answer depends on your team, your roles, and how your business operates day to day. A few questions worth thinking through:
- Which parts of your work genuinely benefit from being in the same room, and which don’t?
- Do you have team members who would struggle with fully remote, or who live close enough that hybrid is straightforward?
- What did you notice last time: did full remote work well, or did people start to drift without some regular in-person time?
Whatever you land on, the most important thing is that it’s a conscious decision, not just whatever happens by default when the pressure comes on.
Does your business have an actual working from home policy?
Most small business employment contracts were written with an office or on-site arrangement in mind. If remote work becomes a regular part of how you operate, even informally, your paperwork needs to reflect that.
Key things to cover in a remote work policy right now:
- Eligibility: which roles and employees does this apply to?
- Work health and safety: what are your obligations for a home working environment?
- Equipment: do you provide it, contribute to costs, or expect employees to use their own?
- Availability and communication: what are the expectations around hours and responsiveness?
- Data and confidentiality: are there security considerations for people working outside the office?
You don’t need to overcomplicate it. A clear, one-page working from home agreement is enough for most small businesses, and with HR Partner you can store it against each employee’s record, send it for digital signature, and have everything documented in one place before anyone works a day from home.
Could your team actually do their jobs from home tomorrow?
It’s worth asking that question directly. For most small businesses the answer is largely yes, but there are usually a few gaps that only become obvious when you’re relying on things under pressure.
Worth checking now:
- Can everyone access the systems and files they need from outside the office?
- Do you have a reliable way to communicate and collaborate beyond email and group chats?
- Are your core HR processes, including leave requests, onboarding, and document signing, digital? Or do they still depend on someone being in the building?
That last one is where a lot of small businesses get caught out. HR Partner keeps everything in one place and fully accessible from anywhere, so your HR doesn’t grind to a halt the moment your team isn’t in the office.
None of these are expensive problems to fix. They’re just much easier to deal with when there’s no urgency.
Have you actually talked to your team about this?
Your employees are already thinking about it, even if they haven’t said anything. Fuel costs and long commutes are real household budget pressures right now, and your team will notice whether you’re across it or not.
You don’t need all the answers before you open the conversation. Even flagging that you’re thinking through options, and asking how people are finding the commute, goes a long way. It also gives you a much clearer picture of where the real pressure points are.
What if only some roles can flex?
This is where it gets tricky. If part of your team can work from home but others can’t because of the nature of their role, that gap needs to be handled carefully. Perceived unfairness moves fast and does real damage to team morale, even when the reasons are completely legitimate.
Be transparent about the logic. And look at whether there are other ways to create flexibility for roles that can’t go remote, such as adjusted hours, compressed weeks, or other arrangements that at least acknowledge the difference.
You don’t need to have it all figured out today
Having a basic plan, a simple policy, and an open conversation with your team puts you in a much stronger position than you were last time. That’s a few hours of thinking now that could save a lot of stress later.
The question is whether you’re going to do it before you need to, or after.
Looking for a HR System to help you manage it all?
HR Partner is an all-in-one HRIS that helps small businesses automate and streamline their HR admin. Perfect for any type of team – office based, hybrid or remote – especially those that are across multiple locations. See how HR Partner can help you manage your business, book a demo with our team or start a free 14-day trial today.