Telecommuting Policies- Roleplay Meeting

Telecommuting Policies- Roleplay Meeting
Try to agree on a future company policy on working from home, including topics like:

Possible working from home policies to discuss
 Allow staff to move far away and still keep working from home in exactly the same

role?

 Alternate days in the office so that not too many people come in all at once?
 Close some offices due to many people working from home?
 Different dress codes for particular situations (in the office, meeting customers, etc)?
 Different policies depending on the level of coronavirus (or future pandemics and other

natural emergencies)?

 Different policies for different departments/ divisions/ branches/ sections?
 Different policies for different roles (managers and subordinates, IT staff, sales staff,

etc)?

 Different policies for parents/ carers?
 Have days when everyone comes into the office to help with team bonding/

communication?

 How many days in the office (on average)?
 How many days working from home (on average)?
 Introduce hot desking (to cut down on unused office space when people work from

home)?

 Move to a smaller office (due to many people working from home)?
 Move to an office in a cheaper area (allowing people who live near the original office to

telecommute)?

 Move to more but smaller offices nearer to where people live?
 Pay for equipment, supplies, etc to make working from home easier/ more pleasant/

more productive?

 Pay for use of shared office spaces nearer the employees’ homes?
 Stop paying travel costs for commuting?
 Upgrade the central IT infrastructure?

Other issues to discuss
 Potential (short-term) costs/ difficulties of the changes
 Probable (longer-term) benefits/ savings of the changes
 Decision making process before any changes (consulting with staff/ unions, etc)
 Timeline for the changes

Ask about any which you don’t understand, couldn’t agree on, etc, discussing them as a
class each time.

Change partner. Choose three topics above and roleplay a whole meeting on
telecommuting policies including those three topics, from small talk etc at the beginning to
saying goodbye at the end.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2021