Employer wants me to work from home

Hi,

I work for a IT/Telecoms company that has offices around the world and I am working in the Republic of Ireland office. Until recently there were 3 people working in the office but they have moved on and I am the only person in the office now. My company now says that it no longer makes financial sense to keep the office and they want me to work from home.
I have offered to move to a smaller, cheaper office but they say its too expensive. Working from home is not my preferred option but I am willing to do it if necessary.

If I do decide to work from home what are my employers responsibilities with regard to setting up the office and maintaining it as a place of work?

For initial setup I am thinking:
1. Employer purchases office equipment, such as desk, chair, printer etc

For maintaining office, I am thinking employee should pay for:
1. Broadband
2. Heating and electricity costs (im going to be spending 8 hours a day so my heating bill is going to increase significantly)

I have also heard that I may have to get additional house insurance to work from home. What if I have an accident during working hours, will my standard house insurance cover this? Does anyone know anything about this?

Is there anything else that I should be aware of?

Thanks
jbpr

Your employer still maintains a "care of duty" to you as an employee unless you go contract.

This means looking after all the above, and making sure you have a safe working, ergonomic environment established at your home.

Ask them how they plan to setup the home office for you, your location is the only thing that has changed, and all costs accrued will be covered by employer.

Is there a capital gains tax issue when you come to selling your house which will be partly a business premises?
Will you need planning permission?

Allen said:

Is there a capital gains tax issue when you come to selling your house which will be partly a business premises?
Will you need planning permission?

Click to expand...

The revenue has guidance on this and says that in these cases CGT is not applicable. I don't think that PP is applicable either unless you are running a business.

I work from home, and my employer paid for the setup and any ongoing expenses such as phone and broadband but not heating or electricity. The extra heating cost me less that the petrol I am saving by not driving anyway.

theres loads on the web about working from home, generally, as above, employer pays for setup of the office and ongoing costs including broadband ESB etc. Come to an agreement with them about this.

If your employer wont come out and vet your working environment at home (some companies do that have work-at-home policys), I thinks theres companys out there that specialize in setting up home offices, with lighting and advice on air conditioning, nothing worse then sitting in an ill-vented small box room all day which is doubling up as your office. Again, googles your friend.