The industry of software producers was associated with remote work from the beginning. Flexible working conditions are a feature that more and more people are looking for – especially in the IT industry. According to the information provided by SoDA member companies – in the current recruitment processes, the aspect of remote work and flexible working hours has become even required, and the vast majority of employees will not decide to accept a job offer in the event that they have to work only from an office. The confirmation of the above thesis is the report of the 7N company “How do IT experts feel about working remotely? Report including cultural aspects from Denmark, India and Poland ”(2021), which cooperates with nearly 1,500 IT consultants. The company examined the developers’ opinion about remote work, and the results clearly indicate that the IT industry does not want to return to offices. The study also shows that only 4 percent of the respondents would like to return to full office work, and 16 percent of the survey participants would like to work one hundred percent remotely. The rest would choose a hybrid system, and about 1/3 of Polish programmers would like to work for about 90 percent time from home and only visit the office a few times a year. In our opinion, the most important aspects to be regulated include:
- Place of performing remote work – making the issue of specifying the workplace more flexible, regardless of the actual place of its performance (the change of the workplace from the employer’s seat to remote work or in a hybrid model should not result in a change of the place of work specified in the employment contract); in addition, it should be determined whether the employer can limit the place where work may be performed and apply flexibility in terms of the possibility of making changes to the arrangements for the amount of work performed from the office and remotely, and allow remote workers to use the employer’s infrastructure.
- The possibility of signing a remote employment contract using an advanced electronic signature – such a solution will allow the conclusion of an employment relationship only via means of distance communication.
- Limiting the employer’s obligations in the field of occupational health and safety when working remotely – clarification of work from abroad, including the issue of social security, defining high-risk countries, Occupational Medicine, and accidents during remote work.
- Introducing a relief for peripheral devices for employers in connection with the posting employees to work remotely. The relief could operate on a similar basis to, for example, R&D relief, i.e. first the taxpayer will deduct tax costs on general terms, and then deduct 100 percent of costs eligible for the relief.
- Considering the reduction of bureaucracy in the process of agreeing to perform remote work in relation to the current draft regulations.
