UK businesses are reportedly offering incentives to their staff in a bid to bring them back into the office. Experts, however, believe they could fall foul of employment law if the perks are not distributed equally. Several companies, and trade bodies have given incentives out such as free food, extra childcare and even executive parking spaces.
Goldman Sachs' London office employees have been given free takeaway breakfast and lunch. They can now also claim an extra 10 days of free childcare over the 20 days offered previously. Meanwhile, rival bank JP Morgan has built an internal smartphone app that allows senior bankers on holiday to donate their parking spots at Canary Wharf, East London, to the junior staff willing to come into the office. It has also opened up the changing rooms at its pay-to-use gym for staff who want to change after exercise.
However, employment experts have warned these firms to tread lightly and not end up discriminating against staff who stayed at home. Rustom Tata, a law expert, was quoted as saying, “There is a risk in offering an incentive to someone who comes in the office and not to someone who doesn't. If an employer is offering a policy such as free meals, they may have to consider whether they offer an equivalent benefit to someone who isn't coming into the office for reasons to do with a disability. Administering all of that is a nightmare. You're almost better off giving it to everybody or nobody.”
He added, “The other thing they have to do is not appear to be placing undue pressure on the employee to come in, particularly if they haven't properly done their risk assessment and consulted with employees as part of that. You can see some employers saying we'll bung you a meal and hope you turn a blind eye to that.”
