Pre-pandemic: I’ve been hired pre-pandemic and classified as an onsite employee in contract but not required to be onsite every day due to nature of work.
Pandemic: Fast forward to March 2020, we’ve all been mandated to work from home until further notice and approved to move outside of office location (office in Manila). Eventually, employees across all offices have been given the option to return to office but due to low onsite attendance, most offices have been closed and have moved to a limited co-working space setup including PH office.
2025: HR releases updated policy giving employees option to change status to a “permanent remote work” status. Asked HR on how this will affect employee benefits and rights and they communicated that they would generally receive the same standard benefits comparable to onsite employees.
Dilemma: The nature of my work requires client interactions which we’ve been doing remotely since pandemic though they do “encourage” us to physically meet them at-least once a year. Expenses such as airfare and accommodation to Manila where the clients are based will not be covered by the company as we are, in contract, expected to be onsite or within office location which is in Manila. HR did say should we change status to a permanent remote work then the remote employee can seek reimbursement for the airfare and accommodations.
The question is, Would you advise me to change status from onsite to permanent remote?
Pros of changing status:
-reimbursement on travel expenses
-with some companies requiring employees to return to office, I’m thinking this “might” protect me from this scenario should it happen to us
Con:
-I’m not too familiar with our labor laws around remote work (telecommuting act?) with too many gray areas and none from our office so far has changed their status so I have no point of reference.
This said, I have hesitations and don’t want to put myself in any potentially compromising position in the future due to some HR technicalities.
Anyone who has been in this position, need your insights please. Thank you!