Telecommuting: The New Normal?

May 2020

As the coronavirus outbreak continues in Mexico and given that the Mexican Government has extended the stay at home orders at least through May 30, 2020, many employees who used to commute to their place of work are now working from home (“telecommuting”). Thus, organizations may have realized by now that telecommuting arrangements during the pandemic were more productive and climate friendly so they should think about what steps they need or want to take going forward to manage the
impact in their workplace, including continuing telecommuting arrangements on a permanent basis.

Although organizations in Mexico are not mandated or required to offer telecommuting, the current global health crisis makes it a key tool to maintain productivity, workforce, and source of employment. Forbes¹ predicts that telecommuting is here to stay.²

Generally speaking, implementing telecommuting arrangements in Mexico will require preparing at least a telecommuting policy to ensure consistency of application and telecommuting agreements that must comply with such policy and other statutory requirements. The legal framework is less than perfect so any strategy and implementation will require a nuanced assessment of the situation and the
possible costs.

The foregoing calls for critical advance planning to avoid business interruptions and ensure the availability of resources and personnel. This is not to say that we are advising all clients to immediately adopt telecommuting arrangements. Rather, we suggest considering preparing action plans and putting them “on the shelf” ready for rapid deployment if and when advisable. Pilot programs may also be helpful in determining if telecommuting arrangements are effective enough.

This document was prepared by the team of García Mingo & Tejedo, S.C. We can work with your organization in creating content and strategies to implement telecommuting policies and arrangements tailormade to your organization’s specific needs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Juan Tejedo, juan.tejedo@gmt.mx
Alfonso García-Mingo, a.garciamingo@gmt.mx
Carlos Acle, carlos.acle@gmt.mx
Regina de la Fuente, regina.delafuente@gmt.mx

¹ Telecommuting Surge Likely to Last Past COVID-19 Crisis, Predicts Brookings Report by Ted Knutson.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedknutson/2020/04/08/telecommuting-surge-likely-to-last-past-covid-19-crisis-says-brookingsreport/#
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² https://www.fastcompany.com/90504163/twitter-will-let-employees-work-from-home-permanently-will-other-companiesfollow?
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