Supervisor Guide to Employees Engaging in an
Alternate Work Arrangement
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The University has implemented provisional Alternative Work Arrangements that may lead to greater work-life balance, which in turn may lead to greater employee satisfaction, fewer unscheduled absences, increased retention, enhanced individual performance and increased business productivity.听This guide highlights important items from the Alternate Work Arrangement Policy as you consider alternate work arrangement requests and manage employees while ensuring that services provided to students, or internal and external customers are not impacted.
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Determining Position Eligibility for Alternate Work Arrangement
To be eligible for participation in an alternate work arrangement, an employee must hold a position which, according to their supervisor, lends itself to flexibility in location or schedule.
The quality, quantity and timeliness of a participating employee鈥檚 work must be enhanced or maintained. Arrangements for alternate work must not cause or contribute to the need for additional staff or for existing staff to perform additional duties or work additional overtime hours. All offices must remain open, and the operational needs of the campus must be met.
A guide to determine which positions may be considered for alternate work arrangements follows.
- The functions of the employee鈥檚 position can be performed without diminishing the quality and quantity of the work, disrupting the productivity of the department, or reducing student or public facing services provided by the unit.
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- For remote work, the employee鈥檚 regular work location on remote days is within 90 miles of campus.
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- The position does not require regular face-to-face contact with students, a supervisor, other employees, members of the University community or the public.
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- The position does not require routine access to information or materials that are available only at the Regularly Assigned Place of Employment.
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- The position allows for the employee to be as effectively supervised as they would be if the job functions were performed at the Regularly Assigned Place of Employment.
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- The position routinely allows for easy electronic production and/or exchange of information by means of computers or phones.
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- The position involves measurable or quantifiable work product.
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- The position has minimal or flexible need for specialized materials or equipment available only at the Regularly Assigned Place of Employment.
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The factors above are not all-inclusive, and the University may consider any other factor in its sole discretion in determining the appropriateness of an alternate work arrangement.
If the answer to all factors considered is 鈥測es,鈥� the position may be considered for an alternate work arrangement. The next step is to evaluate the employee鈥檚 suitability. 听
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Determining Employee Suitability
Following the assessment of the department suitability and specific role suitability, the supervisor must assess employee performance dimensions for successful alternate work arrangements:
- Has the employee been employed in their current role for a minimum of three months of continuous employment and have a satisfactory performance record?
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- Does the employee have a clear understanding of the position and expectations?
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- Does the employee have a consistent record of meeting or exceeding performance expectations and goal achievement?
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- Does the employee demonstrate the ability to successfully perform all aspects of the role independently and with an appropriate amount of autonomy?
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- Does the employee demonstrate effective communication skills with colleagues, students, customers, supervisors, etc. and leverage various communication tools appropriately (e.g., email, IM, Teams meetings, calls)?
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NOTE:听 An employee鈥檚 hybrid work arrangement may impact their visa status/eligibility. Supervisors and employees must consult with Human Resources prior to committing to a hybrid work arrangement with a foreign national.
Define Expectations
The key to managing employees 鈥� whether they work remotely or in-person 鈥� is to set clear expectations. The most important factor is that all employees share a consistent and fair set of expectations. Decide what you expect all employees to produce by defining clear parameters, deadlines and metrics. When everyone is on the same page, you and your team are not only more productive and engaged but also less stressed. If you need weekly progress reports, for instance, or prompt replies to emails, you must say so and hold the employee accountable.
You must decide where structure is required and where it is flexible. It is important that employees can do their best and positively impact the organization, so you must create an environment that allows employees to do that.
Example where Structure is Required: There should never be an instance when an employee indicates they can鈥檛 participate in a meeting because they are remote, they can鈥檛 respond to an inquiry because they are remote or will respond upon returning to the office.
You must also clearly define which (if any) work-related files (e.g., paper files) and worksite equipment (e.g. printer) employees have permission to take and use in their home workspaces. Appropriately track which items are available at the worksite and which items are in use at an employee鈥檚 home workspace.
Department Coverage
All offices must remain open for students and other employee interactions. Set clear guidelines at the beginning regarding department coverage to ensure that your department remains open during normal operating hours. There will be time where employees on an alternate work arrangement may have to work different hours or be on campus during a scheduled remote day at your discretion and the needs of the department.
Example: If an office of three has one person working remotely, a second person on vacation, and third becomes ill, the remote workers must come in to ensure the office is staffed.
Frequent and Consistent Communication
One of the biggest challenges of managing remote employees vs. in-person employees is setting up open communication lines. Set a schedule for one-on-one conversations and team meetings and stick to the schedule. Weekly check-ins are highly encouraged, but you can set up more check-ins depending on the needs of the department, project and individual employee. How often do you chat with your in-person employees 鈥� a few minutes a day, one meeting a week? Continue to communicate with your remote employees just as often as you do with your in-person employees to ensure no one feels isolated or undervalued. Ensure you prioritize your one-on-one meeting schedules even when everything seems to be going to plan. It is easier to address any problems when they are identified early on.
91社区 employees have free access to Microsoft Teams and Zoom, video conferencing and team collaboration tools, which include the following features:
- Use the chat feature to communicate with your employee individually or add multiple employees into the same chat for a more collaborative conversation.
- Set up online meetings, with or without video. Closed caption options are available.
- Utilize screen sharing in a chat or meeting for training and collaboration.
- Record meetings to later review information easily.
Using these tools improves engagement with your team as well as facilitates communication and collaboration. Both platforms have support websites with tips and video tutorials to help you utilize the products more effectively. When using video conferencing tools, ensure you accommodate employees with any visual or hearing impairments. You can find out how to use accommodation features, such as closed captioning, through each platform鈥檚 support website.
Use the following links to access the support websites:
Ensure your employees provide you with their contact information and keep you updated if the information changes. This includes their mailing address, phone number and even a personal email address in case of emergencies or technical difficulties.
Prepare for Remote Meetings
Email and chat messages alone will not suffice when communicating with your remote employees. Providing some guidelines for remote meetings via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc. will help you have more productive remote meetings.
Example guidelines:
- Video conferencing cameras must be turned on.
- Professional appearance and dress are required.
- Log on at least five minutes ahead of set schedule to resolve tech issues and start on time, without interruptions.
- Mute the microphone when you are not talking.
- Consider using earbuds to reduce echo if you experience feedback during the call.
- If you must step away during the call, notify the group in the chat window.
Ensure that your employees understand how to use any technology and programs that you plan to use. If you need additional support, please contact the IT Help Desk.
Set Measurable Goals
You must set a standard for monitoring performance. Setting goals helps employees to establish priorities and understand what tasks they need to do, but it also helps supervisors track and measure employee performance. We recommend using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-bound).
When setting goals seems like a difficult task, try to break a larger objective down into smaller tasks or subgoals. This can make it easier to see progress as well as manage and measure employee performance. This process of breaking down a goal into smaller parts is often referred to as key performance indicators (KPIs), a set of defined, measurable outcomes that can be tracked through smaller tasks that indicate you are on the path toward achieving the final goal.
Establish time tracking methods and consider what types of check-ins would work best for your team as well as what method is the most effective for everyone. It is important not to micromanage but also to regularly review goals and the employee鈥檚 progress. With regular review, you will be able to earlier identify when a goal is not on track to be completed by the original deadline. If your employee appears to be struggling to complete goal(s), discuss what the best course of action is. You might have caught the problem just in time to help the employee meet the deadline. However, while making goals time-bound is important, you must also realize that employees can be set off track, often through no fault of their own. Reevaluate deadlines when appropriate.
91社区 employees have access to OneDrive for free. This tool allows you to share documents privately or with a group and allows each person with access to edit the document all in one location. You and your employee might find it helpful to keep a document in OneDrive that tracks progress on projects and goals so that you can continuously manage performance and improve organization.
Do not forget to celebrate employee success. As you monitor goals, acknowledge the progress your employee has achieved to boost motivation.
Performance Concerns or Abuse of Policy
If you suspect an employee is abusing the alternate work arrangement, take the following steps:
- Reiterate or clarify productivity expectations.
- Request that the employee send progress reports at specific milestones.
- If you are not seeing any improvements, discuss your concerns with the employee and remind of expectations and make notes of the conversation you had with the employees including dates and time of discussion description of what was discussed. Explain to the employee that participation is not a guarantee and can be ended at anytime if the expectations are not met. If expectations are not met, notify the employee that you are ending their alternate work arrangement until further notice.
- Reach out to Human Resources for any assistance.
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It is important to address any performance concerns when first observed so that problems can be corrected before they get out of hand and improvements can be made sooner. Document any performance-related discussions and concerns to track progress and to provide to Human Resources, if needed.
Compensable Time for Hourly Employees
Since non-exempt (hourly) employee鈥檚 hours worked are calculated based upon the time when the employee begins their 鈥減rincipal activity鈥� and the time on that day at which they cease the 鈥減rincipal activity鈥�. In simpler terms, this can be described as 鈥渢he time you start work until the time you end work.鈥� For example, work starts when you sit down and start your computer.
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Follow your regular procedure for tracking time and discuss whether any modifications are needed to track time while working remotely.
- Ensure employees understand the length of time and frequency permitted for breaks and ensure that break time is appropriately tracked, in the same way you track in-person employees.
- It is imperative that employees understand that when taking bona fide unpaid meal breaks (usually 30 minutes to 1 hour) that they must not perform any work during that time.
- Any time worked over 37.5 hours during a work week must be paid at time and half. If the employee works over 37.5 hours without prior approval, the University is required by law to pay them overtime for the time worked. However, it will be addressed through the University disciplinary process. If this occurs, please reach out to Human Resources.听
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