Positioning CU Boulder for a successful rebound from the pandemic while prioritizing safety and continued excellence in teaching, research and the student experience is complicated and challenging. As the campus is transitioning to an in-person experience in the fall, the College of Arts and Sciences is rolling out its remote and hybrid pilot guidance with a soft implementation date of June 1, 2021, and a hard implementation date of August 16, 2021 (one week before fall class start in order to prepare for students arrival).  This approach allows employees to start re-acclimating during the summer when there are fewer people on campus.

As the magnitude of the pandemic came into focus, the campus strove to provide a safe working environment—social distancing, increased HVAC mitigation efforts, enhanced cleaning etc.

Now that multiple highly effective vaccines are available, we must pivot to a self-protection model. It is incumbent on individuals to keep themselves safe first by getting vaccinated.  Don’t rely on the building and other people to keep you safe. 

Please visit Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) for updated status.

The College of Arts and Sciences must ensure, within our span of control, continuity of student experience, which means that format and places students find resources and services are clear, and consistent. This means mitigating change throughout the semester. Additionally, the College of Arts and Sciences guides units to maintain organization cohesion, equity and consistency.

Please consult campus human resources resources at COVID-19 HR Processes. 

Everyone’s needs are not the same, and people’s needs often change over time at different stages of their lives. No longer will one solution work for every employee. Treating employees fairly means giving their needs and desires equal individual attention and respect. Also, unit business needs must be a priority for all employees as well as the manager. Thus, unit leadership is expected to plan and make these decisions to ensure business needs are met, while also meeting the needs of its employees.  When an employee is requesting a Remote or Hybrid Work Arrangement, the unit’s business needs, manager’s needs and co-workers’ needs all must be considered by both the employee and manager. Recognizing that service needs are dynamic and changing, the College of Arts and Sciences has developed the guidance to allow our units the agency to determine how to address their needs. 

Arts and Sciences college leadership has given each department the agency to make decisions about Remote Work Arrangements in their units based on what will work best for their business needs. If department leadership does not approve Remote Work Arrangements, staff must adhere to the unit’s work schedule expectations.

When business needs are established in advance, managers can work with the team to see how much flexibility is feasible. In some instances, employees may have to temporarily re-arrange their schedules to meet the unit’s needs. In other instances, there may be an agreement for employees to take turns to ensure the unit is covered. If some employees work a compressed work week (e.g. four 10-hour days) their schedules may be organized so that each one works a different four-day schedule in order to ensure 10-hour coverage for all five days of the week. Supervisors are expected to accurately assess the business needs, plan accordingly, and address employees’ failure to ensure planned coverage via performance management and/or corrective action etc.

When there is a climate of trust, employees appreciate the confidence placed in them and perform to meet expectations. In the few instances where performance is questioned, disciplinary action can be taken, or standard work schedules can be reinstated. Flexibility is a partnership with all parties affected. If approached together as a team, Remote Work Arrangements benefit the whole group and can strengthen the trust and cohesion of a team.

The way co-workers communicate and work on projects with an employee who flexes may change, but the overall workload of co-workers should not increase. Flexibility is a partnership with all parties affected. If approached together as a team, Remote Work Arrangements can be beneficial for the whole group and can strengthen the trust and cohesion of a team.

No. At this time the College of Arts and Sciences does not support out-of-state fully remote work arrangements.

Conference attendance counts as work time. Thus, the expectation is that an employee will monitor communication such that urgent issues are managed. Conference attendance utilizes flexible hours; if conference attendance happens during a day an employee doesn’t normally work, then the employee can “flex” those days.

Within the parameters of an organization’s plan, an individual’s supervisor can deny the request to work remotely or in a hybrid modality; flexibility is not an entitlement. Further the denial is not appealable.

No. Flexibility options first and foremost are designed to meet the needs of the unit functions and ensure optimization of role specific duties, while also meeting the needs of the employee. Flexibility is not a method to enable employees to save their leave; leave rules are still applicable. 

Remote Work Hours or Compressed Work Schedules are standardized as much as possible; thus leave should be planned accordingly. Remote work arrangements are NOT considered off-schedule work hours. The employee is expected to be at their remote work station and prepared to work the entirety of the scheduled remote hours. If an employee is not available to work during their scheduled hours (onsite or remote), they must use their leave to make up the time off. Employees are never expected to work when they are sick, and thus must use sick leave. If there are further questions, please consult with a supervisor and/or the dean’s office personnel team.

This is a nuanced question dependent on employee’s standard work hours, time of year, business needs, type of classification, etc. Please consult with your supervisor and/or the dean’s office personnel team.

Supervisors should address employees if they are doing non-work tasks during scheduled work hours, whether this activity is occurring on or off-site. Supervisors should address employees if they are not available remotely during their scheduled work hours.  Remote Work Arrangements, in general but specifically remote work arrangements, are not an entitlement and can be discontinued by the supervisor and/or chair/director. Further, concerns must be documented in the employee’s performance management records.

Supervisors should continue to set in-person staff meetings on a regular basis even if employees work different schedules or off-site. There is no reason not to have times when all employees can be scheduled to meet together.

With advanced cell phones, teleconferencing, email and electronic file sharing, team members can have meetings, work on documents together, and stay in touch in a number of different ways. Technology allows employees who might want to work from home as part of a Remote Work Arrangement to stay connected to their supervisor and colleagues. 

There are many technology options that can be utilized in these situations, for example:

The intent of this policy is not to interfere with the requirements of the ADA under federal law. To that end, the ADA Compliance unit of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) assesses all disability related requests. Any disability related request will be referred to the ADA Compliance unit. Please refer to Section VI of the policy or the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance webpage.

First organization leadership should determine if an employee must return based on organization plan. If the employee is required to return to campus based on campus and college guidance, and they feel unable to do so, please review resources available.  See the “If you are unable to return to campus” tab on the COVID-19 HR Processes webpage.

Requests based on medical need (self or for family) must be referred to appropriate resources. Supervisors, managers and directors have a responsibility to provide information to employees so that they are aware of their potential entitlements (FMLA, ADA). To not do so puts the university, supervisor, manager, director at risk (for example, failure to provide full options to employee, failure to perform management duties, accusations of favoritism). An employee has the choice whether or not to avail themselves of these resources, however, if they chose not to follow process they are not entitled to be privileged over any other request.

We hope that this will not be a reality given all the resources and various options available. However, the business needs are the priority. If an organization determines that an employee is expected to return in a in-person/hybrid capacity and they refuse, this scenario would ultimately be handled as a performance/disciplinary matter.

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No. Per the parameters of this policy, an employee will be eligible for remote work option consideration once the employee has demonstrated proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor, and have worked a recommended six months in their current position with their current supervisor OR demonstrate proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor and supervisor requests an exception to the recommended six months, which must be approved by the assistant dean of administration. The employee’s supervisor will review remote work requests and make a determination based on the parameters outlined above. The employee may also discuss other Remote Work Arrangements with their supervisor, which are not constrained by the recommended six month and proficiency guidelines. Flexibility is a partnership with all parties affected. If approached together as a team, Remote Work Arrangements can be beneficial for the whole group and can strengthen the trust and cohesion of a team.

No. Per the parameters of this policy, an employee will be eligible for remote work option consideration once the employee demonstrates proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor, and have worked a recommended six months in their current position with their current supervisor OR demonstrate proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor and supervisor requests an exception to the recommended six months, which must be approved by the assistant dean of administration. If an employee takes a promotional opportunity and reports to a new supervisor, the six month timeframe is once again recommended. The intent is for the employee and new supervisor to build their relationship and trust before changes to work arrangements are made. The employee’s new supervisor will review a remote work request and make a determination based on the parameters outlined above. The employee may also discuss other Remote Work Arrangements with their supervisor, which are not constrained by the recommended 6 month and proficiency guidelines.  Flexibility is a partnership with all parties affected. If approached together as a team, Remote Work Arrangements can be beneficial for the whole group and can strengthen the trust and cohesion of a team.

No. Per the parameters of this policy, an employee will be eligible for remote work option consideration once the employee has demonstrated proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor, and have worked a recommended six months in their current position with their current supervisor OR demonstrate proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor and supervisor requests an exception to the recommended six months, which must be approved by the assistant dean of administration. If an employee makes a lateral move and reports to a new supervisor, the six month timeframe is once again recommended. The intent is for the employee and new supervisor to build their relationship and trust before changes to work arrangements are made. The employee’s new supervisor will review the remote works request and make a determination based on the parameters outlined above. The employee may also discuss other Remote Work Arrangements with their supervisor, which are not constrained by the recommended 6 month and proficiency guidelines. Flexibility is a partnership with all parties affected. If approached together as a team, Remote Work Arrangements can be beneficial for the whole group and can strengthen the trust and cohesion of a team.

Per the parameters of this policy, an employee will be eligible for remote work option consideration once the employee has demonstrated proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor, and has worked a recommended six months in their current position with their current supervisor OR demonstrate proficiency in their role, as determined by their supervisor and supervisor requests an exception to the recommended six months, which must be approved by the assistant dean of administration.  Within the parameters of an org’s plan, the supervisor may determine whether or not to approve or deny the request. If the request is denied, there is no appeal process. However, the employee may discuss other Remote Work Arrangements with their supervisor, which are not constrained by the recommended six month timeframe and proficiency guidelines.

A supervisor’s first step is to determine the needs of the business relative to the role this employee plays. An employee should not be left out of this opportunity solely because they work a part-time schedule; however, the decision must make sense from a business perspective. A front-desk part-time employee, for example, may not be permitted to work remotely, given their role and limited coverage hours, unless coverage can be arranged among the rest of the staff and it does not negatively affect the unit. Please consult with a supervisor and/or the dean’s office personnel team.

This request may be permissible if the combination of the compressed work scheduled and remote work must meet the business needs, per the supervisor.