Overview
As noted in policy 40.063 , the university recognizes the positive impacts flexibility in the workplace has on recruitment, retention, morale, engagement, and productivity. Given the mutually beneficial impact to both employees and the institution, supervisors and department/planning unit heads are strongly encouraged to utilize flex agreements as outlined below wherever possible.
Process
Initiation and Approval
Employees may seek consideration for use of this policy by initiating a conversation with their supervisor. Once the employee has tentative verbal approval for a flex arrangement, they should enter the record into the Flexwork Tracker in My Personal Information (MPI). To access the Flexwork Tracker and MPI, visit myhr.ohio.edu . The flex arrangement cannot begin until the supervisor has officially approved the request in the Flexwork Tracker.
An ad hoc request of flexible hours may be initiated without completion of a form, but it is recommended that the request still be documented via email or calendar invite. Department and planning unit heads retain the right to establish, with the assistance of University Human Resources, internal parameters for the initiation of flexible hour requests.
If the employee is seeking any flex arrangement as an accommodation under ADA Section 504, the Office for University Accessibility and the HR Liaison should be contacted prior to or in conjunction with the request to the supervisor.
Additionally, a department or planning unit may wish to initiate an invitation to participate in flex agreements by distributing a communication with options to all employees. Such invitations may be seasonal (such as summer flex options), may vary by employment type (for example, managers and individual contributors may have separate options available to them)), and may include additional department- or unit-specific guidelines or parameters. Examples of such invitations are available upon request to University Human Resources.
Duration of Flex Arrangements
Department and planning unit heads shall ensure that use of flexible hours are applied as consistently as possible while taking into consideration departmental needs and the circumstances of each request.
Flexible work schedule and flexplace agreements may be requested for any duration as long as it is noted in the Flexwork Tracker.
Changing an Agreement
Should the employee or department wish to change the terms of a flexible work schedule or flexplace agreement, the Flexwork Tracker must be updated.
Cancelling an Agreement
Either the employee or department may end a flexible work schedule or flexplace agreement at any time, for any reason within a minimum of a two-week notice unless an unforeseeable intervening event necessitates shorter notice. In such events, the Flexwork Tracker must be updated.
Combining Flexplace and Flex Schedule
An employee may initiate a combination of a flexible schedule and flexplace agreements by following the outlined approval process. For example, an employee may submit a request in the Flexwork Tracker changing their regular schedule to four (4) ten-hour days in conjunction with a flexible workplace agreement requesting to work remotely for one of the four (4) days.
Standard Hours of Operation and Holidays
For the purposes of these policies, standard hours of operation for the University are Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on all non-holiday/closure days. Departments are required to maintain at least minimal coverage during these times, but are encouraged to be as flexible as possible in meeting those coverage requirements, especially during peak vacation and holiday times.
Planning units are encouraged to provide equitable flex arrangement opportunities. Recognizing that front-facing roles are inherently more difficult to adjust with any flex arrangement, departments are encouraged to promote strategies such as cross-training, rotational coverage schedules (e.g. pre- determined coverage for day before and day after holidays that rotates among a group of staff holiday- to-holiday or year-to-year to more consistently allow and promote flex opportunities for departmental staff). Such cross-training and coverage may take unique forms by cross-training staff not normally in front-facing roles, which in turn better ensures departmental coverage options. Such coverage planning is also important so that use of paid time off may also be approved more equitably and consistently amongst all employee types throughout the year.
Managing Flex Agreements
Overview
In support of supervisors of employees utilizing flex agreements, University Human Resources provides a managerial toolkit that includes policy, guidelines, tools, and information regarding best practices.
Broadly speaking, managers of employees with flex agreements often find that utilizing the standard performance management model adopted by the University is the best way to manage accountability concerns that may arise.
Managers of Non-Exempt (Hourly) Staff
While leadership is still strongly encouraged to support flex agreements for hourly staff (regardless of employment type), it is important to note that time tracking of actual hours worked is still required for federal and state compliance. Therefore, employees shall track and report actual time worked. To ensure that a manager is capable of certifying hours worked, remote employees shall maintain a daily remote work log (inclusive of preapproved break times) that is shared with the supervisor on a predetermined basis (either weekly or per pay period) for the purpose of documenting official time.
Supporting Flex Agreements
In recognition and support of the broad range of reasons for which employees may utilize flex arrangements, and in an effort to maintain cohesive workplace engagement and operations, managers are encouraged to implement the following best practices:
- Ensure that all employees, regardless of identity, are aware of and equally considered for flex agreements.
- Establish shared “target” meeting times that can be established during shared working times for departmental employees. For example, recognizing that some employees may come in later in the day and some may leave earlier in the day, a department may ask employees to prioritize departmental meetings and communication during the hours of 10 a.m. – noon and 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Additional Notes
- When a scheduled holiday falls during a week, all employees will revert to a “normal” schedule (i.e. the default schedule for the given position should no flex agreement be in place). Flexplace may still occur based on any existing agreements; only flextime schedule will be impacted.
- Administrative hourly and classified bargaining unit staff must always enter exact hours worked into workforce, regardless of any existing flex arrangement.