Telecommuting and Teleworking Policy

RF Policy

The Research Foundation (RF) neither prohibits nor encourages telecommuting or teleworking by its employees. Given the extremely diverse and changing nature of work done by RF employees, the decision to allow an employee to telework must be made on a case-by-case basis after consideration of the relevant factors.

Administrative Considerations

Among the administrative considerations that need to be addressed are

• work schedules and overtime for nonexempt employees
• work site safety and zoning compliance
• ownership of equipment
• computer system access and security
• need for work space at the office
• nonresident tax issues

Relevant Factors

Operating locations should consider the following questions when making the decision to allow an employee to telework:

• Is there campus policy on teleworking that applies to comparable SUNY positions?
• Is the work suitable for performance by a teleworker?
• Can more than one employee in the work group telework at the same time?
• Does the employee in question have appropriate skills and work habits for successful teleworking?
• Have the employee and the supervisor agreed (in a written plan) on their responsibilities for assuring performance goals will be met?
• Will the human resources or personnel office be involved in providing guidelines and ongoing training and coaching to both supervisor and employee?
• Have administrative considerations been addressed?
• Is the decision (either to allow teleworking or not) fair and consistent with established precedent?

Decisionmaking

Operating location personnel and employee services employee relations staff should be involved in the decisionmaking. The Research Foundation recommends that any decision to allow teleworking be made initially on a pilot or trial basis (e.g., 6 – 9 months) in order to test the policies and procedures that operating locations have developed to implement their telecommuting proposal.

The RF Central Office of Employee Services Campus Support and Employee Relations Units are available to assist operating locations in evaluating proposed teleworking arrangements.

Resources

The following Web sites provide additional information on trends in telecommuting and teleworking. Although in some cases information is provided only to members of the organization, operating locations can SEARCH these sites as a good starting place in making an informed decision.

CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association for Human Resources)

• Knowledge Center articles on telecommuting in the Members Only Area

SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)

• Whitepapers and HR Magazine articles on telecommuting

ITAC (International Telework Association and Council)

• Practical information from a pro-teleworking group

Change History

• March 20, 2002 - New document.