FWA Frequently Asked Questions and Work Rules

There are certain tools that remote workers at ECU are expected to use to ensure continuity of service and effective collaboration between onsite workers and remote workers. Remote work employees are expected to utilize ECU’s Outlook email system for work-related emails. Remote work employees are also expected to utilize approved university storage for storing sensitive university data and accessing it while working remotely. The two primary locations for university storage are ECU Piratedrives and Microsoft Onedrive under your ECU Office 365 account. Remote work employees are also expected to utilize approved university tools for collaboration and departmental file sharing.  The university’s primary collaboration tool is Microsoft Teams. For remote workers whose job responsibilities include routine communication with campus or the public, a phone number should be assigned, and the employee is expected to utilize the Webex PC client to receive phone calls.  Information on utilizing Cisco Webex to answer phone lines can be found on the Tools page.

Supervisors can set reasonable commuting distances for remote work employees based on their position’s job requirements. Remote work employees are expected to adhere to commuting distances and return to campus response times as deemed by the supervisor. A “reasonable commuting distance” is defined as a location that does not exceed a distance that can be traveled by automobile under average conditions of traffic, weather, and roads to employee’s assigned duty station.

Employees are not allowed to place an “out of office” auto-reply on their work email or out of office signage on their on-campus office door during remote working hours, excluding unavailable work time due to extended work-related obligations. Remote employees may denote with signage on their on-campus office space that they are working remotely.

Non-exempt employees who work remotely, and their supervisors, must take care to ensure their Kronos time record accurately captures the hours the employee was working on University business.  Employees may not be clocked in during the commute between the remote work location (e.g., home) and the campus duty location.  Employees may not be clocked in during personal appointments or while performing personal, non-University errands and tasks.  Situations where one punch is from on-campus and the other punch is off-campus should be scrutinized by supervisors and Kronos “superadmins”.  Employees and supervisors should use the comment feature in Kronos to add details explaining any punches that are out of the ordinary.

Employees who feel they may have COVID-19, the flu, or another highly contagious illness, should take steps to avoid possible exposure to others in the workplace.   Non-reoccurring alterations to an employee’s work location may be approved at their direct supervisor’s discretion and the non-reoccurring change does not need to be approved with a flexible work arrangement agreement.

The Adverse Weather and Emergency Event Regulation allows for flexibility of work during a condition 1 or 2 adverse weather event. Non-mandatory employees who have the capability to telework and who are scheduled to go to their on-campus duty station but are unable due to adverse weather or office closure will be expected to telework to the extent possible. Non-mandatory employees who have the capability to telework but do not during an adverse weather event or emergency closing shall account for lost time in accordance with the Adverse Weather or Emergency Event Regulation. If the University goes to a condition 1 or 2 for an adverse weather event on a day that a non-mandatory employee is already working remotely, the employee is expected to continue teleworking, if possible, when on-campus non-mandatory employees are directed to leave or not report to campus due to an adverse weather event or emergency closing. Employees working during an adverse weather event from home will not be eligible to receive Additional Equivalent Time Off (ETO) for Mandatory Employees, as employees must report to university property as a mandatory employee during a condition 2 or 3 adverse weather event to be eligible.

Remote working employees are expected to have access to a camera while working off-site. Employees who are working remotely are expected to meet on-camera when requested or as deemed appropriate by management. If an employee would have been meeting in a face-to-face or in-person format while working on-site, camera usage is required via Teams or other virtual meeting mechanism, unless deemed not necessary by management. If an employee would have participated in the meeting via telephone while working on site, camera usage will not be required, unless requested by management. Employees should exercise their best judgement when in meetings with colleagues or constituents to determine appropriate camera usage.

Remote working employees must be available by phone at the same level as onsite employees during working hours, excluding unavailable work time due to meetings and other work-related obligations. Employees who are working remotely are not allowed to forward their line to an on-site co-worker, purposefully send phone calls to voicemail, or put an out-of-office voicemail message on their office phone during working hours. Employees are encouraged to monitor office phone lines via the Cisco Webex at the same level-of-service they would when working on-campus. Employees who are found to be unable to provide adequate phone coverage during remote working hours may have their remote work privileges revoked. Information on utilizing Cisco Webex to answer phone lines can be found on the Tools page.

Remote working student employees should abide by all established policies and expectations for all employees working remotely and in accordance with the University Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Regulation. Student workers should not be used to provide onsite coverage in order to allow permanent employees to telework resulting in the student worker being unsupervised. At least one supervisory or managerial resource should be onsite with any student worker that is working in an on-campus setting.

Employees may not use remote work as a substitute for leave time to provide direct care of an individual, including children or other family members.  Employees must communicate to their supervisor their need to use vacation or sick time for direct care of others, in accordance with university policy

Employees should be dressed professionally when participating in video conference calls/meetings, just as they would if attending in-person meetings, in accordance with their unit’s practices/policies.  Remote employees that do not participate in video conference calls/meetings can dress in a more causal form while not compromising a professional appearance.

Microsoft Teams “status” should reflect a remote employee’s availability as accurately as possible.  If you are on leave or out of the office, consider placing an out of office message, or show as offline.  If you are working on a time sensitive project consider using the “do not disturb” or “busy” status. Expectations regarding employee availability, that are specific to the employee’s role, should be communicated by the supervisor prior to engaging in remote work.

Supervisors should have access to an employee’s outlook calendar or have a contact of someone that does have access to the calendar.  If an employee has a personal appointment and plans to be out of the office, the calendar event can be marked as a private appointment or just a general meeting statement of personal appointment in the appropriate time slot on the calendar. A best practice may be for the department to set up a separate shared calendar for staff to place vacation/out of office requests so the entire team is aware of who is out of the office. It is also recommended that employees working remotely designate on their outlook calendar “working elsewhere” so others are aware of their work location.

Remote employees are required to maintain continued high-speed internet service to allow for contact by phone, email, and video conferencing. The University will not subsidize personal internet service or provide internet connectivity at an alternate work location. If the employee is experiencing an internet or power outage or spotty internet coverage, it is the employee’s responsibility to communicate the interruption in service to their supervisor. The supervisor may require leave be taken for any missed work during the employee’s scheduled workday due to internet outages or request the employee return to an onsite duty station. A loss of access to the Kronos timeclock system should be corrected by the Kronos superadmin/supervisor and appropriately documented.

Supervisors are responsible for setting and documenting schedules, performance, and productivity expectations for each employee who works in a remote capacity, just as they do for on-site employees.  These expectations should follow the SMART philosophy – i.e. the expectations should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based.  Supervisors may use any reasonable monitoring/reporting methodology for monitoring remote work.  Supervisors should review the results of their monitoring on a regular basis with employees, ideally during regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings with employees.

An important tool for managers is frequent and regular communication with their employees. Routine check-ins are encouraged to ensure the well-being of employees and to share your accessibility for any questions.  At a minimum, weekly check-ins via Microsoft Teams should be held to provide updates and feedback on assigned tasks.  Should an employee fail to meet their supervisor’s expectations regarding check-ins, supervisors should counsel the employee verbally and reset expectations for check-ins.  Should the employee continue to fail to meet the check-in expectations, a second counseling should occur with the supervisor documenting the instance.  Further failure to meet expectations regarding check-ins should be discussed with HR Employee Relations or the appropriate personnel office to determine appropriate next steps, including possible disciplinary action and/or revocation of telework privileges.

Assignment of private office space for any employee that has an approved Alternate Work Location schedule of 60% or greater is not allowed (i.e., Flexible Work Arrangement Agreement on file with the Human Resources Offices where three or more days of a typical work week occur at the employee’s alternate work location). If the Unit Head deems that an office is needed, approval from the appropriate Division Vice Chancellor, Provost, or Athletic Director is required. Shared office space will be allocated to an employee needing office space for those days when an employee is observing on-campus work arrangements outlined in their Flexible Work Arrangement Agreement, (i.e., when 40% or less of a typical work week is on-campus).

Remote workers will not be offered any new equipment that would be an expense beyond what an onsite employee would receive. New equipment that would be considered duplicative should not be purchased for the purposes of remote work (i.e., computers/printers/monitors for both office and home). All university property taken to a remote office space should be documented on a Property Assignment Form (PDF).

While not an exhaustive list of considerations, there are several factors that may be used to consider if a position is eligible to be approved for Flexible Work Arrangements. Primarily the nature of the employee’s work and responsibilities must be conducive to a flexible work arrangement without causing disruption to performance and/or service delivery. Management will also determine allowable arrangements based on factors such as the nature of the work performed, employee productivity, employee conduct, task interdependence, federal and state laws, the employee’s time in position, and operational constraints. Employees who have active written warnings, disciplinary actions, or who received a “Does not meet expectations” on their most recent performance evaluation or other similar applicable documentation in their personnel files are generally not eligible for flexible work arrangements (unless given special approval by the Human Resources Department in consultation with departmental leadership).

No, each department must have a Flexible Work SOP before the department’s employees can be approved to have a Flexible Work Arrangement. Under the University Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Regulation, each unit will have its own documented Flexible Work Arrangements SOP to complement, while remaining fully compliant with, the regulation. Any such standard operating procedures must be reviewed and approved by the respective Division Office/Vice Chancellor in collaboration with the Director of Employee Relations. No employee shall be approved for a Flexible Work Arrangement unless/until the unit to which the employee is assigned has received a formal review of its standard operating procedures.

All ECU employees, both permanent and temporary, can be approved for a Flexible Work Arrangement. This includes SHRA, CSS, EHRA Non-faculty (including Senior Academic & Administrative Officer “SAAO” positions), EHRA Faculty, temporary, and student employees.

Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreements are to be used for reoccurring flexible work schedules and/or remote work from an alternate work location. Flexible work schedules are scheduled work hours that fall outside of the standard work hours for a position/unit. Flexible work hours typically include worktime outside of a standard Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm work schedule, but a position’s standard schedule may differ from this depending on departmental needs. Flexible scheduling will only require a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement when the altered work schedule differs from the standard work schedule of the position and is reoccurring.

Remote work or working from an alternate work location during the position’s standard work schedule on a reoccurring basis will also require a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement. This includes both partial remote work (splitting scheduled work time between on campus and an alternate work location) and full remote work (working solely from an alternate work location). Full telework/remote work requests will only be approved on a case-by-case basis in limited position-based situations based on industry standard and/or recruitment/retention of positions requiring unique and/or scarce skills. All full telework/remote work requests must have the written approval of the appropriate Vice Chancellor prior to the submission of a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement.

The University Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Regulation does not intend to limit the ability of faculty to work in‐person and/or remotely in the course of their normal duties; however, Flexible Work Arrangements for duties that are generally expected to be conducted on‐site (e.g., teaching an in‐person class or conducting lab research, artistic instruction or production, faculty advising), are subject to review and approval as defined by the regulation. Majority of faculty will not need a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement unless they are requesting extraordinary arrangement to do remote teaching or at-home work (such as office hours with students virtually from an alternate work location) in a manner where there is a departure from a university’s default expectation.

SAAO employees would rarely need a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement unless the employee proposes an arrangement that is a significant departure from the work standards defined by their next level manager, or their manager designates their schedule as partial remote work. An example of this would be if a SAAO employee were to request to work from an alternate work location every Friday, which is a departure from the standard practice for such positions in the employee’s division.

No, Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreements are intended for reoccurring changes to an employee’s work location or schedule. One-time alterations to an employee’s schedule or work location may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the employee’s direct supervisor. If the “one-time alteration” continues to repeat, the supervisor should then request a Flexible Work Arrangement agreement be completed and approved.

Yes, with the approval of the employee’s direct supervisor. As stated above, non-reoccurring alterations to an employee’s work location does not need to be approved with a flexible work arrangement agreement.

No, the Adverse Weather and Emergency Event Regulation allows for flexibility of work during a condition 1 or 2 adverse weather event. Non-mandatory employees who have the capability to telework and who are scheduled to go to their on-campus duty station but are unable due to adverse weather or office closure will be expected to telework to the extent possible. Non-mandatory employees who have the capability to telework but do not during an adverse weather event or emergency closing shall account for lost time in accordance with the Adverse Weather or Emergency Event Regulation. If the University goes to a condition 1 or 2 for an adverse weather event on a day that a non-mandatory employee is already working remotely, the employee is expected to continue teleworking, if possible, when on-campus non-mandatory employees are directed to leave or not report to campus due to an adverse weather event or emergency closing. Employees working during an adverse weather event from home will not be eligible to receive Additional Equivalent Time Off (ETO) for Mandatory Employees, as employees must report to university property as a mandatory employee during a condition 2 or 3 adverse weather event to be eligible.

Generally, you do not. Flexible Work Arrangements for FLSA Exempt employees are intended for employees working from an alternate work location during the hours their position would normally be expected to be performing work at their duty site. Performing some work after hours from an alternate work location would be considered a normal privilege of an FLSA exempt position. A Flexible Work Arrangement may be needed if the employee is performing work after hours on a reoccurring basis in lieu of performing work during the normally expected work hours of the position (Flexible Scheduling).

Yes, non-reoccurring alterations to the approved Flexible Work Arrangement can be made on a case-by-case basis with the approval from the employee’s direct supervisor. In this case, the employee may ask their supervisor to work remotely on Wednesday and Thursday (as opposed to Tuesday and Thursday) on this particular week without altering their Flexible Work Arrangement.

Flexible Work Arrangements will be determined separately from the accommodations process mandated by the ADA. Employees who request Flexible Work Arrangements due to their own medical condition should contact the university’s ADA Coordinator. Flexible Work Arrangements are not intended to substitute for reasonable accommodations resulting from an interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or to meet the University’s ADA obligations.

Yes, Flexible Work Arrangements may be denied, changed, or revoked at any time by the University in its sole discretion, with notification to the appropriate Division Office/Vice Chancellor and the Director of Employee Relations. Reasons for denying, changing, or revoking flexible work arrangements can include, but are not limited to, changing business or operational needs or unsatisfactory employee performance or conduct. The availability and terms of Flexible Work Arrangements must be administered equitably based upon applicable factors and without regard to an employee’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status.

Yes, supervisors must ensure that Flexible Work Arrangements do not diminish the level of service the university provides and/or an employee’s productivity. Supervisors may require employees to track their work while using Flexible Work Arrangements to ensure university services or productivity is maintained.

Denials of Flexible Work Arrangements are not grievable under university policy and approvals of Flexible Work Arrangements are at the discretion of the unit/department’s leadership. If an employee feels they have been denied an arrangement due to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status, they may file a complaint with the Office for Equity and Diversity. If the employee’s request for an arrangement is related to their own medical condition or disability, they should apply for an accommodation with the university’s ADA Coordinator.

Yes, employees do not have inherent rights/ownership of any university workspace and may be assigned to work in another workspace to meet university space planning/budgetary needs.

Yes, but only when not processing sensitive information. According to UNC-System policy, personal computers shouldn’t be used when working with “sensitive information”. From the ECU’s perspective, “sensitive information” will be defined as “Level 3 or Level 4” in ECU’s Data Classification levels. This includes HIPAA, FERPA, and HR personnel information. Otherwise, employees should only utilize a personally owned device when they are using an ECU VPN or other secure connect method and no university information should be stored on the personally owned device. Any exceptions to this would need the explicit approval from the Director of ITCS.

No, UNC-System policy only allows the university to approve Flexible Work Arrangements for up to one year at a time and must be renewed at least annually.

Full telework/remote work requests will only be approved on a case-by-case basis in limited position-based situations based on industry standard and/or recruitment/retention of positions requiring unique and/or scarce skills. All full telework/remote work requests must have the written approval of the appropriate Vice Chancellor.

Employees approved for remote work are expected to be able to report to their regular on‐site duty station within a reasonable period of time when directed due to operational needs and/or due to changes to or revocation of their flexible work arrangements. The University may provide limited exceptions to the reasonable commuting distance based on operational needs. These exceptions to the reasonable commuting distance may include but are not limited to, the recruitment of those with unique or scarce skills; arrangements for faculty who teach exclusively in distance education programs; or arrival or departure of employees for a transitional period of relocation.

Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreements for employees with an alternate work location outside of the State of North Carolina require explicit university approval. Before approving a Flexible Work Arrangement and Remote Work Agreement for out-of-state flexible work arrangements, please contact Employee Relations at EmployeeRelations@ecu.edu for information regarding these approvals.

If you clock in and begin working from an alternate work location and then travel to campus to continue your work later in the day, you will not need to clock out if you do not conduct any personal business during the travel time (ie: run errands or eat lunch). Employees who start their day from campus would only clock in after arriving on campus property. Travel between an alternate work location to an assigned duty station should occur prior to the start of or at the end of the workday, if possible. In the event an employee must travel from their alternate work location to an assigned duty station during the workday, that travel time is considered work time; however, the employee may not charge mileage for travel between their alternate work location and their assigned duty station. Supervisors may ask employees to adjust or change their scheduled remote workdays in order to avoid travel from their alternate work location to an assigned duty station during the workday.