UMD Guidance for “Work. With Flexibility.”

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that your summer is going well. You have all done amazing work during the pandemic to transform how you teach, how you meet the needs of our students, and how you serve the many people that interact with UMD every day. As we continue to prepare for the upcoming semester, I am sending this follow-up to my message about Work. With Flexibility.

With input from campus leadership, the Vice Chancellors and I have developed guiding principles and planning guidance to help frame how we will implement Work. With Flexibility. at UMD. Throughout this process, we are doing our best to balance the best interests of our students while considering each employee’s perspective and unique circumstances. We acknowledge the good work done both on campus and remotely since March 2020, and we are working to create flexibility for employees as we return to more activity on campus. We will take advantage of the ways we have learned to be flexible in our work arrangements moving forward. We don't want to lose our gains in productivity, morale, and engagement as we transition back to serving our students and various public entities in an environment that is primarily face-to-face.

Supervisors are asked to take this framework, consult with their team and unit leadership, and build plans for their units. Unit plans must be communicated to employees by July 19, 2021. I am encouraging supervisors or unit administrators to organize discussion and listening sessions for the faculty and staff in their units in order to answer questions and increase understanding of how to best implement this Work. With Flexibility. approach.

UMD Guiding Principles for Work. With Flexibility.:

• UMD is a place-based institution of higher learning, and most of our students will be on campus this academic year.
• Faculty and staff work arrangements must meet student and organizational needs and ensure optimal service, effectiveness, and efficiency. 
• In determining work arrangements, both collective and individual work must be taken into consideration.
• Work arrangements are determined through dialogue between the employee and supervisor within the UMD Guiding Principles, not by the individual employee. If disagreements need to be resolved between the employee and supervisor, final determinations on flexible work arrangements are made by leadership of the employee’s Unit, for example, the Vice Chancellors of Academic Affairs, Student Life, Finance and Operations, or by the Chancellor for the Chancellor’s Unit. 
• We acknowledge that some positions are not able to work remotely due to the nature of the work.

UMD “Guideposts” for Planning:

• Faculty will be expected to deliver courses as originally scheduled with the expectation that the majority of our courses will take place face-to-face. Faculty must be available for in-person advising/meetings/office hours. We are returning to the pre-pandemic in-office flexibility, and adding what was learned during the pandemic. We now have an increased skill set of delivering content and meetings with more accountability and flexibility while leveraging new technology and new approaches to teaching and learning.
• For staff, if your workplace faces and serves students, faculty, staff, or the public, there must be full office coverage during business hours each week.
• The initial plans will be temporary or pilot arrangements, and we will review these plans periodically to determine effectiveness, examine performance, and to make any necessary adjustments. 
• We will not be able to continue many of the “heroic” actions started during the pandemic, because they are not sustainable and are no longer needed as we return to in-person work. For example, the Mail Room cannot continue to shoulder all reception services for the campus.

In instances where remote work has been approved, the expectations are as follows:

• Work schedules should accommodate the business needs of the department. Supervisors may require specific time periods/events where all staff must be in the workplace with no exceptions, if the business needs of the department require it. For many, this will involve activities at the beginning or end of the semester, but it may apply to other times as well.
• The supervisor may require meetings to be in person without offering the hybrid option. 
• There will be no new costs to the department for equipment, office furnishings, etc.
• While prioritizing the needs of the unit, plans can include multiple hybrid options. For example, working remotely one day a week, two days a week, or one week on campus and one week remotely. 
• Units need to ensure fair and equitable use of remote work, especially around holidays and weekends while continuing to meet unit and campus needs.
• Remote work should occur from a home office. Any alternate locations, for example, vacation locations, cabins, etc., must be approved by the supervisor. 
• Individuals approved to work remotely must be available and reachable by phone during normal business hours and have access to video conferencing.
• Employees working remotely must have reliable internet access to ensure functionality.
• Disability accommodations may be requested through the Disability Resource Center.

Other related resources:

• UMD Human Resources Department Liaison Contact List
• Office of Human Resources (OHR) Work. With Flexibility website
• Preliminary operational guidelines from OHR

If you have questions or would like to discuss this further, please contact your supervisor, Vice Chancellor or me, if you are in the Chancellor’s Unit.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor