Section 3364-25-70 - Flexible work(A) Policy statement The university is open for business. Our employees are onsite and ready to service our students, patients, faculty, and staff in person as needed. The university also strives to find ways to improve upon employee engagement, enhance job satisfaction, empower leaders, all while finding ways to deliver exceptional service to our customers and meet university goals. Workplace flexibility helps us with this and provides a way to manage people, time, space, and workload. The university of Toledo (UToledo) supports flexible work arrangements (FWAs) that achieve productivity, enhance positive employee relations, and that align with staffing objectives.
(B) Purpose of policy The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for flexible work arrangements for the university.
(C) Scope Management and/or non-bargaining unit salaried employees may request flexible work arrangements.
(D) Definitions (1) Flexible work arrangement (FWA) - FWAs constitute a reassignment for either a portion of the employee's work time or all of it or work schedules that fall outside of a unit's usual normal staffing protocol.(2) Examples: (a) Compressed workweek - forty-hour work week compressed into fewer than five workdays.(b) Flextime - fixed starting/ending times that change periodically.(c) Telecommuting - some or all work hours are completed at the individual's home or from another location away from campus.(E) Expectations (1) All FWAs are approved at the sole discretion of the associate vice president (AVP) or dean in consultation with the vice president (VP). Not all FWAs will be approved. FWAs may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of the AVP or dean.(2) The job duties and responsibilities of an employee on a FWA may be changed based on business need. Management may at any time, shift, restructure and/or reallocate job duties.(3) The employee will be required to adhere to UToledo-specified performance standards for their position and must comply with federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and UToledo policies and procedures.(4) An employee on a FWA will be expected to attend meetings and work events on campus. UToledo will seek to designate certain times when the employee is expected to be on campus. The AVP or dean may require the employee to report to their UToledo campus during normal business hours with reasonable notice; two business days advance is suggested.(5) An employee on a FWA accepts responsibility for maintaining the security and confidentiality of all work-related data, documents, and other materials kept at their off-campus workplace or stored on electronic equipment. Work-related data, documents, or other materials should not be stored on personal electronic equipment. Any documents or items, including electronic records, created, or received by university employees, which serve to document the organization's policies, decisions, procedures, or operations of the university, are subject to Ohio public records law.(F) Eligibility:(1) All salaried (unclassified and classified) non-bargaining unit members are eligible to request a FWA; however, not all positions and not all employees, will be approved for an FWA. Note: faculty and faculty administrators consult with the provost office for FWAs.(2) The request for a FWA must meet the needs, requirements, and constraints of both the department and the staff member.(3) Generally, individuals who meet performance standards may be good candidates for a FWA.(4) Individuals in corrective action or on a performance improvement plan are ineligible for a FWA.(5) Employees must have completed the university's probationary period and/or all department orientation prior to becoming eligible for a FWA, unless it is an already approved job specialty that functions in a flexible capacity, i.e., coders. Note: bargaining unit employees refer to their bargaining unit agreements regarding flexible work.
(G) Procedure (1) Flexible work must be approved in advance by the AVP or dean prior to flexible work beginning.(2) A staff member must request a flexible work arrangement from their AVP or dean using the appropriate electronic form.(3) FWAs must be documented when they are established, using the flexible work arrangement proposal.(4) The department is responsible for maintaining all documentation relative to all FWAs, as well as ongoing monitoring of FWAs.(H) Determining feasibility of managing flexible work arrangements(1) AVPs/deans should consider the impact on the units workload and productivity, as well as impact to faculty, staff, students, patients, customers, cost, and business need. AVPs/deans should use the flexible work employee guidelines and flexible work manager guidelines to evaluate a request.(2) AVPs/deans should communicate with the staff member(s) whether the FWA is feasible or not within a reasonable timeframe, no more than ten business days suggested.(3) If the FWA is approved, AVPs/deans should specify when staff are expected to be present at the work site, how they are to be available during offsite work time, and how they are expected to engage and to communicate (teams, web Ex, e-mail, phone, text, etc.)(4) AVPs/deans should review the effectiveness of the FWA with the team members monthly.(5) VPs should make FWAs a regular agenda item with their unit leaders to ensure the FWAs are working successfully and adjust, accordingly.(I) Other considerations While discussing FWAs with employees, an employee may disclose a physical or mental limitation. The FWA is not intended to be used in place of ADA reasonable workplace accommodations. Should the employee disclose such limitation, the AVP/dean should contact human resources and refer the employee to human resource compliance.
As an employee of the university of Toledo, your work address is the physical location of your home department at the university of Toledo. Your work address is never your home address. While you may have a flexible schedule and work from home periodically, your official office address and location is the physical university address of your home department.
Ohio Admin. Code 3364-25-70
Effective: 7/29/2021
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3364
Rule Amplifies: 3364
Prior Effective Dates: 07/06/2021