Coronavirus response update: Telecommuting and timecard guidance

March 19, 2020, 6:13 p.m.

To:  Faculty, staff, administrators
From:  Cory Nomura, Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration; and Jeremy Hammond, Director of Human Resources 

Coronavirus response update: Telecommuting and timecard guidance

Following yesterday’s memo stating that the University is introducing a temporary work-from-home policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we would like to provide guidance on telecommuting, timecards, and University services during this period.

TELECOMMUTING

Many U of R employees have now received permission from their supervisors to telecommute. Telecommuting arrangements require attention to new procedures by both supervisors and employees.

Supervisors should:

  • Communicate specific expectations to individual team members based on each person’s position, the needs of the unit, and the employee’s personal circumstances.
  • Review regular progress reports on work-at-home assignments.
  • Provide feedback immediately if expectations change.
  • Maintain ongoing communications and meetings regarding the status of assignments and projects.
  • Be available by phone and/or e-mail during the agreed-upon hours
  • Adhere to all University timekeeping policies and procedures.

Telecommuting employees should:

  • Fulfill the expectations agreed upon with your supervisor regarding the scope of your telecommuting assignments, such as:
    • Duties and responsibilities;
    • Hours of work (rest/meal breaks, overtime, and other wage and hour requirements still apply);
    • Hours of availability to communicate regarding University business;
    • Communication about work assignments/regular progress reports;
    • Personal needs, including reporting absences of work due to injury, illness, or caring for a family member; and
    • The use of University equipment and materials.
  • Practice secure data handling (electronic and paper), follow University informational security requirements, and store such data on University servers (using VPN access to Colleague databases and/or access to SharePoint or OneDrive).  Private, confidential, or proprietary University business records, student records, and other data should never be saved to personally owned computers, hard drives, cloud storage or USB drives, or other personally owned storage media.  Failure to follow these rules and appropriately protect University information may result in discipline.
  • Appropriately complete your timecard and follow all labor laws in accordance to your status (non-exempt/exempt).
  • State your availability and set response expectations in your signature line/out of office on emails.
  • Forward desk/office phone to your home/cell phone if appropriate (as a reminder, all voicemails left on your office phone will also be recorded and sent to your email for retrieval).
  • Notify your supervisor if you become ill and cannot work.

TIMECARDS

As yesterday’s memo stated, all University employees will continue to be paid as normal through Friday, April 3. The President’s Cabinet is continuing to monitor the changing environment and respond to both internal and external needs.  Information will be forthcoming on next steps for employees on or before April 3.

To fill out your timecard for employment during the period through April 3, access Ultimate Time and Attendance (UTA), go to “My Redlands,” and search for the HR Portal.

Administrators, please complete your timecard as you would if you were working in the office.

Non-exempt staff and administrators:  

  • Log all hours worked, including remote hours. 
  • For any day that you work on-site at the University, log your hours as you normally do; for any day you work at home, also log those hours as you normally do. 
  • For the hours you remain at home at the direction of the University and do not work, you will use the code “CLOSE” for your regularly scheduled hours.  For example, if you are scheduled for 30 hours a week and do not work, you will use the new time code for all 30 hours. View a step-by-step guide to add the time.

Employees should continue to use the vacation code for all previously approved vacation hours during this period if they are still using the time as vacation.  If vacation plans were canceled, employees should work with their supervisor to make changes to timecards as appropriate to each situation.

Other timelines and procedures for approving timecards remain unchanged. Administrators should approve their timecard for the March pay period no later than Friday, April 3. Non-exempt staff and administrators should enter and approve their timecards for the pay period 3/16 to 3/29 in advance before leaving on Friday, March 20; timecards for the pay period 3/30 to 4/12 can be approved on Monday, April 13.

UNIVERSITY SERVICES

Additional information on University services including mail/packages, check requests, and purchase orders have been added to the Coronavirus FAQ page, which is updated on an ongoing basis. (You may need to refresh your browser or clear your cache to view updated content.)

We will continue to update you as decisions are made.