Remote Work Program

The Remote Work Agreement (RWA) is a written agreement that establishes the specific conditions that apply to the eligible employee(s) working in an Alternate Location, as defined in UAP 3245.

• Review UAP 3245. Employees and supervisors should review UAP 3245 prior to beginning Remote Work Agreement discussions.
• Refer to UAP 3245 Section 5 for specific requirements for the different remote work types (Hybrid, In-State, Out-of-State).
• Complete the RWA form and route for appropriate signatures and approvals. The RWA form is a fillable pdf, allowing for flexibility in completing and routing for signatures.
  • New hire, attach completed form to UNMJobs
  • Current employees, attach completed form to the RWA – New/Change EPAF

The completed form will be coded in Banner and the document uploaded into the personnel file. Once submitted via Electronic Personnel Action Form (ePAF), the information on your employee’s remote work status will be viewable on the active employee report in HR Reports. Job aids providing instruction on how to submit the ePAF can be found at Job aids providing instruction for this process can be found at https://confluence.unm.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=193528261.

Remote Work Agreements are subject to modification or termination at any time based on operational or business needs. Employee’s must receive a minimum of thirty (30) days’ notices.

Hybrid and In-State Remote Work

• Complete the Termination of Remote Work Agreement and attach the completed form to the Remote Work End EPAF.

Out-of-State

• Submit a Staff End of Assignment (SEP02) EPAF along with the Term Appointment Notification of Completion Form

Remote work is defined in UAP 3245 as the practice of employees performing some or all of their duties from an Alternate Work Location (non-UNM worksite) either in-state or out-of-state.

UNM has multiple categories of remote work, each having different expectations and requirements under an established Remote Work Agreement (RWA):

• Hybrid Remote Work: Performance of work duties split between a UNM Worksite and an Alternate Work Location in the State of New Mexico.
• In-State Remote Work: Performance of all duties from an Alternate Work Location in the State of New Mexico. In most situations, In-State Remote workers will not have an assigned UNM worksite.
• Out-of-State Remote Work: Performance of all duties from an Alternate Work Location in a state other than New Mexico, or the performance of work duties split between a UNM Worksite and an Alternate Work Location in a state other than New Mexico.
• Situational Remote: Working off-site on a case-by-case basis for a short-term or temporary period that is not part of a previously established RWA.

• Employees eligible for remote work include staff in regular (full or part-time), term, contract, temporary, or on-call appointments.
  • Individuals specifically appointed as faculty, undergraduate and graduate student employees, or School of Medicine Resident Physicians are not eligible to enter into Remote Work Agreements.
• All eligible employees can request Remote Work within the state of New Mexico in accordance with UAP 3245, though no University employee is entitled to or guaranteed the opportunity for remote work.
• Only employees designated “exempt” under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are eligible to request Out-of-State Remote Work.
  • Part-time employees in an exempt position, but are non-exempt due to FLSA rules, are not eligible for Out-of-State Remote Work
• Alternate Work Locations outside of the United States are not authorized for Remote Work.

Several factors should be considered in determining the feasibility of remote work, including the job/position, nature of the work performed, operational needs, impact on the department and employee performance, the University’s ability to supervise the employee adequately and whether any duties require use of certain equipment or tools that cannot be replicated at the alternate work location. Many University services are still directed toward students who are seeking an in-person experience.

The main considerations are the operational and business needs of the unit and the degree to which an employee’s job duties can be accomplished remotely at an Alternate Work Location. Other considerations include, but are not limited to:

• When assessing multiple requests for Remote Work within a department, supervisors and chairs/directors should consider the impact to operations and business needs, equitable distribution of work, and maintaining appropriate office coverage.
• The employee(s) have sufficient internet access at the Alternate Work Location to support the technology requirements of their position.
• The ability of the department to provide equipment capable of supporting the employee(s) joining audio and video of web conferencing meetings with the supervisor and coworkers. Remote meeting access is a requirement for supporting an RWA.
• If the employee has the requisite technical skills and has a designated space at the off-site location which would be necessary for the completion of tasks. “Requisite technical skills” means the employee must be able to access all needed applications and data and be able to accomplish basic trouble-shooting from the off-site location.
• Whether or not the employee is a successful performer, works independently and does not need to be on campus for meetings with campus staff/PIs or internal meetings on a daily basis. If personal contact is intermittently required, the supervisor must outline how the employee can meet the requirements for necessary face-to-face contact required by the job.
• If the work of the position can be monitored with quantifiable tasks; quantity and quality should be measured as is currently being done in the office; for non-quantifiable or project-oriented tasks, measuring normally involves: establishing the nature and objective(s) of the tasks; setting a deadline or due date; and setting progress or status report/meeting dates.
• Consideration may include approved accommodation requests.

Once remote work arrangements have been determined to be feasible, consideration should turn to employee conduct expectations. In general conduct requirements should be consistent with expectations for on-campus employees, while recognizing some differences for a remote work environment. Establishing and documenting conduct expectations will maintain department business standards equitably and reduce misunderstanding between employees and management.

Topics for conduct standards may include, but are not limited to:

• Focus on duties and responsibilities. For instance, remote work is not intended to serve as a substitute for child or adult care during working hours.
• Contingency plans for technology issues and outage. It is expected that if the off-site internet connection will be down for more than two hours, the employee will travel to the campus location. Travel time is not counted as work time.
• Expectations during virtual meetings
  • Dress code
  • Inattention or multi-tasking
  • Muting microphone when not presenting
  • Video camera on/off
  • Workspace environment and virtual backgrounds
  • Eating
  • Smoking or vaping
• Expectation for availability and communication during scheduled work hours.
  • Response times to communications (Teams messages, email, phone calls) from supervisors, coworkers, and the constituency the employee serves.
• Sound, noise, or other distractions in the workspace.
• Expectations for on-campus work
  • Staffing shortages or leave coverage
  • Switching remote days in a hybrid schedule
  • Shared office-space when on-campus
• Expectation for phone coverage and use. Personal cell phone use vs. UNM issued cell phones.