The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay is committed to supporting remote work arrangements as much as possible when it is beneficial for both the employee and the institution. In addition, the University encourages supervisors and employees to think about flexible arrangements that can best support students and the mission of UW-Green Bay.
On August 1, 2024, the Universities of Wisconsin (UW) updated SYS 1228: Telecommuting (Remote Work) to further guide remote work arrangements for UW institutions. To align with the changes in UW policy, UW-Green Bay published a revised Telecommuting (Remote Work) Policy effective August 20, 2024.
Updates to both the UW and UW-Green Bay policies include the following general themes:
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- Replacing the term telecommuting with remote work throughout the policy
- Updating definitions of remote work, workplace flexibility, and headquarters location
- Requiring that an employee’s performance be taken into account when determining whether or not they are eligible for a remote work agreement
- Revising and enhancing language around the duration of remote work arrangements (can be for no longer than a year and must be updated at the start of each fiscal year)
- Adding a new section around determination of headquarters location and impact on travel reimbursement.
The Office of Human Resources has also updated the UW-Green Bay Telecommuting (Remote Work) website accordingly, which includes helpful information for both supervisors and employees.
As outlined above, one key new requirement is that all employees approved to remote work on a standard and recurring basis (at least once a week) must create a new remote work agreement each fiscal year. With the changes in the UW policy, all remote work arrangements submitted prior to August 1, 2024 are now expired and must be renewed. Therefore, employees requesting to work remotely on a standard and recurring basis (at least once a week) during FY25 must have a new Remote Work Agreement approved no later than September 16, 2024.
Both employees and supervisors are encouraged to carefully review the new requirements for determining headquarters locations as outlined in SYS 1228, Telecommuting (Remote Work) as well as unchanged language around travel reimbursement in SYS 425, Use of Personal Vehicles, Rental Cars, and Fleet for Business Transportation. All supervisors have updated requirements for identifying headquarter location in the remote work agreement. Please review the Manager Tip Sheet and Manager Guidelines for more information. Since this is a new process this year, HR will be auditing remote work agreements to confirm appropriate headquarters locations are identified and reaching out to supervisors for clarification as needed.
Faculty and instructional academic staff (IAS) inherently have flexibility in work arrangements due to their primary job responsibilities of teaching, scholarship, and/or service. Therefore, a remote work agreement is only necessary for faculty and IAS if it is reasonably expected that the employee’s sole worksite is elsewhere (i.e. the hired FA/IAS member is located outside of the state of Wisconsin). Faculty and IAS are responsible for ensuring the Telecommuting Expectations (as outlined in the UW-Green Bay Telecommuting (Remote Work) Policy) are met when they are working at an alternative site.
For more information about working remotely, including instructions for requesting and approving remote work agreements, please see the Telecommuting (Remote Work) website.
If you have questions about the Telecommuting (Remote Work) Policy, Remote Work Agreement, or information on the website, please contact Human Resources at hr@uwgb.edu or (920) 465-2390.
Thank you for your commitment and service to UW-Green Bay!