Telework Forms & Requests

To request a telework arrangement, please fill out the required Telework Form. Once the form has been filled out it will route to the supervisor to review and approve/deny. If approved it will then route to the unit leadership (Chair or Director), who will review and approve/deny. Finally, if necessary, the Dean's office will review and if approved. 

Once approved, the supervisor will receive a notification that should be saved and uploaded to DocFinity. 

A couple of operational tips and tricks;

• All telework requests must be submitted utilizing the Telework Form.
• All review/approval steps route automatically once the preceding step has been submitted. 
• If there are problems with the form/routing, please reach out to CAS IT.
• If there are questions regarding the telework policies, please reach out to Susan Miller or Ivy Mason-Sharrah.

Guidance and Principles for Chairs - Concerning Remote Work by Staff
                                                                       
College of Arts and Sciences – August 2023

The College of Arts and Sciences supports limited Telework by staff to the extent that the department can accommodate this privilege following the attached guidelines and meeting departmental objectives.
As a general best practice, telework arrangements must be consistent with departmental goals and policies and should be for no more than two working days per week. Any proposed telework arrangement for more than two days is an exception to this guidance and is subject to greater scrutiny.
Requests to work remotely will only be approved if the work to be performed can be efficiently completed at a remote location AND if the department's or program's needs to staff the office can be met while accommodating remote work.
In considering requests from staff for the privilege to work remotely either for part (hybrid) or all of the work week, please keep in mind the following:

• The University of Washington (UW) is a Washington State agency. The State, and therefore, the UW, expects us to be open to the public, especially to our students, during regular business hours. Therefore, department and program offices must have staff physically present to receive and guide stakeholders during regular business hours. For most offices, regular business hours will be from 8 am until 5 pm, Mondays through Fridays. Nor should it be solely the responsibility of a single staff member to "cover" the office while all other staff work remotely. For personal safety reasons, we strongly recommend that no staff member be left alone in an office for extended periods.
• Requests from staff to work off-site (Telework) for one or more days of the week should be evaluated first and foremost concerning the unit's mission and the business needs that flow from that mission. For example, an instructional unit may have significantly less flexibility to approve remote work requests than a research unit.
• Formal telework agreements are required to establish a remote work schedule. All such agreements should be reviewed before September 15, 2023, and modified as necessary. The Department Chair and the Dean's Office must approve all such agreements before they take effect. Approved requests are only effective for one year and must be renewed annually. 
• Requests for remote work should be grounded in equity, and staff with similar work responsibilities in departments and programs should have equal opportunities for flexible work agreements.
• In an emergency, such as an earthquake or a fire requiring evacuation of a building, there MUST be a clear record of who is working in the building on any given day. Formal agreements for remote work are necessary to ensure such a record exists. A staff member's official workplace is their UW office. UW will not provide office equipment or furniture for a home office, even if a staff member has been approved for remote work.