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CALS remote work agreements will extend from Jan. 1-June 30, 2022

This message was sent to all faculty and staff by Dean VandenBosch on Dec. 14, 2021.

As the fall semester begins to wind down, I want to thank you for everything you have done to forward our research, teaching and outreach missions. Thanks to your commitment and vigilance, we have avoided significant COVID-19 outbreaks on campus and delivered courses and programs that are greatly appreciated by our students and other constituents.

As we continue to navigate a pandemic, this was also the first semester where we attempted remote work governed by the campus’s Remote Work Policy. As I said in May, our goal in the college is to provide flexibility to employees while still maintaining a high-quality, in-person experience for the CALS community that advances our mission of research, teaching, outreach, and service. We now have some experience, albeit still under public health guidelines, that allows us to begin to evaluate the efficacy of remote work policies and procedures. We plan to continue those agreements through the second half of the fiscal year with the agreement of both supervisor and employee.

For those employees with existing remote work agreements, CALS Human Resources (HR) is partnering with departmental/center HR staff and supervisors/managers to extend existing remote work agreements through June 30, 2022. Those employees who receive supervisory approval to continue their remote work agreement, as is, through the end of the fiscal year will receive written notification regarding the status of their remote work agreement no later than Dec. 31, 2021.

CALS Human Resources (HR) personnel are available to assist employees and supervisors with questions related to the extension process, or to discuss how to make other types of changes to the existing remote work agreement

As we continue to evaluate the effectiveness of remote work and comply with ongoing public health guidelines including masking, we ask that all units consider requests for any new remote work agreements based on the philosophy we asked units to craft for the fall. We will revisit the current approach during the spring, based on the latest public health and operational considerations.

Please note that CALS continues to expect most job responsibilities to be carried out primarily on-site and that all departments/units consider equitable application of the policy.

As a reminder, remote working agreements only pertain to employees with remote work on a recurring, weekly schedule. Off-site work arrangements resulting from accommodations, for example for medical reasons, will continue to follow the existing, separate process. Remote work agreements are unnecessary for workplace flexibilities, such as attending a dentist appointment. These nonrecurring flexibilities will continue to be agreed upon by employees and supervisors in accordance with UW–Madison leave policies.

Thank you, Kate

Kathryn A. VandenBosch
Dean, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences / Director, Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station