Letter from the Department of Human Resources to Faculty/Staff Regarding Telework as a Continuity of Operations Strategy

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Letter from the Department of Human Resources to Faculty/Staff Regarding Telework as a Continuity of Operations Strategy

In order to prepare for a possible outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus (swine flu) on campus this fall, budget unit directors of administrative and support areas should consider using the time left this summer to take steps to ensure continuity of operations.

The purpose of this correspondence is to encourage you to use telework as a business continuity strategy based on the following actions:

1. Identify the critical and essential business functions your department provides.
2. Identify the activities, resources, people and technologies that support these functions.
3. Clearly define staff's roles and responsibilities in support of these functions.
4. Notify staff designated as essential in case of a pandemic flu outbreak and inform them of their responsibilities.
5. Determine if essential employees can telework as part of your business continuity plan.
6. Identify the hardware, software, IT support and systems access that the staff need to perform their duties off-site.

If telework is an option, then prepare this summer by taking the following actions now:

• Advise staff to complete the Remote User Training Course required by OCCS. This required course provides instruction on how to access resources from home or other sites not on the main Norfolk campus, and ensure the security of data.
• Complete OCCS' Universal Account Request Form and request a Virtual Private Network (VPN) account.
• Test access from home or the alternate work location.
• After testing access and being able to produce work results from off-site, complete the Telework Agreement Form available from HR.

The VPN access will be suspended pending the need to implement the department's Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP).

If COOP is implemented, then contact HR with the names of the essential personnel who will be teleworking. HR will notify OCCS Accounts to activate VPN access when needed.

Both exempt and non-exempt employees may telework in these circumstances as long as the supervisor is able to measure the work products/results completed off-site.

Other steps to take include:

• Encourage staff to check the Campus Health Alerts site on the university's webpage for up-to-date information on swine flu.
• Remind staff to practice good personal hygiene to minimize the spread of germs.
• Maintain a supply of hand sanitizer for employees in the department.
• Require employees who are sick to stay home. If an employee reports to work sick, send him/her home. The Center for Disease Control recommends staying home for 7 days or until symptoms subside, whichever is longer.

Be flexible in requiring medical documentation. Most testing for the H1NI flu is restricted to the Department of Health so very few people will get tested by their physicians.

In the event of an actual outbreak, employees should be strongly encouraged to attend to the medical needs of themselves and their immediate family members. Employees may use sick leave or family sick leave per the applicable leave policies.

Teleworking agreements should be implemented for employees who can work from home to further promote social distancing. Based on these circumstances, employees may telework when they have sick children at home. Consider rotating staff between on-site work locations and working from home to help with social distancing.

Should the Commonwealth declare a public health threat, then faculty and staff may use public health emergency leave per the conditions outlined in the Public Health Emergency Leave Policy. This type of leave provides up to 80 hours of paid leave for illness directly related to the declared communicable disease threat. The link to this policy was sent to faculty and staff in May and is available on HR's web page.

For questions about telework, please contact Margaret Inge, HR Operations Manager. For questions about VPN accounts and remote user training, please contact OCCS' Technical Support Center.