Assessing a role
The university has agreed that all staff will fall under one of four work modes.
Managers and staff should work together to agree on the individual’s working mode taking into account the work that the individual does, where this work has to take place, with whom this work takes place with and how independent the role is. As well as the business needs of the role, managers and staff should also discuss any personal circumstances, reasonable adjustments or health and wellbeing concerns that may impact on the working persona of the individual. It is also important for manangers to consider the Univeristy community and citizenship element of a role as well.
Questions managers and staff may wish to consider when ‘unsure’ if a role can be done away from the office/campus location (or the amount is not clear) include:
- What type of role activity is most effective where?
- What is the balance of activity within the role
- How much work must be undertaken face to face with other people?
- Which work location best supports productivity and why?
- What are the employee’s personal preferences about how they work?
- What percentage of the work is ‘time flexible’ – e.g. how much of it can be undertaken at any time and how much of it is ‘location flexible’ – it can be undertaken anywhere?
- How is the work currently structured, and can it be structured in a different way to support hybrid working?
- How much supervision or support does the role require?
Managers may also wish to use this Flowchart for assessing hybrid role to assist them further.
Managers should discuss working mode’s with their team and give staff the opportunity to highlight any individual requests regarding their work mode with their manager. Although discussions will be manager led it is important that all individuals feel able to discuss any individual concerns with their manager.
Initially decisions will concentrate on the individual’s working mode i.e. whether they are going to be working on-campus, hybrid or remote working. Discussions on what specific days will be worked at which location will not be agreed at this stage and will not be specified in contracts of employment.
It is anticipated that the majority of roles will be either located on campus or hybrid working. Remote or global working will only be agreed in exceptional circumstances.
There will not be an appeal process for which work mode an individual has been aligned to. It is therefore important that managers and individuals have detailed conversations regarding the role as well as individual circumstances.