Employees may request to work remotely for up to two days per work week on a regular basis by filling out the Remote Work Request Form (see below). New employees are typically eligible to request a remote work agreement after 90 days of employment. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Remote work days cannot include two days adjacent to the weekend (i.e., Thursday/Friday, Friday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday).

Campus has outlined the following factors to be weighed in considering a remote work arrangement: 

• Job responsibilities (e.g., jobs that require physical presence for effective performance are not suitable for remote work);
• The effective functioning of the overall unit (e.g., trainees may need in-person assistance; flow of information may be shared more quickly among those physically present; etc.);
• Potential cost savings to the university, school/college/division, and department;
• The needs and preferences of the employee;
• Employee performance;
• Equipment needs, workspace design considerations, office space, and scheduling issues; and
• Adverse impact between employees with similar job responsibilities in the work unit (prevent inequities).

If the request is approved, the employee will enter into a Remote Work Agreement that details the terms, including the employee’s work schedule (including when they are expected to be present for onsite activities), necessary equipment and services, guidelines for maintaining communication and work engagement, onsite and remote locations, and other details as appropriate.

Remote Work Agreements will be revisited on a regular basis (at least annually) and can be modified or canceled by the School of Music at any time. 

Employees are expected to attend department, committee and other important meetings in person regardless of the day on which they fall.

All employees may request occasional remote work (“workplace flexibility”) through their supervisors at least 24 hours in advance.

It is an expectation of working remotely that an employee is reachable by phone during your regular work hours. 

Using university computers that are supported by TechZone is strongly recommended for day-to-day departmental work. Ideally, personal computers should only be used to remote into your work machine or in situations where that is not possible (e.g., you need to video conference from a home machine). In cases where you must use a personal machine, you should always use VPN and be running antivirus when doing any type of University-related work. In addition, work files must not be saved on a personal computer; Music’s shared drive is the best place for saving files (contact the TechZone if you need assistance mapping that drive on your work computer.) If you need to use your personal computer for work, please follow the recommendation on this page (NetID login required) to secure your computer and data it accesses: https://kb.wisc.edu/lss/internal/104670.

Please follow these directions to access the Remote Work Agreement:

1. To complete an agreement: Go to MyUW > Personal Information > Update my personal information.

2. Click on “Remote Work Agreement” located at the bottom of the Menu bar on the right.

3. Begin on the Remote Work Landing Page. Read and review the contents of this page to make certain that completing a Remote Work Agreement is appropriate for you. 

4. Once you confirm that a Remote Work Agreement is appropriate for your individual work arrangement, proceed to the agreement by clicking on Add a Remote Work Agreement in the top left menu bar. The Remote Work Agreement will load on your screen for you to begin entering the required information. 

• As you are completing the agreement, the system may pause to process your prior inputs. You’ll see a blue moving ring when this happens. Wait before continuing to enter information when that happens.
• Timeout Warning: This agreement "times out" if there is no activity (e.g., entering information in any field on the page) for more than 30 minutes. Click Save at the bottom of the agreement if you need to step away.
• When you save the agreement, you can return to it by selecting Update a Remote Work Agreement from the navigation menu. It will open to your existing agreement if you only have one. Otherwise, you’ll choose from multiple agreements that you have started.