Environmental Health & Safety

Remote Work & Telework

Find resources, information and support for working remotely during COVID-19.

At UC Riverside, we strive to be an employer of choice, providing flexibility in line with today’s workforce needs. We also want to unearth new discoveries, deliver a high-quality educational experience, and provide services in support of student success. Ultimately, we need to consider work location in the context of both individual performance and community. How location impacts colleagues, professional development, our collegial network, output, space constraints, and sustainability goals are all to be considered.

Local Decision Making

The Chancellor has asked every vice chancellor and dean begin conversations within their units to determine needs and plans. The campus will not impose work location decisions on any college, school, or unit, but will instead support local decisions that serve the interest of our mission.

Timing for any return to campus will be driven by operational needs and the recognition that these needs differ across units and some employees may return to campus sooner than others. 

Discussions should occur between the employee and their supervisor(s), and in order to help address overall consistency and equity within the organizational unit, it is recommended that the chain of command of supervisors be involved. These discussions should be initiated as soon as possible, if they have not already been ongoing. As we work through this transition to normal operations, we will continue to look at effective options to increase consistency across organizational units within the campus.

A Deliberate Process

This transition back to campus also will not be without challenges, however we know will get there through a collaborative process that embodies a shared sense of responsibility. Managers will do their best to provide 30 days advance notice of changes to current work arrangements and afford flexibility for staff.  

A work schedule that includes some hybrid (or use flexible) remote options can be beneficial for employee recruitment and retention, and employee engagement and well-being, if feasible relative to addressing institutional requirements. However, in some cases an all-remote work schedule may not be optimal for the department and University. The specific duties and responsibilities of a position dictate whether remote work is an option.

Supervisors and employees should work together to assess flexible workplace options, manage workload, set expectations, and maintain communications, whether the employee is working in a remote or hybrid-remote environment, or utilizing another flexible arrangement. 

The resources on this site are intended to guide managers, supervisors and employees on how to adopt telework to benefit the University, each department and employees themselves.

Alternative (Flexible) Work Schedules

The alternate work schedules available at UCR include the compressed workweek, flextime and telecommuting. Learn More about Alternate (Flexible) Work Schedules