​​​​​​​​​​

An Update on Remote Work Regulation Review

Sep. 3, 2021

With representation from the system office and all three universities, the Post-COVID Workplace Team revised current regulations and developed new proposed regulations to guide long-term onsite, remote, and hybrid work opportunities. 

The proposed Remote Work regulations are in a 30-day comment period coordinated by the President and System Governance offices to gather final feedback from governance groups and the UA community. The due date for comments is September 9. The projected effective date of the new regulations will be September 30, 2021. 

The Project Team, Transition Monitoring Team and the Technical Expertise Resources group are continuing to draft support documentation for the new regulations to include training materials, supervisor and employee remote work resources, administrative guidelines and FAQs for remote work at UA. With the assistance of OIT, UA HR is building a website that will contain the information and resources for remote work. UA HR will finalize these materials and set up training sessions at the end of September and beginning of October.

Engagement in this project is critical to guiding the best possible outcomes for employees and students at the University of Alaska. One avenue for collecting feedback is the use of surveys. The questions gathered information for use by the project teams to better gauge the interest in remote work opportunities, understand what student services were impacted by remote work as well as those that were improved through digitalization and online expansion, understand the expectations employees may have regarding equipment and remote worksite support, assess the challenges and successes of remote work arrangements, and address reservations and concerns of employees, students and supervisors.  

  • The Employee Experience Survey was sent to 7,460 employees on April 21, and closed on Friday, May 7 with 1,461 responses. 
  • A Student Survey was finalized and sent out to 23,000 students on Friday, April 30. The survey closed Friday, May 14 with 855 responses. 
  • The  Supervisor Experience survey was distributed June 2 and closed July 9 with 379 responses.

The survey summaries for the Student Experience Survey and the Supervisor Experience Survey are now complete and posted on the project website.