Telecommuting/Working from Home

Lesson 17: Your Journey through Professional Development
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With expanding numbers of staff and students and an expanding geographical profile, the World Campus has begun to employ staff in other areas of the country.  AA&SDS now includes a number of staff members who telecommute from their homes.  In addition, AA&SDS has made it possible for some staff to occasionally work from home in certain circumstances.

While telecommuting has been established for several of our advisers, there are times when staff who typically work in the office may need to work from home. Working from home may occur in cases of bad weather with poor road conditions or personal situations. Please review the policy on working from home on BOX which can be found here https://our.outreach.psu.edu/content/33678. (both non-exempt and exempt are listed)

Please note:

• Approval to work from home is required before you start working from home. A non-response from your supervisor is not an approval.
• The coordinator will review the request to work from home on a case-by-case basis. In general, you must be in good standing, consistently meet performance expectations, have shown that you can work independently, and have worked with A&LS for at least three months and have shown retention and understanding of the training materials.
• All systems must be working, including AOL IM, remote phone client, UCS email, LionPATH, Starfish and Yammer. If you cannot access one of the systems you will be required to take vacation time.

We want everyone to be safe and we understand that we all have a different comfort level of driving in wintry conditions.  If you are requesting to work from home, please consider that we need to continue business and the procedures that have been developed are to maintain continuity of business while ensuring that other team members who are able to come into the office are not overwhelmed with extra work. Please contact your coordinator or me if you have any questions.

Like telecommuters, AA&SDS staff who are working from home for a day, are responsible for the same duties as those advisers working in the office and need to assist students via email, telephone, Skype, and instant message. In order to work from home you will need to have your laptop or your home computer equipped with the necessary programs to serve our students and to communicate with your colleagues. Instructions for downloading the software are found on our.outreach under the Academic Advising and Student Disability Services/Emergency Plan. You should have internet access, phone access, and the VPN client. Ensuring you have the necessary accessibility, connections, and software prior to working from home will make the experience successful.

Best Practices

A document outlining best practices for working from home can be found at https://our.outreach.psu.edu/content/33678.

Google Hangouts

Once a month, the telecommuters invite a few newly hired advisers to join an hour long Google Hangout, which is a live video chat platform. This communication tool serves as a ‘meet and greet’ for advisers and can include visits with the director and associate director of AA&SDS. As a new adviser, you should expect to receive an invitation to attend a hangout session via email or in your physical mailbox, within the first two months of your employment.

Office Visits for Local and Distant Telecommuters

The overall responsibilities and duties of all full-time telecommuters are the same for those who hold a similar position as a staff member in the office however, there are some caveats. For example, our local telecommuters are responsible for attending weekly advising meetings at the office. Telecommuters who are not within driving distance of University Park are required to attend the office for a weeklong visit, every six months. These telecommuters attend weekly meetings via Skype and Polycom. Daily check-ins are completed by all telecommuters.