Effective: February 6, 2023

Last Updated: September 16, 2024, by Executive Committee

Rationale:

ISIS must always be appropriately staffed to pursue our research and education mission effectively. Simultaneously, ISIS also embraces hybrid and flexible work arrangements for its employees. In recognition of the wide range of responsibilities and duties required of ISIS employees, flexible work arrangements should be implemented to optimally balance the needs of the Institute and that of an individual employee or research group.

Timeline:

Consistent with Vanderbilt University’s [1] and VUSE’s [2] work policies, ISIS In-person, hybrid, and remote work arrangements are entirely at the discretion of the unit lead (i.e., the ISIS Director) and will be periodically reevaluated and revised as appropriate. The policy will be reevaluated once every six months.

Expectations:  

The following expectations apply irrespective of working remotely or in person.

• The employee’s working hours should overlap with the core business hours of ISIS. Core business hours are a subset of working hours during which an employee is accessible. At present, ISIS core business hours are 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on regular workdays.
• The employee is expected to be accessible through one or more communication mechanisms, during their working hours.

The following expectations outline the minimum number of in-person days based on an employee’s role and level of responsibility at ISIS.

• The employee may be expected to be present in person more than these guidelines at the discretion of the project lead and the employee’s supervisor, as projects may require more in-person presence due to upcoming deadlines and other momentary pressing needs.
• Being on work-related travel is considered “in-person”.

Exemptions:

• The in-person work expectations do not apply to those that have special arrangements, e.g. those who have supervisor approval to be fully remote for a period of time, have an approved accommodation through EOA (Equal Opportunity and Access), etc.  
• Temporary exemptions can be granted by the employee’s supervisor if unique or temporary circumstances arise. Long-term exemptions will require approval from the ISIS Director, who will make the determination based on the supervisor’s recommendation. Any request for an exemption as a reasonable accommodation due to the employees’ own health/medical needs would need to be submitted to EOA.
• The policy does not apply to tenured/tenure-track academic faculty.

Bookkeeping:

To understand who is on-site and who is not, each employee is requested to keep track of his/her availability using the Outlook calendar system as described below.

• If the employee is on-site nothing extra should be done.
• If the employee is working off-site or on travel, create a ‘New All Day Event’, and set the ‘Show as’ option as ‘Working Elsewhere’ for the day(s) of the week.
• If the employee is on PTO or leave, create a ‘New All Day Event’, and set the ‘Show as’ option to ‘Out of Office’ for the relevant day(s) of the week.

The employee is expected to update the calendar (if needed) for the upcoming week by the close of business of the Friday of the prior week.

The Responsibility Level specific expectations are summarized below.

Leadership:

The work arrangement will include in-person work at least three days per week, designated in advance, to facilitate collaboration and mentoring. Additional on-site presence may be required for meetings, training, events, or other duties. Work that does not require the use of ISIS on-premises resources or shared lab equipment may be performed remotely. The employee confirms that all necessary resources (e.g., reliable internet connection, Zoom/Teams/Slack/other electronic communication tools, adequate workspace, etc.) are available to facilitate remote work in accordance with this agreement. In case of internet or power failure, the employee will come to their ISIS workspace to continue working.

Research Personnel:

The work arrangement will include in-person work at least three days per week, designated in advance, to facilitate collaboration between coworkers. Additional on-site presence may be required by the supervisor for meetings, training, events, or other duties. Work that does not require the use of ISIS on-premises resources or shared lab equipment may be performed remotely. The employee confirms that all necessary resources (e.g., reliable internet connection, Zoom/Teams/Slack/other electronic communication tools, adequate workspace, etc.) are available to facilitate remote work in accordance with this agreement. In case of internet or power failure, the employee will come to their ISIS workspace to continue working.

Administrative Staff:

The work arrangement will include in-person work at least three day per week, designated in advance, to provide operations support. Additional on-site presence may be required by the supervisor for meetings, training, events, or other duties. The Assistant Director will ensure that an adequate level of operations support is available on-site during business hours on any given day as required by the routine and emergent needs of research personnel (e.g. to support collaboration events, sponsor or external research group visits, training events or meetings). Work not performed on-site will be conducted remotely. The employee confirms that all necessary resources (e.g., reliable internet connection, Zoom/Teams/Slack/other electronic communication tools, adequate workspace, etc.) are available to facilitate remote work in accordance with this agreement. In case of internet or power failure, the employee will come to their ISIS workspace to continue working.

[1] Vanderbilt University Remote Work Policy and Alternative Work Arrangements

[2] VUSE Academic Year Staff Attendance Policy 

[3] VU Alternative Work Arrangements Agreement Form