Carnegie Mellon University

Supervisors: Managing Your Staff's Flexible Work Arrangements

Staff work arrangements should be either fully in-person or hybrid with staff in person at least three days per week. Any exceptions are subject to Flexible Work Arrangement Committee approval. On this page:

Supervisor Responsibilities

As a supervisor, you are responsible for:

  • Deciding the work arrangements for your team, and seeking/receiving the appropriate approvals necessary
  • Communicating the work arrangements and expectations to your team
  • Assessing work arrangements on a regular, annual basis and adjusting as necessary

You may need to manage differently in a hybrid work environment, and your team may need to work differently. This includes making adjustments to meeting structure and assessment of work. Your HR business partner is available to assist with any part of the process, including unique and complex situations with an individual’s work arrangement. For non-staff requests, please reach out as follows:

Assessing Flexible Work Arrangements

  1. Review the Flexible Work Arrangements Guidelines [pdf] to become familiar with the types of arrangements available. Additionally, the Flexible Work Arrangement Decision Tree [pdf] can help to ensure you are requesting the arrangement that best fits your department's needs.
  2. For each role that reports to you, consider the desired outcomes and the tasks/processes that support the achievement of those outcomes along with the type of flexible work arrangement that best supports the task/process. Take into account the specific position requirements, the impact on the department, the employee’s performance and whether the employee can effectively perform the duties of the position while away from campus.
  3. For complete remote work arrangements or hybrid work arrangements less than three days in person per week, the following approvals are needed:
    1. Academic units: next-level supervisor, department head, dean, and the Flexible Work Arrangements Committee
    2. Administrative units: next-level supervisor, department head, vice president and the Flexible Work Arrangements Committee
  4. The request and subsequent approvals will be facilitated in Workday. While Workday will manage the workflow and approval process, it’s recommended to discuss the request with your college/division leadership before submitting in Workday.
  5. Once decisions are finalized and required approvals are received, the staff member will receive a Workday notification of their approved Flexible Work Arrangement. An agreement will be delivered to the staff member’s Workday inbox for review and acknowledgement.

Exception Approval Process via Workday

There are some positions which may be appropriate to be done completely remotely, or hybrid with less than three days in person per week. These positions must be approved by the Flexible Work Arrangements Committee. All requests must be submitted via Workday. The Flexible Work Arrangement System Guide [pdf] will take you through this process step-by-step. To submit a position for consideration in Workday:

  1. Coordinate with your employee to submit a request on their behalf in Workday using the Flexible Work Arrangement process.
  2. After the request is submitted, you as the manager will be required to provide additional information about the request.
  3. After additional information is provided, the request will route for approvals in Workday.
  4. Please direct any questions or concerns about this process to your HR business partner.

Flexible Work Arrangements for New Hires

Requests for new hires to work completely remotely require approval of the Flexible Work Arrangement Committee before an offer can be extended. Supervisors should work with their HR business partner and HR recruiter to coordinate approval of a complete remote work agreement for a new hire. If approved, the complete remote work agreement will be included in the offer letter and entered in the FWA framework by an HR generalist as part of the hiring process.

Flexible Work Arrangements Related to Disability or Medical/Health Accommodation

FWAs related to a disability or medical/health accommodation should not use the exception approval process. Instead, staff should use the Request for Accommodations Form. For more information, please visit the Accommodations webpage.

Communicating Flexible Work Arrangements

  • Once the Flexible Work Arrangement has been approved and the corresponding Flexible Work Agreement has been fully acknowledged in Workday, it is suggested that you schedule a meeting with the employee to ensure the employee understands when they are expected to work on-site and the relevant workplace expectations.
  • Identify clear scheduling and space management solutions for the team and employees.
  • Remind the employee that their primary work location is a CMU work location, and there may be times that they are expected to be on-site on days when they otherwise would be telecommuting.
  • Discuss core business hours. Is there a need and possibility for flexibility of work hours (e.g., flexible shifts due to child care needs, commute, etc.)?
  • Discuss how the employee will engage with team members/customers who may be working in a different environment. Does the employee have the tools to effectively engage with a distributed team or stakeholders (e.g., webcam, headset, access to conference rooms, virtual collaboration tools, etc.)?
  • Make a plan to regularly evaluate the current work arrangement’s effectiveness. Please consult with your HR business partner if there are concerns about the current arrangement.
  • Schedule a meeting with the employee to communicate the on-site work arrangement.
  • Discuss core work hours and expectations for on-site work.
  • Discuss how the employee will engage with stakeholders who may be working in a hybrid or remote work arrangement, if applicable.
  • Make a plan to regularly evaluate the current work arrangement’s effectiveness. Please consult with your HR business partner if there are concerns about the current arrangement.
  • Once the Flexible Work Arrangement has been approved and the corresponding Flexible Work Agreement has been fully acknowledged in Workday, it is suggested that you schedule a meeting with the employee to ensure the employee understands expectations.
  • Review the university’s Business and Travel Expense Policy.
  • Discuss core business hours. Is there a need and possibility for flexibility of work hours (e.g., flexible shifts due to child care needs, commute, etc.)?
  • Discuss how the employee will engage with team members/customers who may be in a different environment. Does the employee have the tools to effectively engage with a distributed team or stakeholders (e.g., webcam, headset, access to conference rooms, virtual collaboration tools, etc.)?
  • Make a plan to regularly evaluate the current work arrangement’s effectiveness. Please consult with your HR business partner if there are concerns about the current arrangement.