Flex Work Evaluation Criteria

Cornell’s core principles govern the use of flexible work at Cornell. The following evaluation criteria have been developed to support a consistent institutional approach to determining if, and to what degree, a position can support remote working.

Flexible Work Core Principles

Flexible work arrangements are an important tool to further the University’s priority of attracting and retaining a high-performing, diverse workforce. The following are Cornell’s core principles governing the use of flexible work at Cornell.

• Flexible work arrangements will be approved only if they advance the University’s mission and priorities without compromising student, customer, coworker, and other constituent experience.
• College and unit leadership will make flex work decisions appropriate for positions in their unit and will optimize onsite space utilization based on these decisions, using approved university-wide guidelines. Leaders will factor any resulting financial impacts of these decisions into their college/unit approved budget.
• Applicable legal, tax, and immigration requirements should be factored into all flexible work arrangement decisions.
• The process for evaluating flexible work requests is standardized and equitably applied to Cornell’s workforce and flexible work decisions are to be made without bias or favoritism.
• Flexible work arrangements, including requests, as well as reasons for approval or denial, must be documented.
• Flexible work arrangements must be regularly assessed and should be changed or discontinued when no longer appropriate for the college or unit.

Cornell’s approach, methods, and guidance will continue to evolve based on best practice within and outside of Cornell, and with feedback about the experiences and needs of our students, leadership, and employees.

Flexible Work Evaluation Criteria

Unit Mission & Priorities

• How does this position’s campus presence directly/indirectly support key unit goals?

Potential For Success

• Can the position responsibilities be successfully performed remotely?
• What supplies will the employee need and how will they be provided?
• What portion would need to be remote vs. onsite?
• If the position has some onsite responsibilities, do these need to be performed each day or can they be grouped together on certain days for some remote time? 

In-Person Interactions

• Does the position regularly require onsite interaction with students, faculty, staff, or other customers?
• Is an in-person presence needed to support a higher standard of service (e.g., although the employee may not regularly require onsite interaction, students, faculty and/or staff may occasionally stop by to ask a question or request a meeting)?
• Do some of the position’s customers prefer meeting remotely?
• If others also provide the support, can team members alternate onsite and remote support?
• Can the person work remotely during breaks when no students are on campus?

Physical Environment at Cornell

• Are the position responsibilities reliant on any aspect of Cornell’s physical environment? (e.g., maintaining equipment/facilities, using onsite equipment, working with physical files which cannot leave campus)
• Is there any flexibility in grouping the physical environment reliant work to certain days allowing for some flexible days?
• Can files be digitized to eventually support more flexibility?

Network/Security

• Does the position require network access or a level of security or privacy access that can only occur onsite?
• Can systems eventually be moved to cloud-based?
• Are there other remote security options that can be employed?
• Do these related responsibilities have to be performed every day or can there be flexibility in performing a certain number of days per week onsite?

Adverse Impacts

• Will supporting this request adversely impact coworkers, team culture, or collaboration?
• Are employees willing to cover onsite responsibilities for each other in exchange for remote worker taking on some of their other responsibilities?
• Will having a day or two a week where everyone is onsite help with culture and collaboration?
• Have you considered remote work downstream impacts on other departments?

Additional Expenses or Obstacles

• Are there financial impacts, such as travel or reimbursement costs and/or required reimbursements or other state/local compliance factors that will lead to additional expense to the unit?

Remote Location

• Does the employee’s remote work location allow for full functioning/participation in the job?
• Does the employee have a reliable and secure internet and phone connection?
• Is the remote location conducive to the work the person will be performing (e.g., quiet for meetings)?

Employee

• Has the employee demonstrated they are able to work independently with minimal oversight?
• Have expectations for this arrangement been discussed with the employee?
• Is the people leader comfortable monitoring productivity and ensuring deadlines are met remotely?
• Is the employee on a Performance Improvement Plan?
  • Can the employee create an environment at an approved alternative worksite (e.g., home) that will allow them to focus on work and minimize personal distractions?
  • What tools are available to help the employee manage their workload/deadlines?
  • Will remote work possibly help improve the employee’s performance?