New guidelines for working at home
On November 4, the Vice-Chancellor adopted new guidelines regarding remote working and temporary home working for technical and administrative staff. A few days later, new recommendations were also announced by the Public Health Agency of Sweden. However, these recommendations do not affect the universities at present. However, the higher education institutions must avoid large gatherings and take infection control measures. 10
GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2021
DICK STENMARK, Dean of the
IT Faculty, led the committee that prepared the new guidelines. He believes that the old policy was very restrictive, employees more or less had be at their place of work. – But, the pandemic has shown that many tasks can be carried out remotely. We also have a situation where many businesses in the community are offering a higher degree of flexibility, and in order to be attractive as an employer, we must do the same. The new policy means, among other things, that employees can work from home for a maximum of 40 percent of their working hours, explains Tommy Christensen, HR Manager at Human Resources. – The prerequisite is that the employee's duties and
work environment permit working from home to this extent and that the organisation is not adversely affected. The extent of home working can be regulated in various ways, for example as a number of days per week, certain specified days of the week, a certain percentage of the working hours or periods during the year. THE DECISION OF having a maximum of 40 percent was made after a weighted assessment based on the circumstances and needs of the organisation. – But it is also about the university, in its capacity as an employer, having a responsibility for the employees' work environment even in regard to remote working. The agreement between
the employee and the manager must be made in writing. Why is a verbal agreement not enough? – The regulation governing remote working stipulates that the agreement should be drawn up in writing, according to the central collective agreement that applies to state employees, Tommy Christensen explains. If something unexpected happens, which means that you need to work at home for an extra day, it is possible to have a verbal agreement with your manager. It is then called "temporary home working". However, under normal circumstances, the written document shall be applicable. The agreement must state the remote workplace, often the employee's home address. – This is partly due to the
