Guidance for Supervisors

March 15, 2020

Dear LEAD participants:

As our campus community works to deliver on our promise of a transformational education to our students during these unprecedented times, to recruit our class for fall 2020 and deliver services to the students who remain in the residence halls because they are unable to continue their studies remotely, the Marquette University campus remains operational.

Flexibility for Remote Work Options

Given that the entire country is in uncharted territory as we work to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Marquette University is reaffirming the need for supervisors and center and program leaders to be flexible and to determine remote working options for those whose job functions can be completed off-site. Please watch your email, as campus may need to adapt to health department guidance that is changing rapidly.

Supervisors and employees must have open and honest discussions about job functions and roles that can be done entirely or partially remotely. While some on-campus presence is necessary for department operations, leaders may determine that intermittent remote work is appropriate, or that one or more employees in the area can alternate on-campus presence.

As leaders in your areas, together with other supervisors, think strategically about how to maintain business continuity. Both creativity and fiscal responsibility are important even though business may not be usual in your department and more employees need to work remotely. For instance, employees (or teams) can be empowered to document or improve a process, work on “rainy day projects,” complete those projects that there is never enough time for, or spend time on file clean-up, organization or digitization.  Please encourage employees with Marquette laptops to bring them and any other technology home when they leave in the evening, as things could change quickly.

It is important to communicate to your teams that Marquette University remains operational, and that colleagues are expected to be performing their normal daily activities. Remote working resources can be found on the Faculty Resources and Staff Resources pages on Marquette’s coronavirus website.

Supporting Parents and Other Caregivers Through K-12 Schools Closure

With the state-mandated closure of public K-12 schools, Human Resources is asking all supervisors to help determine alternate workplans and to support parents and other caregivers with care, compassion, and understanding, demonstrating cura personalis. Workforce planning options to consider include: working remotely from home; using vacation or accrued time off in either full- or partial-day increments; alternating on-campus days among team members; and/or adopting a flexible schedule, e.g., working hours or days of the week that are not routine, when possible.

Employees Whose Roles Are Not Easily Adapted to Working Remotely

Some employees’ roles require them to be on campus.  If need be, their work could be transitioned within your unit to help in critical areas. If this cannot be done within your unit, supervisors should contact Human Resources at humanresources@marquette.edu or (414) 288-7305. Human Resources will track requests for additional help for essential student and faculty support to help bridge interim staffing gaps.

If Human Resources is unable to assign an employee work for a given day or portion of day, employees will be paid for regularly scheduled hours, but they must be available for remote work during that time. Alternatively, an employee may choose to use accrued vacation hours or move to an unpaid status.

Contact Human Resources at humanresources@marquette.edu if you have questions about schedule changes for those employees covered by union contracts (custodians and MUPD). Options for working may differ for individual employees depending on their role; impacted employees should talk with their supervisor about their specific needs.

Social Distancing Best Practices

For those faculty and staff who will be working on campus, please help reduce the spread of the virus by following these best practices:

• If you feel ill or have a fever of 100.4 degrees or more, stay home and rest.

• Practice social distancing – keep space between you and your colleagues.

• Join the “stop the handshake” movement.

• Host virtual meetings, using Teams, rather than in-person meetings when you can.

• Limit in-person meetings to a small group (10 people or fewer). Maintain at least 6 feet of distance between participants.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

• If using the elevator, distance yourself from others and keep the number of people in the elevator to three or fewer.

• Use your own pens – don’t borrow personal items from others.

• Use a paper towel to open doors.

Sincerely,

Claudia Paetsch
Vice President for Human Resources
Marquette University