UniSA acknowledges and embraces the mutual benefit of working from home and recognise that providing flexibility where possible can help our staff to achieve a better work-life balance, manage family responsibilities and increase job satisfaction for those who choose to participate.
Our Working from Home Policy and Working from Home Procedure provide the requirements and considerations for the application and management of a working from home arrangement.
Professional Staff need to apply to their line manager/supervisor in writing and gain approval for their request prior to submitting a Working from Home Arrangement Form (WHS52) and a Working from Home Workstation Self-Assessment Checklist (WHS29). Prior to working from home, Academic Staff need to submit a Working from Home – Academic (WHS83) form to record their arrangement and ensure they have completed the required safety and wellbeing assessment.
You will need a UniSA supplied laptop and charger. It is recommended that your home-based office also has a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Other requirements for WFH are reliable internet access and an ergonomically sound workspace. Staff members must ensure their home-based work location meets UniSA’s safety and wellbeing requirements and are responsible for setting up an appropriate home-based office.
More information can be found on the IT Working From Home page.
As long as it meets the operational requirements of your role and team, there are no set rules around how you can use your 40% working from home. Most commonly, full-time staff members will elect to have 2 full days of working from home per week. However, the Working from Home Policy and Procedure aims to provide flexibility to staff members, which includes how 40% working from home is split.
Staff members are encouraged to discuss their requests with their line manager/supervisor to ensure it meets operational requirements of their role and does not have negative impacts for their team, students and stakeholders. For example, a full-time staff member may seek to work from home 3 days one week, 1 day the next, which still meets 60% time on campus over a 2-week period. Another example is a full-time staff member may seek to leave campus 2 hours early and finish the balance of their working hours each day from home throughout the week.
Staff members are required to comply with University IT policies and procedures and maintain the security and privacy of the University’s data. The University’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) must be utilised when accessing University systems, software and digital infrastructure.
The same good practices apply at home-based locations as they do on campus, such as locking your laptop when you are away from your desk, taking sensitive calls in a private location and ensuring sensitive documents are not left unattended.
More information can be found on the IT Working From Home page.
Working from home days are not banked, however if you want to request a swap to your working from home day, you should work with your line manager to discuss and negotiate options when the need arises, including the possibility of moving their working from home day to another day if their role and team requirements allow.
Swapping working from home days on occasion may be necessary and should be discussed with your line manager/supervisor in advance to ensure it meets the operational needs of your role. Any temporary or short-term changes to a working from home arrangement should be agreed through an exchange of emails between the staff member and line manager/supervisor in advance.
Applications to work from home with normally be for up to 40% of a staff member’s work fraction. Where on occasion staff have a need to extend their working from home beyond 40%, this should be discussed with their line manager/supervisor in accordance with the Procedure. Best efforts should be made to accommodate requests for additional flexibility where possible for short term/temporary arrangements, subject to meeting the operational needs of the role.
Generally no. If you have any requirement to work at a place other than on campus or your home, please discuss this with your line manager/supervisor in the first instance.
Your personal and emergency contact details can be updated at any time in MyHR. You will need to enter your up-to-date contact details when completing either the Working from Home form (WHS29) for Professional staff or the Working from Home (Academic) form (WHS83) for Academic staff.
There are some great resources which provide guidance on how to manage remote teams/staff members here: Managing Remote Employees.
If you would like more guidance for a particular situation, you can contact a Consultant in the People Central team to discuss.
The Working from Home Policy and Procedure provide the principles and considerations that should be applied when assessing if WFH is appropriate. It is important that staff members working in teams, and those with responsibilities on campus, work together to ensure services are not interrupted and that all position requirements can still be delivered. If you have multiple team members requesting a WFHA, there is benefit in discussing this with the team altogether to determine how each staff member can best support the team’s business critical services, subject to the confidentiality of any individual staff member circumstances.
It’s important to consider each request carefully. A WFHA must not be unreasonably refused and the Working from Home Policy sets out the principles of working from home, which can help guide your decision making. When trying to balance the needs of your team, it is a good idea to work with your team to find arrangements that suit everyone while maintaining delivery of usual work expected of their roles, noting that individual confidentiality considerations should be maintained.
If you would like more guidance for a particular situation, you can contact a Consultant in the People Central team to discuss.
Being on a performance management plan is not necessarily a disqualifier for working from home. Staff members are expected to complete the requirements of their role, no matter where they are working from. There may be circumstances which warrant some flexibility even if a staff member is on a formal lifting plan or performance improvement plan, however line managers/supervisors and the staff member should discuss any request as it relates to the specific required outcomes of the plan.
Staff members and line managers/supervisors are encouraged to discuss arrangements as they arise. All changes, even temporary or short term, should be agreed through an exchange of emails between the staff member and line manager/supervisor in advance.
Meetings can be accommodated online using Microsoft Teams. Teams is a great platform to meet and can allow for easy presenting and sharing of information. It is up to you to decide with your team whether a meeting is more appropriate for in person attendance or if it is suitable to be online (or hybrid).