News Detail

Faculty and staff,

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Back to Work channel in myRedDragon, the portal through which employees will complete two critical requirements for working on campus starting Monday, Aug. 3.  On that day, enough employees will return to campus to staff core service/operating hours for the university from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m.

This message, a follow-up to my email notice on July 23, details both the Back to Work requirements and SUNY Cortland’s new core service hours.

Back to Work:

As a condition for returning to the workplace New York State is requiring ALL faculty and staff view a back-to-work training video and begin a daily self-assessment for potential COVID-19 exposure risks. This requirement includes essential employees who have continued to work throughout the pause necessitated by the global pandemic.  Students who are also employed on campus will not be required to complete the employee self-assessment process as they will have already completed their own similar student assessment each day they are on campus.  Research Foundation employees will be receiving instructions on their process under separate email from Jennifer Eckert-Dennison, human resources manager for the RF.

Mandatory training video

All employees must view a 12-minute New York State COVID- 19 Response: Return to Work Training video prior to returning to the campus as part of their normal remote workday. Essential workers who have continued to report to work on campus, must view the video by the end of this week, Friday, July 31.  Employees who may not have the technological capability to watch the video from their remote work location should watch the video on their first day back on campus.  If an alternate delivery method Is required, please contact HR.

Required daily self-screening

A self-screening health, symptom and exposure questionnaire must be completed each day an employee physically enters their campus workspace preferably prior to entering, but no later than the first few minutes of being present.  Supervisors are expected to ensure their employees meet this requirement.  

Online tools for completing these requirements and directions for the self-screening app are now accessible on the faculty/Staff tab of myRedDragon, directly beneath the Faculty/Staff Directory channel in the center of the page, under the heading Back to Work.  If additional assistance is needed, please contact the help center at 753-2500.

Core Service Hours

Commencing Aug. 3, the core service hours of the university will be 9 a.m. to 3p.m., Monday through Friday.  

This is a variation of our typical hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Core service hours are the minimum hours that each office or department across campus should physically be available to serve constituents with their door open and an employee present to assist with in-person needs as well as phone traffic.  Single-person or two-person offices will coordinate with a nearby office to ensure coverage and appropriate referral.

Starting Aug 3, staffing should be limited to no more than 50% of normal levels, subject to an office’s ability to ensure safe physical distancing capability and unless a specific office needs to exceed that threshold to meet the service needs of their unit.  When students fully return to campus, staffing ratios may need to be increased to meet service needs.  

By setting these core hours, we intend to achieve the following:

·         Ensure reliability in serving our constituents. Individuals needing assistance will know that they can expect an office to be open and staffed between a core set of days and hours that are consistent across the campus.  It also allows one office to refer a constituent to another office across campus and be confident the constituent will be served when they arrive.

·         Provide a foundation upon which department heads can most effectively and appropriately staff their office to ensure a set minimum of coverage during these core hours.

o   Reduced core operating hours will give department heads greater flexibility in making staffing plans when considering the needs of its employees, thereby limiting the need to process either ADA or telecommuting applications. 

o   Reduced core hours provide the opportunity for those with exposure concerns to schedule early morning, or later afternoon work hours in the office.

These reduced core service hours do not alleviate the need for an employee to complete a full obligation or a normal 37.5- to 40-hour work week as required by their position. Nor do they prohibit an employee from being in their campus work location outside of core hours.  

Guidelines for Returning to Work on Campus

Attached please find our returning to work document guidelines, which articulates in detail the various return-to-work rules, policies, procedures and expectations for supporting a safe and healthy work environment, including more detail on the two requirements articulated above.  This document provides Cortland specific detail so please review it in addition to watching the video.  Please be aware that this version still needs final editing. Once that is complete, it will be posted to the SUNY Cortland website.

Sincerely,

Gary

Gary Evans
Associate Vice President for Human Resources

Ethics Officer

SUNY Cortland
Human Resources Office
Miller Building, Room 301

P.O. Box 2000

Cortland, NY 13045

gary.evans@cortland.edu

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