Supervisor Guidance

Supervisors have a lot of options for flexible schedules for staff.  First, supervisors can allow alternative schedules, such as allowing employees to work four ten-hour days, instead of the traditional five eight-hour days.  Please talk with your HR Generalist for details on how to appropriately implement these schedules.

Supervisors can also allow employees to flex their time in a way that accomplishes the employee’s job, but also allows the employee flexibility in meeting family or other personal obligations.  A supervisor could set “core hours” that their employees are expected to be actively working, but can flex their time outside that.  For example, a supervisor sets 10am-3pm as core hours.  All staff are then required to be present during those hours.  Then, Employee A may work 6:30am-3pm with half an hour for lunch.  Employee B may work 8:30am-5pm with half an hour for lunch.  Employee C may work 10am-6:30pm with half an hour for lunch.

A supervisor could also allow employees to work different numbers of hours on different days and report them accordingly on their timesheet per county policy.  So, for example, an employee could work 6am-4:30pm Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and 8am-1:30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Which of these schedules is best in a given circumstance depends on department needs, the employee’s job, and the employee’s needs.  Each supervisor should assess their business needs for coverage, accessibility to customers, and impact on other staff in granting an alternative schedule.

If a large number of employees in a department or workgroup would like or need alternative schedules, the supervisor or Decision Maker should obtain information on each request, dialog with employees, and determine what is best for the department’s business needs.  Communication with staff will be key.

Employee Responsibility   

Employees must first discuss an alternative/flexible schedule with their supervisor and/or the Decision Maker, and receive their approval. If employees are requesting a flexible schedule for family or personal obligations, employees should be clear about those obligations.  When a flexible schedule has been agreed upon between the employee and their supervisor and/or the Decision Maker, an employee must communicate their new schedule to their team members by updating their Google Calendar with their work hours and remote work days (if necessary) clearly noted on their calendar, or in other ways determined by their supervisor. 

The County has helpful resources and training for supervisors managing remote employees.  For training resources, see the training section of this program. The Learning Management system has videos on this topic from LinkedIn Learning. There are also technology tools that can help with communication.  Supervisors can use Zoom's chat function to have a back-and-forth conversation with a remote employee. Departments and Offices may have other tools available to their work group that could be utilized and are encouraged to work with County IT staff to explore appropriate options.  

When having meetings with more than one person, supervisors can set up video meetings using Zoom. This allows team members to see each other, so it is more like having everyone in one room for a meeting. This can help remote employees feel included, especially when departments encourage the use of cameras for meetings.

Using tools such as Trello or Jira to track employee projects and goals can be helpful. The employee and supervisor can both look at the board at the same time and discuss ongoing work. They can also place items in to-do lists, remove them, or move to a “done” area. Teams can also use this to track which items individual team members are responsible for.  

Collaboration through Google docs and sheets can also be helpful for supervisors and employees, or for teams. These allow multiple individuals to look at the same document at one time, and to view real-time changes and updates. Employees can also track who makes which suggestions. 

Clear, ongoing communication with remote workers is crucial. It is important to have regular check-ins with these staff so they don’t feel isolated or left out. If there are performance concerns, it is important for supervisors to address these quickly and directly. If concerns are not addressed right away, they can become bigger issues quickly. It is also not fair to employees to not to know that there may be issues with their performance.

Supervisors needing assistance with managing remote workers can contact their HR Generalist for assistance at any time.