At Aarhus University, campus is the primary workplace for employees to perform tasks, collaborate with others, and be part of a collegial community. The university is committed to being an attractive and flexible workplace, where the option for remote working can help to create motivation, well-being and a good work-life balance for employees. Where compatible with the employee’s work tasks, remote working can form a voluntary and flexible part of how these tasks are organised.
The extent to which remote working is possible is assessed with due consideration for tasks, the performance of tasks, collaboration and coordination, and the well-being of both the individual employee and the university community. Based on these criteria, all employees at Aarhus University whose tasks can be performed elsewhere than on university premises can agree with their line manager to perform these tasks remotely. To ensure flexibility for both the university and employees, as a general rule, such agreements should not be permanent and highly formalised but should be made on an ongoing basis to reflect the needs and circumstances of the individual unit and employees.
When agreeing on the terms of remote working, the manager and employee should consider quality of work, efficiency, and scope for constructive collaboration with colleagues and with internal and external partners. When working remotely, the employee must be contactable and prepared to come into work in certain circumstances, such as to attend scheduled in-person meetings.
The general rules for performing work tasks apply regardless of whether these tasks are performed at home, in other locations, or at the workplace. These include the rules on confidentiality, the processing of confidential and sensitive personal data, and information security. It is therefore important that employees process spoken, written and electronic statements/documents in a way that complies with these rules.
This also means that the employer, in collaboration with the employee, must ensure that remote working conditions (e.g. in the employee’s home) fully adhere to health and safety requirements, cf. work environment regulations. It is also essential that, when working remotely, the employee has access to digital tools as well as the competencies required to use these tools and familiarity with the rules governing their use.
On the basis of a dialogue with employees, it is the individual manager who decides whether remote working for the individual employee is compatible with the overall performance of tasks in the unit.