Revised April 20, 2022 to Include NOAA Based Employees
For CU Boulder Campus-Based Employees
This post is in followup to CIRES Director Waleed Abdalati’s request—made during the February Town Hall—that CIRES people working on CU Boulder campus should have begun to implement the return-to-work plans–which capture your weekly work modalities–made with supervisors. If you need to remind yourself what you and your supervisor agreed to, please see this blog post for directions to log into the InsideCIRES-based system. Please review and, if needed, update your Online Remote Work Agreement in collaboration with your supervisor. This remote work agreement is between you and your supervisor and does not require additional approval by the CIRES Director—unless you are requesting 100% remote work, which requires an additional step prior to completion of the online agreement (request form is here).
CU Boulder HR has developed thorough guidance for supervisors in considering appropriate work modalities for employees. You can find this detailed guidance here.
For Employees Working with the NOAA Labs
At CIRES and CU Boulder, flexibility is an integral part of our remote work policy, which is described here. Please note that CIRES and CU Boulder use the term “remote work” to include hybrid work, where some days each week are in-person and some involve work from other locations, as well as for fully remote work.
For CIRES, remote/telework decisions are the hands of our supervisors. CIRES supervisors are urged to work with federal colleagues to be sure they understand any broader implications of hybrid work schedules—office or desk changes, for example. Please work with your supervisor to ensure shared understanding.
You may note that CIRES policy is different from the Department of Commerce/NOAA policy—which applies only to the federal workforce. CU Boulder HR has developed thorough guidance for supervisors in considering appropriate work modalities for employees. This guidance, along with consultation with our federal partners can help you determine the proper mix of in-person and remote work for your direct reports. You can find this detailed guidance here.
The DOC and NOAA are using the time between April 25 and June 27 to re-establish regular schedules. Please use this time to figure out the most productive work arrangement for you, your team, and your broader NOAA group. By July 5, all CIRES employees should have a CIRES signed remote work agreement on file through InsideCIRES; these agreements describe your hybrid schedule plans and must be approved by your supervisor; they can be changed as circumstances change.
CIRES employees requesting fully remote schedules must obtain approval of the CIRES Director in addition to their supervisor. Please see more information here.
CIRES and CU Boulder’s schedule flexibility remains at the discretion of the supervisor, the CIRES unit, and the CIRES Director. If you have any questions, please first reach out to your supervisor, and then to CIREShr@colorado.edu.
CIRES and NOAA leaders are in regular communication with each other as we approach this broader re-entry to the DSRC, and we will all be practicing patience and flexibility, and likely adapting regularly to new information and circumstances.
