Telecommuting 

UROP, SPUR, and other Research Assistants who are hired as temporary workers are employees of the University of Utah. For information about telecommuting options, please review the University of Utah policy: https://regulations.utah.edu/human-resources/guidelines/guideline_5-140.php 

Please note, some research may require in-person presence and is not possible for many research projects to be accomplished remotely. Consult with the primary faculty mentor to discuss and agree on in-person / telecommute policies. If telecommuting is an option and agreed upon by both, please consult with our@utah.edu, University of Utah telecommute request forms.  

Telecommuting & Communication

Communicate with your mentees regularly and as clearly as possible.

For mentors

• Provide clear communicate with your mentees – discuss the frequency of individual and group meetings.
• Share hours of availability and the modality (zoom, remote, phone, or in-person).
• Schedule regular check-in meeting – suggested that faculty consider weekly or biweekly check-ins.
• Depending on your relationship with your mentees, they might be intimidated or overwhelmed with asking anything of you. It is important for you to reach out and discuss their concerns.
• Consider asking the modality of submitting materials/updates:
  • Written updates due before check-ins (progress reports, summary of key tasks, report on accomplishments, obstacles, questions for discussion).

For undergraduate researchers

• How often do you hope to hear from your mentor?
• Keep up with lab/research notebooks.
• Keep track of calendar deadlines and work ahead of expected deadlines.

Set up a shared virtual workspace

• Microsoft Teams, Box or Slack or upload to Google Drive electronic data sets, video, and/or take pictures of research tasks.
• Consider that some of the above modalities are not secure, therefore discuss this.

Setup clear expectations

• Here is a sample of a mentor-mentee agreement.
• Explicitly discuss and consider the challenges; adapt expectations to be realistic.
  • Which expectations and/or goals are important to maintain? Which need to be modified? How is your schedule of progress affected?
• What skills will your mentees need to develop and how will research happen if campus is closed, hours of operation are limited or anything else impacts research?
• If you are unable to fully meet the needs of your mentees, who should they check-in with? Reach out to colleagues for help.

Research & Travel 

As a friendly reminder, university travel policies apply to student employees (including research assistants) traveling in state or out-of-state for business.  

Travel Booking & Expenses 

• All University related travel must follow: 
  • Policy 3-030: Travel Policy 
  • University Travel Payment and Allowable Expenses 
• Travel should be booked through the University’s approved travel system to ensure proper insurance coverage and compliance.   

Insurance & Safety 

• University approved travel automatically provides coverage under the University’s travel insurance program. 
• Please review  Know Before You Go – Travel  for safety expectations, risk management guidance, and required steps before traveling. 

FLSA Considerations 

• Under FLSA rules, travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight counts as work time when it occurs during the employee’s normal working hours (including corresponding hours on nonworking days). 
• Travel outside normal working hours as a passenger (plane, train, bus, etc.) is generally not considered work time.