What you need to know
Sandia recognizes that you have a life outside of work and sometimes need flexible work schedules to help balance the two. In addition to alternate work schedules, Sandians may be eligible for a telecommuting or remote work agreement.
Flexible Work Schedules
While there are certain core work hours that need to be covered, eligible employees can arrange work time outside of the typical workday schedule.
Schedule Types
A 9/80 work schedule gives eligible employees the opportunity to take every other Friday off.
With this schedule, you will work 80 hours over nine business days (nine hours on eight days and eight hours on one day) and take every other Friday off.
Certain rules apply if you want to alternate or switch your schedule.
The 4/10 work schedule option requires management approval and is for:
- Non-represented exempt and non-exempt employees
- OPEIU-represented employees
- Student interns
With this schedule, you’ll work four 10-hour days each week. You can take any day of the week as your day off. Your chosen day off should be consistent week to week.
Your designated day off is subject to your manager’s approval and is based on business needs.
A part-time schedule is working a minimum of 20 hours to a maximum of 36 hours per week.
Only regular, non-represented employees (including limited-term employees), and postdoctoral employees can work part-time.
A part-time schedule covers specific circumstances and can be used during a limited time period. For example, you can work part-time if you need time for:
- Caring for a sick dependent
- Continuing your education
- Taking care of personal and family needs
- Phasing into retirement
- Other circumstances (subject to manager’s approval)
Working part-time affects your benefits, pay, vacation and holiday accrual, and medical plan coverage costs. Before you make the change, be sure you understand what switching to a part-time schedule will mean for you. Contact HR Solutions if you have questions.
Flextime is approved to be used in support of short-term business needs (4 weeks or less) requiring additional hours worked to balance workload shifts.
Exempt employees below the director level may be eligible to earn Flextime pay if you work five hours over your regularly scheduled hours for the week.
Flextime is not an automatic benefit for additional hours worked – it’s subject to your manager’s pre-approval.
Extended Work Week (EWW) is approved to be used in support of high-priority projects requiring multi-month, multi-year efforts as approved by the Center Director.
An Extended Work Week (EWW) may be authorized if warranted by Sandia’s business needs. EWW is offered to full-time, exempt employees below the director level.
You must be on a standard schedule before EWW is considered. EWW must be approved in advance by your Manager, Senior Manager, and your Director. After management pre-approval, you must submit the EWW eform to obtain all documented approvals.
If approved, EWW pays you straight time, in addition to your base salary, for the eligible hours worked under EWW.
Managers may approve alternate work schedules when they meet Sandia’s business needs and adhere to our policies. Represented employees should refer to their respective collective bargaining agreements regarding work schedules.
Telecommuting and Remote Work
In addition to alternate work schedules, Sandians may be eligible to telecommute or remotely work. Telecommuting or Remote Work can be an effective means of meeting mission needs while providing employees options that reduce commute times and environmental effects, foster work-life balance and recognize the unique needs of individual employees.
You can learn more about telecommuting and remote work by reviewing the Telecommuting and Remote Work (T/RW) Policy and the T/RW Guide.
Telecommuting
With telecommuting, employees perform work at a home work location and commute to their primary Sandia work locations as required (such as for meetings) within normal commuting times. Telecommuting can be short- or long-term in duration and will not result in a tax or geographic tier location change. Sandia recognizes three types of telecommuting agreements: full-time, part-time and occasional.
You must submit a formal Telecommuting Agreement at least one week prior to your effective date; plan ahead as you complete the process for submitting your request.
Remote Work
You may be eligible to set up a Remote Work Agreement when:
- You are working full-time from a non-primary Sandia work location, and
- You are not readily available to report to the primary Sandia work location (as defined by the manager) within normal commuting times.
Certain eligibility and other rules apply for different types of roles, work locations, and types of work (for example, student interns, employees living in Washington, D.C ., and classified work). Get all the details through HR Solutions.
Flexible Schedule Options to Balance Family Needs
How can I adjust my schedule to balance family needs during the pandemic, or for other reasons?
Talk with your manager about Sandia’s flexible work options. The following scenarios show how these options can be used to help navigate unique challenges.
Access to Sandia’s internal web is required to view the scenarios.
- Flexing start and stop times to help kids with school
- Compressing or expanding workdays to help high-risk parents
- Flexing workdays while teleworking with spouse and college students at home
- Considering part-time schedule while childcare provider is closed
- Using vacation time in shorter increments to help with remote work and family needs
- Taking care of an ill family member or myself
- Exempt employee modifying start and stop times to help young children during the day
- A non-exempt way to modify start and stop times (New Mexico)
- A non-exempt way to modify start and stop times (California)
- Considering a part-time schedule to meet family needs
- Non-exempt moving start and stop times to help younger children during the day
- Non-exempt moving to 4/10 to help younger children during the day
Cross the i’s and dot the t’s
Need help with an alternative work schedule? Connect with HR Solutions to find out your options.
Quick Tip
Need time away from work?
If you have a temporary situation where a flexible work schedule can’t help you balance your work and personal/family life needs, you may consider taking a leave of absence.