BAU promotes telecommuting and remote work due to circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic, BAU has a Remote Work Policy that stipulates the procedures, levels and objectives of remote work. Additionally, BAU has It Services, which are different electronic resources offered by the University to its employees to facilitate remote work.

• Beirut Arab University Remote Working Policy

Policy Statement

This policy is guided by the commitment to provide the highest standards of quality, particularly in relation to our student experience and research together with our strong sense of purpose. The policy supports the strategic aim to be agile, able and aligned and also our commitment to sustainability, by improving our estate provision and reducing traffic on campus.

BAU are committed to supporting a flexible approach to both the way we work and to our office accommodation, as a way of meeting both the University's and our employees' needs. The option to work remotely builds on the existing flexible arrangements in place and is intended to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and work life balance by giving staff more choice, where possible, about how and where they work.

Aims

This policy aims to:

• Build on the positive aspects of digital upskilling; digital collaboration and agility giving staff more opportunity to work remotely as an option.

• Enable managers and staff to jointly agree remote working arrangements (if the role or duties can be fulfilled remotely) which strike the balance between the requirements of a role and individual preferences, without compromising the need for a vibrant collaborative University community and the quality of contribution/work the individual makes, together with enabling current staff, new staff, and staff earlier in their career, to benefit from working collaboratively in person with experienced colleagues.

• Support the attraction, recruitment and retention of talent across a wider Lebanon recruitment market, building on our existing world-leading quality of the University's research and outstanding teaching.

• Widen our potential talent pool to other parts of the Lebanon recruitment market, increase diversity among our workforce, most notably with regards to gender, ethnicity and disability, where there is currently under representation in some roles across the university.

• Promote inclusive work practices, which take into consideration individual circumstances, responsibilities and needs, to allow staff appropriate home and work life balance.

Scope

The Remote Working policy applies to current and future staff of the Beirut Arab University where:

• • The contractual or 'normal' place of work is the University campus or designated University site.

  • All or part of their role is suited to remote working.

Certain roles or duties within a role cannot be fulfilled remotely, examples include manual and practical tasks such as grounds maintenance, cleaning, laboratory work or supporting on-campus student open days.

Only in specific circumstances may staff work overseas remotely and any such request to work overseas remotely will be considered in the context of the overseas employment guidance.

Principles

We embrace a hybrid approach to delivering on our commitments by determining which tasks are best delivered on campus and which can be successfully achieved remotely.

Managers and staff will work together to determine suitable working arrangements that take into account the needs to collaborate with team(s): the wider university community; role requirements and deliverables as well as individual preferences and personal circumstances.

Irrespective of the working arrangements that are agreed, they must be underpinned by the policies and legal obligations of the university. Staff working remotely must adhere to all University policies in the same way as if they were working from campus including the established data protection and IT security practices.

We trust people to make the right decisions about how and where they work rather than micro-manage. Performance is not defined by physical presence. If work can be accomplished in another way that delivers the service effectively to our stakeholders, then this will be encouraged by managers. Conversely, if changes bring negative effects, we expect colleagues to be willing to adapt their working arrangements.

Broadly speaking, the expectation will be that meetings which involve cascading information; more formalized committees or transactional style meetings would take place digitally. Meetings which involve a collaborative, creative or discursive style would be better suited to in-person meetings.

The meeting chair will be responsible for making the decision about the most suitable format for the meeting, taking account of the nature of the meeting; number of attendees; whether alternative methods of communication could be better utilized.

All staff will attend campus, on average, at least one day per week and it is expected that all work will take place between 8am to 6pm unless agreed otherwise by the line manager.

Managers will hold individual meetings with their staff to discuss individual working arrangements under this policy, including any individual support that may be required, and this will be captured using the remote working agreement template (template will be made available mid-June 2021).

The quality of the work we do together with the health, safety and wellbeing of all staff remains at the forefront of all decision making with regards to work locations.

University departments will provide all reasonable support and assistance to facilitate seamless remote working, including office equipment and other practical support, plus HR and OH advice and guidance.

Remote working will not be a contractual right; staff may be asked to attend campus on any of their working days, sometimes at short notice and managers will determine where tasks are best undertaken. It is important that staff factor this into their planning for remote working.

Managers and staff will continue to embrace technology and build on digital skills to enable visibility and accessibility to support high quality work, regardless of location.

Managers and staff will commit to arranging and undertaking training and development to enable an increase in skills and knowledge in this area, providing appropriate adjustments to staff workloads to allow for such training, as appropriate.

All remote workers, including those who only work remotely occasionally, must complete the online computer workstation training and assessment and take personal responsibility for their own health and safety alongside the university management's responsibility as an employer, in accordance with the University's Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Staff should not use hazardous substances for university work or research at home.

• BAU Information Technology

BAU’s IT Department provides a range of technology solutions for the BAU community. We pride ourselves in the innovative, quality, and sustainable solutions and services that we provide to allow members of BAU’s community to perform their work.

IT Services

Email (for student)

• • • • You can access your BAU Email using any web browser or internet connection. You can use your desktop or even configure the BAU email on your mobile device.

BAU Helpdesk (for staff)

• • • Staff may access BAU’s Helpdesk from their desktop at work to get assistance with their computers, connection issues, or any other related matters.

    • The BAU Helpdesk will direct your request to the right person in the IT Department. You will be able to track your request until completion.

iConnect Portal

The iConnect Portal is the main tool for students, academic staff, and administrative staff to exchange and benefit from information, communication, and services. With BAU’s iConnect Portal, you will be able to:

• Staff and students can exchange and download files and documents.

• Academic staff and students can open discussions and obtain feedback and replies.

• The portal is a site of exchange for general and specific announcements for BAU’s community as a whole.

• Students use the iConnect o view grades. Academic staff can insert grades, extract class rosters, obtain reports for students’ academic paths, and perform other related academic tasks.

• Midterm and Final Exam results are published on iConnect.

• Students may use X-files to view their academic, financial data, profile, warning, probations, etc.

• Staff and students can benefit from library services including search and retrieval of online and print books, journals, and articles using the internal library database and online database.

Banner Student Information System

Banner is a system for the management of enrollment, curricula, and administrative services such as registration, class scheduling, degree auditing, and billing. Using the Banner SIS, we offer a fast tracking and recording of students’ progress and immediate printing of schedules and bills.

Using this system, the University handles all operations such as admission, course catalogue maintenance, class schedule maintenance, tuition and fee billing and collection, student registration, grade processing, student academic record maintenance, and curriculum, advising, and program planning (CAPP).

ID Cards

• • • BAU ID card allows you access to BAU’s campuses, facilities, and services. It is your own identification card. Learn more about how you can use your BAU ID Card.

Video Conferencing

• We offer many tools for video conferencing at BAU to connect across colleagues from campuses or outside campus. By doing so, we expand the learning opportunities across international boundaries.

BAU Wi-Fi

BAU offers a fast and reliable Wi-Fi connect to its students and staff. If you wish to install BAU’s Wi-Fi on your mobile application, then you should follow the guides for iOS or android.