1 POLICY

1.01 To outline the terms and conditions for establishing Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) for new and existing employees and volunteers.

2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

2.01 As an employer of choice, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (the “College”) is committed to creating and developing opportunities that promote employee engagement and well-being. The College strives to create and maintain a culture of care and performance and hopes to achieve the following benefits in the implementation of a Flexible Workplace Policy:

3.03 “Face Coverings” – for the purpose of this policy, face coverings refer to the following:

• Support employee engagement and well being
• Increase our ability to attract and retain diverse top talent
• Increase employee satisfaction and morale
• Improve employee well-being, health and work-life balance
• Utilize campus physical space effectively
• Support CCNM’s goal to be a leader and advocate for positive change to our environment and reduce our ecological footprint

2.02 The College will implement FWAs in a fair, equitable and transparent manner and ensure compliance with applicable legislation and contractual obligations (e.g. Occupational Health and Safety, Privacy, Information Technology, Collective Agreement language etc.).

2.03 The College will work to ensure that employees working remotely remain connected to the team.

2.04 The College will work to ensure that FWAs are viewed without negative connotation. Employees who participate will not be negatively impacted or be barred from learning opportunities and career development.

3 DEFINITIONS

3.01 “Flexible Work Arrangement” – whereby an employee fulfils their job responsibilities at a remote location that is not operated by CCNM on one or more days per week. The alternative location is typically the employee’s home, but may be another location with approval from the employee’s supervisor and the Executive Director, HR. Flexible work arrangements may be initiated by the employee or by CCNM.

4 PRINCIPLES

4.01 The employee should make the request, using the Flexible Work Arrangement Request form, at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the proposed commencement of the FWA.

4.01 FWAs are not intended to facilitate an individual’s ongoing obligation with respect to care of a child or adult. Individuals in this circumstance must bring forward requests for appropriate accommodation in accordance with the College’s policy and or applicable legislation.

4.02 An individual’s compensation, benefits, work status and work responsibilities will not be impacted due to participation in a FWA unless expressly stated otherwise by the College in writing.

4.03 The College retains its contractual rights including the right to assign/reassign work, to reorganize the workplace, and/or to terminate employment, pursuant to applicable collective agreements, employment contracts and laws.

4.04 The College will determine, at its sole discretion, the approval of and/or implementation of working from home arrangements in accordance with this policy.

4.05 The College may terminate a FWA at its sole discretion. Individuals will be provided advance notice that is reasonable in the circumstance, if a decision is made to terminate a FWA.

4.06 Individuals may request to terminate a FWA. Such request will be brought forward to an individual’s supervisor for review and/or approval of a reasonable notice period, at the discretion of the College, subject to operational circumstance and feasibility.

4.07 For bargaining unit employees, the Collective Agreement will prevail if any conflicts arise between the Collective Agreement and this policy.

5 CONDITIONS FOR FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS

5.01 Individuals who participate in a working from home arrangement shall abide by all terms and conditions of employment including relevant Collective Agreements, the College’s policies and procedures and all other regulatory and legal requirements.

5.02 As required, individuals must be available to work and/or attend meetings and training on site, during any given day, for the effective performance of responsibilities.

5.03 During regular business hours, individuals must be available to participate in all business discussions and respond to work-related inquiries via any method identified by the College (e.g. video conference, email, Microsoft Teams, etc.). This may include a requirement for the employee to use a personal/home phone number to maintain communication with their supervisor and colleagues.

5.04 Individuals must have the infrastructure to support the working from home arrangement including, but not limited to, high-speed internet services.

6 LOCATION OF FLEXBILE WORK ARRANGEMENT

6.01 It is expected that employees perform their work within Ontario (Toronto campus) or British Columbia (Boucher campus) and would typically be the Employee’s primary residence. The Telework site shall not be located outside of the Province of Ontario (Toronto campus employees) or British Columbia (Boucher campus employees). Long-term/extended out-of-province/country remote working is not permitted.

6.01 The individual will take reasonable steps to ensure that the telework site is maintained in a safe and healthy condition, free from hazards and other dangers and shall comply with safe work practices.

6.02 If an employee moves, they must inform their supervisor of the new address they will be working from and submit a revised Flexible Work Arrangement Request form for approval.

7 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

7.01 An individual’s health and safety roles and responsibilities, as identified by legislation and the College’s internal measures and procedures, must be followed at all times.

7.02 The relevant provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act will continue to apply to working from home arrangements.

7.03 Individuals are responsible for notifying their supervisor immediately of such injuries or accidents that occur in the course of their work hours in accordance with the Employee Accident Reporting policy.

7.04 The individual agrees that a representative of the College may visit their remote telework site to investigate an injury or accident report, and agrees to facilitate such a visit as soon as reasonably possible after the injury or accident.

7.05 The College assumes no liability for injuries occurring in the telework site outside the individual’s regular work hours or for any injury incurred as a result of any activity that is not within the course and scope of the individual’s established job duties.

7.06 The College assumes no liability or responsibility in any claims for any injuries or accidents to members of the individual’s family, visitors, residents and/or guests, or for any loss or damage to the personal property of such individuals, the telework site or the dwelling in which it is located.

7.07 Lunch/meal breaks are considered to be on an individual’s own time and are not part of the individual’s designated working hours.

8 REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES

8.01 Any change of the work schedule must be discussed in advance and approved by the supervisor.

8.02 In the event of equipment or connectivity issues, the employee is to notify their supervisor as soon as possible. It is expected that every reasonable effort will be made by the employee to minimize work disruption. Alternative tasks and arrangements may be assigned, including changing work location.

8.03 Employees understand that they may be required to attend on campus/onsite with limited notice in the event of scheduled meetings or unforeseen emergencies.

9 PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

9.01 College information that is not public must be treated as confidential. The College is subject to various requirements regarding privacy and confidentiality that arise out of legislation and policy. Employees must meet these requirements in respect of any electronic or hardcopy information or records outside the College environment, and that the employee accesses electronically from offsite.

9.01 College information that is not public must be treated as confidential. The College is subject to various requirements regarding privacy and confidentiality that arise out of legislation and policy. Employees must meet these requirements in respect of any electronic or hardcopy information or records outside the College environment, and that the employee accesses electronically from offsite.

Participants of any online meeting will be advised in advance if host intends to record the session. Where this is not possible, the participants will be advised at the beginning of the session.

Employees can choose to use an alternate background or turn off their cameras if they have concerns. Employees should discuss any questions or concerns with their supervisor.

9 RECORDS MANAGEMENT

9.01 The employee must take all reasonable steps to secure and maintain the confidentiality of all College documents, while they are being transported to and from the employee’s offsite workspace and while the documents are in the offsite workspace. Such steps will include protecting documents from being damaged, destroyed, stolen, duplicated or otherwise accessed by unauthorized individuals.

10 EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

10.01 The College will provide a device but will not subsidize the cost of the employee’s remote workspace (e.g. furniture or internet service at home). Specific requirements in terms of equipment (e.g. connectivity via internet, virtual private network (VPN) remote desktop) may be arranged with the assistance of the Human Resources department and Information Systems department.

Employees should utilize internet options to make calls wherever possible (e.g., via Teams). Should there be any long-distance telephone calls for business purposes, these costs will be reimbursed by the College. It will be the employee’s responsibility to submit an expense claim through Employee Center.

11 INFORMATION AND SECURITY

11.01 The employee is responsible for protecting College data and systems by adhering to Information Systems (IS) policies on the appropriate use of information and communication technology including but not limited to:

• Following the College’s Password Parameters.
• Using a College-sanctioned remote access solution to securely connect back to College systems (Remote Desktop/VPN).
• Store documents in the Shared Drive or in Office 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint) for secure access and collaboration.
• Install all updates released by IS so that devices being used to perform College work are updated with patches and have current anti-malware software installed and configured.

11.02 The employee must report any data security breaches to their supervisor and IS as soon as reasonably possible.

12 FWA REVIEW

12.01 The FWA must be reviewed and approved on a semi-annual basis, or some shorter frequency if required by the supervisor. If an FWA is approved, a formal check-in is required within two (2) months between the supervisor and employee.

12.02 Approval by a previous supervisor shall not constitute a practice or precedent for any future supervisor.

12.03 The supervisor in collaboration with the Manager, Maintenance & Security will be responsible for determining if a dedicated or shared workspace on-site is required or appropriate.

13 RETURN OF COLLEGE PROPERTY

13.01 If the FWA ends for any reason, the employee must return any College property that was provided to them for purposes of the FWA. This includes all College-owned equipment and supplies, as well as documents, materials, files, etc.

14 DENIALS AND TERMINATION OF FWA REQUEST

14.01 If an employee is denied an FWA request, the supervisor will, in consultation with the Executive Director, HR, inform the employee in writing within 14 days of the date of the request.

14.02 If an existing FWA needs to be ended by the College, the supervisor will, in consultation with the Executive Director, HR, inform the employee in writing 30 days prior to the termination date.

14.03 Employee request to end an FWA must be made in writing and submitted to their supervisor 30 days prior to the requested termination date.