COVID-19 Update: Additional Information Regarding Working Remotely

We recognize that working from home is a new experience for many of you. For those of you with children or other responsibilities at home, remote work can be an additional challenge. During this time, we ask you to do your best—be available to colleagues and our students as you are able. Please continue to follow a normal work schedule, and be mindful of maintaining a degree of separation between work and home life.

Remote work will continue through at least April 13. We encourage supervisors to schedule a virtual team meeting or otherwise connect with their teams to discuss expectations moving forward. Human Resources will be emailing non-exempt (hourly) staff soon with how to complete their timesheets. Exempt (salaried) employees will not need to report their time differently. Human Resources will also be communicating with student workers and their supervisors about work expectations later today.

Laptop computers
If you are working remotely and do not have access to a computer (Bethel-owned or personal), please request a laptop through the ITS Help Desk (helpdesk@bethel.edu or 651.638.6500). Pickup, once confirmed, will be available at the RC419 Help Desk. Because our resources are finite, we will prioritize these requests based on highest need. 

Office phones
You can forward your office phone remotely. To limit the forwarding hours, you will need to enable and disable forwarding as desired. After forwarding your office phone, incoming calls will not display your personal number to the caller. If you need to make outgoing calls, you can set up a Google Hangout, which will mask your personal number.

Internet access
We realize that many of you have internet access at home. If you do not, several internet providers are providing free access during this unique situation. If there are no internet options available to you, please connect with your cabinet member.

Office Availability
All offices must report their availability (virtual, limited face-to-face hours, etc.) and their primary phone number and email address to the emergency management team at covid-19@bethel.edu.

Colleagues in ITS and Teaching and Learning Technology have developed documentation for you to use as a resource as we transition together to remote work and education. If you experience issues or have additional questions, please reach out to your supervisor and those offices.

We will continue to update bethel.edu/covid-19 with the latest information.