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Current Event Policy Analysis:
FSU’s New “Alternative Work Location Agreement” (ALWA) Policy
Sabrina H. Smith
Askew School of Public Administration
PAD 5035: Policy Development and Administration
Dr. Daniel Fay
July 28, 2021
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Companies around the globe have had to shift their expectations and requirements for
their employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Governor DeSantis signed the "Safer at
Home" Executive Order on April 3, 2020, employees in almost every field found themselves
readjusting to a new life of working from home. Florida State University was not immune to
these changes as most workers shifted to fully remote work. All employees were required to sign
the Temporary Remote Work Guidelines Acknowledgement, indicating the official approval by
leadership for working from home.
This acknowledgment form specifies that while they do approve remote work due to
COVID-19 emergency protocols, it is a temporary measure, and that Human Resources may "at
any time terminate the agreement without any period of notice." FSU leadership announced this
new work-from-home policy on March 16, 2020, with a current end date of July 31, 2021.
According to FSU's HR team, this is when they expect the faculty and staff to return to pre-
pandemic operations.
In preparation, FSU's HR has announced their new "Alternative Work Location
Agreement" program. It is only applicable to employees whose positions allow them to complete
their job duties from a location other than the office. With approval from their supervisor,
department head, and Dean, this new policy allows personnel to create a work schedule that
permits "temporary telework" for up to two days per workweek.
Unlike the COVID-19 inspired temporary-remote-work form, which required all
employees to submit to HR for approval, this new AWLA policy does not require approval from
HR. Instead, employees are encouraged to submit their request to their supervisor, outlining their
proposed schedule and specifying the alternative work location. The conditions to be approved
include regular working scheduled hours, and employees must take their remote workdays in
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full-day increments. In addition, for the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Dean
Chapin has added a stipulation that the approval of remote-work plans will be temporary,
requiring employees to resubmit their plan each semester.
With the implementation of reduced remote work schedules, there can be an expectation
for many employees to struggle to adjust with the return to the "old" office life. The study by
Galanti et al. (2021) analyzed data from a questionnaire of 209 employees working from home in
Italy during the pandemic. They found that self-leadership, "the ability to lead yourself to
achieve your goals," and autonomy, "the extent of independence permitted while performing
professional tasks," have a positive relationship with workplace productivity and engagement.
This data suggests that returning to the office may harm work efficiency, decreasing overall
happiness. FSU's AWLA program may help avoid these negative impacts on office morale by
allowing employees the freedom of two days of remote work.
On the other hand, past literature (Orhan, 2016; Bentley, 2016; Lee, 2005) found that
overall job satisfaction was impacted negatively by higher isolation levels. Moreover, in a more
recent study conducted during the pandemic, Toscano (2020) collected data from 235 Italian
employees working from home and found that social isolation also decreases remote work
satisfaction. Therefore, returning to on-campus and in-person office life may positively impact
employees due to the increase in social interaction by the proximity of co-workers.
Overall, this new policy on temporary remote work aligns with the research found on job
productivity and job satisfaction. By allowing workplace autonomy and self-leadership while at
the same time increasing social interactions due to converting back to a more traditional in-
person workspace, the university may be able to showcase greater employee satisfaction and
increased work efficiency. A suggestion for Human Resources: survey fully remote FSU
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employees about their current job satisfaction and then again later to see if they can provide
positive trends in data to support the continuation of temporary remote work.
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References
Bentley, T. A., Teo, S. T. T., McLeod, L., Tan, F., Bosua, R., & Gloet, M. (2016). The role of
organisational support in teleworker wellbeing: A socio-technical systems approach.
Applied Ergonomics, 52, 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.07.019
Galanti, T., Guidetti, G., Mazzei, E., Zappalà, S., & Toscano, F. (2021). Work from home during
the covid-19 outbreak. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Publish
Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1097/jom.0000000000002236
Lee, S. Y., & Brand, J. L. (2005). Effects of control over office workspace on perceptions of the
work environment and work outcomes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25(3), 323–
333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2005.08.001
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Orhan, M. A., Rijsman, J. B., & van Dijk, G. M. (2016). Invisible, therefore isolated:
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outcomes. Revista De Psicología Del Trabajo y De Las Organizaciones, 32(2), 109–122.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpto.2016.02.002
Toscano, F., & Zappalà, S. (2020). Social isolation and stress as predictors of Productivity
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concern about the virus in a MODERATED Double Mediation. Sustainability, 12(23),
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