Phased Return-to-Work for Employees

Dear DU Community,

I’m writing to you today to provide a few more details about how the University will begin, very gradually, a five-phase plan to bring employees back to campus to do their work safely and in compliance with orders from the state of Colorado and city of Denver. I want to be very clear that we will be proceeding thoughtfully and with caution, to be sure that no one returns to campus before we have in place all of our necessary measures for daily individual health checks, physical distancing, wearing face coverings in our buildings and on our grounds, and keeping our work spaces clean. I have also recently appointed a Testing-and-Tracing Working Group to explore collaborations with local health-care providers and ensure that we follow best practices that are critical to mitigating potential spread of the virus once our campus becomes more open.

As always, I want to stress that if you are immunocompromised or caring for someone who is or have other health care issues that would place you at risk, you will have the option to continue to work from home if your work can be done remotely. The same is true, of course, for anyone who has, or may have been exposed to, COVID-19.

I’d like to thank Corinne Lengsfeld, interim provost and executive vice chancellor, for leading an excellent and informative digital town hall on Wednesday. I’d also like to thank Leslie Brunelli, senior vice chancellor for financial affairs, and Jerron Lowe, interim Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, for providing such useful information during the event. The hour-long program, which drew more than 1,200 viewers, was recorded and can be viewed online here.

Phase Two Begins

As we transition out of Phase One, during which only essential on-campus employees have been on-site, and begin Phase Two on Monday, we will do so very gradually and trust that our employees are practicing safe behaviors whether on campus or beyond.

As we return to the campus, we are asking each individual to do their part to meet the requirements of state and city orders during this “Safer at Home” phase. To be in compliance with all of those standards, we plan to begin opening our campus in the following ways:

• Unit leaders and supervisors will communicate with their teams about which employees are most needed on campus. They will also establish a schedule that is integrated with the rest of their building, to ensure that no more than 50 people per building (and no more than 20 percent of an individual unit) are reporting to that location each day. For more information about your personal work assignment, you can reach out to your supervisor.
• You will be notified when you are expected to return to work; otherwise you should not come to campus.
• Individual buildings will continue to be locked and only staff who are approved to return to work will be able to enter using their Pioneer card.
• Clear signage listing health-and-safety requirements will be posted around our campus grounds and outside of every building.
• Every campus employee will be required to do a wellness screening through a Qualtrics survey before returning to campus. The screening will ask for temperature and symptoms, and individuals are to complete this once daily before entering a building. One screening location will be available on campus for individuals without access to technologies needed to complete the survey otherwise. More information will be available shortly.

We continue to keep our COVID-19 website up to date with critical health-and-safety information. You’ll also find more information about our five-phase plan for returning to work here.

Thank you again for the great work you do every day, and especially for putting your trust in the University of Denver as we move ahead, cautiously and with great optimism. I look forward to seeing you on campus in the not-too-distant future.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Haefner
Chancellor