Telecommuting and Remote Work
Overview
Telecommuting or remote work is a work arrangement in which the employee works outside the office, often working from home. Rather than traveling to the office, the employee works through telecommunication links, keeping in touch with the the VU community via telephone, email, instant messaging, and video conferencing services.
What equipment will I need to work from home?
There are some prerequisites to work remotely. You should have:
- A consistent electricity supply and connection to the Internet
- A computer or tablet capable of connecting to the Internet (Having trouble? Please see:
Common Fixes for Home Networking Issues)
- Use work issued equipment and avoid the use of personal devices
- If you have to use personal devices, do not access or save sensitive data (FERPA, PII, HIPAA, etc…)
- A headset is recommended, however, it is optional
- Access to Vanderbilt's Virtual Private Network (VPN) if you use a shared drive functionality or certain specialized applications. NOTE: The VPN is not required for most applications and resources accessed over the Internet. Your manager or the Help Desk can help you determine if you need to access the VPN, and a common list of applications requiring the VPN can be found here. In order to use the VPN, you are required to use the Multi-Factor Authentication application called Duo Mobile. You must log in twice to use the VPN, once with your VUnetID and ePassword and a second time with the code generated from Duo. Find instructions to set up a VPN connection here.
Collaboration Basics
- Email and Calendar
-
Skype
- How to initiate a call and add participants
- How to share your screen
- How to share a document during a call
-
How to manage voicemail
- 911 Notice: When placing a call to 911 from a VU Skype client, the call will be routed to the VUPS public safety answering point (PSAP) regardless of the geographic location of the caller. If the caller is not located in a campus building, E911 location information will be unavailable or inaccurate. Therefore, please ensure that 911 calls are made through a traditional landline or cellphone and not through Skype when away from Vanderbilt University campus.
- Teams
- Zoom
Where can I get help?
VUIT offers several avenues to obtain help with telecommuting and remote work:
Help Desk (615-343-9999)
Submit an online request for help
VUIT's Recommended Applications for Telecommuting
Instructions to obtain items below can be found by clicking the Service/Tool name
and reviewing the directions under the Requesting Service section.
| Service / Tool | Audio Call | Video Call | Screen Sharing | Document Sharing | Planning / Coordination | Secure Network Access | |
| AT&T Conferencing | X | ||||||
| Box Collaboration Tool | X | ||||||
| MFA (DUO) | X | ||||||
| Microsoft Office (O365) | X | X | X | ||||
| Microsoft SharePoint (O365) | X | X | |||||
| Microsoft Teams | X | X | X | X | |||
| OneDrive for Business (O365) | X | ||||||
| OneNote (O365) | X | X | |||||
| Skype for Business | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| VPN (Pulse) | X | ||||||
| Zoom | X | X | X | X |