Remote Work Equipment, Resources, and Technology Guidelines

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Last Review Date: July 1, 2024

Computing Equipment

  1. Employees working remotely are strongly urged to use a New York Tech-owned computer, laptop, or other device whenever possible. New York Tech purchases are insured by New York Tech; personal devices are not. New York Tech-owned equipment should not be shared with family members or others.
  2. If the employee is to use a personally-owned computer, laptop, or other device, the employee is still responsible for following all New York Tech practices and policies to maintain security on the device. It is the employee's responsibility to consult with Information Technology Services (ITS) if they plan to use a personal device and need security assistance.
  3. The use of public/shared devices (e.g., hotel business center kiosks) to remotely access New York Tech resources is strongly discouraged. Public computers should never be used to log into New York Tech systems that contain restricted information (i.e. Oracle, PeopleSoft, eCW, etc.), nor should these systems be accessed over public networks.
  4. New York Tech will provide equipment and resources for the employee's primary worksite only—either a campus work office or remote work office. Hybrid remote workers should opt for laptops as their primary device to enable flexibility between work sites.
  5. Every attempt is made to use existing New York Tech owned equipment or relocate existing equipment. If you are a current employee who was previously working on campus and have approval to work remotely for some or all of your time, please reach out to ITS to discuss a revised work setup.

Printers/Printing Supplies

  1. The need to process paper correspondence should be taken into consideration when assessing the eligibility of the position for remote work. The procurement of, or reimbursement for, home office printers for remote work use is generally not permitted. Where no alternative is viable, exceptions may be approved when a case can be made that printing is an absolute essential function of the job and requires access to a home printer. ITS staff can assess printing needs and provide recommendations for appropriate models to support approved exceptions. All approved exceptions must be purchased by ITS but funded by the sponsoring department.
  2. If an employee has an exception for a home printer, toner and/or ink cartridges will be an allowable purchase and should be purchased through the employee's department. New York Tech will not approve purchases or reimbursements for toner and/or ink cartridges for personal devices. Purchasing cards should not be used for printers, toners and/or ink cartridges, paper, etc.

Other Peripheral Equipment

Depending on the nature of the position, other peripheral equipment may be requested. This includes, but is not limited to: a webcam, audio headset, mouse, keyboard and monitor/laptop docking station for secondary work sites.

Internet Access

  1. School and departmental communication expectations should be taken into consideration when assessing the eligibility of the position for remote work. Employees who are authorized to work remotely are required to have adequate broadband internet access to enable remote work. The employee is responsible for the purchase, setup, installation, support, and maintenance of internet service at their off-campus location.
  2. Remote workers should procure internet services that deliver a download speed of at least 50 Mbps and an upload speed of at least 5 Mbps to facilitate online web conferencing calls, software updates and automated backups. Service will degrade below this level. Higher connection speeds may be required if there are multiple devices and/or multiple people simultaneously using the same connection. In-home Wifi Routers may also have an impact on your actual connection speeds.
  3. Maintaining an adequate internet connection is the responsibility of the remote worker. While the Internet Service Provider (ISP) can promise to provide speeds that meet New York Tech's requirements, the connection setup and number of users connected to the network at the remote work site must also be taken into consideration when procuring the needed bandwidth to support your remote work arrangement. You can test the speed of your connection by visiting speedtest.net.
  4. ITS has a limited number of mobile Wi-Fi hotspots available to address connectivity emergencies and/or short-term needs (typically those associated with business travel). Please consult with ITS to coordinate a short-term loan.
  5. Service (internet, phone, systems) may be interrupted due to weather or system demand. Some employees may be dependent on the internet for their cellular connection, depending on the cellular coverage where they live. Discuss with your supervisor what work you should do if your personal internet service goes down.

Phone/Voicemail

  1. Employees who have an assigned New York Tech phone number can forward their office phones to a personal cell or home phone number as well as check voicemail from off campus.
  2. Departments which have employees who need to routinely place a large number of outbound calls should consult with ITS prior to authorizing a remote work arrangement to discuss financial and operational considerations. Phone forwarding services are available from ITS (i.e. RingCentral license). This service allows calls made to a New York Tech phone number to be received by a personal cell or home phone number. This service must be requested in advance. Once set-up, you may turn on/off the service as needed. Personal phone numbers remain private when using RingCentral.

ITS Support

The New York Tech ITS staff cannot provide onsite assistance for any equipment or connectivity issues located off campus. New York Tech IT staff may be able to access New York Tech-owned computers remotely to resolve issues. If that is unsuccessful, the employee may need to bring the computer to campus for troubleshooting, repairs, or replacement. IT support will provide best effort support for non-New York Tech owned devices used for remote work.

Support for a network connection to New York Tech is specifically limited to establishing a connection through New York Tech's Citrix environment or through its virtual private network (VPN) after you have established internet access with your local Internet Service Provider. Operating system problems, software and configuration issues that prevent the installation of New York Tech's virtual private network (VPN) cannot be supported.

New York Tech can install licensed software or media on New York Tech-owned and managed systems, and in some cases, on personally owned systems as allowed by individual vendor license agreements.

Physical Security of Information Assets

For working remotely, it is the employee's responsibility to follow the same best practices for protecting physical and electronic information and resources as is required at all New York Tech locations. The employee must ensure the physical security of the equipment used to access New York Tech's information and resources. This includes protecting New York Tech's information and remote-working equipment from being stolen or accessed by unauthorized persons. This also includes the security of information in paper format including ongoing storage, back-ups, and proper disposal.

Hardware, software and data destruction of confidential materials must be done securely and disposed of at the termination of the business need, and in conjunction with New York Tech's data retention and disposal policy. Remote working arrangements should be equipped to facilitate this activity (a cross-cut shredder for proper disposal of paper documents) or include the employee bringing materials to campus to be disposed of through standard on-site processes.

New York Tech electronic data must be backed-up or stored on New York Tech's network drives which are available via New York Tech's Virtual Private Network (VPN) or to New York Tech's file shares via Citrix or authorized cloud storage services. Users may not store any New York Tech restricted or confidential on their personally-owned devices.

Other Policies and Guidelines

New York Tech employees are responsible for complying with New York Tech policies and guidelines regardless of work location. The employee working remotely is responsible for protecting New York Tech data and systems that are both remote and those on campus resources that are accessed remotely. Prior to working remotely via personally owned and/or New York Tech provided and managed technologies, the employee must read the following policies and guidelines:

The employee is expected to routinely monitor and comply with changes in these policies and guidelines.