Managers in individual departments across the University can now decide whether their employees need to stay home because of bad weather.

Officials announced at a Faculty Senate meeting Friday that they are beginning to employ a new “weather flex” system that allows managers to decide whether workers should start the day late or take a day off because of snow or other inclement weather. University President Thomas LeBlanc said the new approach accounts for the individual needs of departments and can consider individual circumstances that may not cause the entire University to close or face a delay.

The new system will offer four options for weather-related schedule updates, LeBlanc said. The University will either be open, closed, have a delayed opening or implement the “weather flex” system and allow individual departments to decide what is best for their staff, he said.

He said GW’s two snow days and several delays this semester have sparked conversations about how and when the University decides to close or change its operating schedule. He said that even though the University cannot alter its schedule based on a handful of other local school closures or delays, officials must consider faculty and staff members’ needs to take care of their children who may attend those schools.

“This is a new approach because it basically says we trust our employers,” he said. “We trust them to make smart decisions, and we trust our managers to manage it appropriately.”

He added that he and Provost Forrest Maltzman have been discussing how to alter the academic calendar in the future to account for more bad-weather days.