Hybrid Schedules are Here to Stay

Can you believe it? It’s been two years of working remotely, but some folks are getting tired of their home offices and want to get back to campus. However, not every campus is back to pre-pandemic workplace traffic.

I imagine that on your campus, faculty and staff were working remotely out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic while pre-pandemic working from home was done on an ad hoc basis. Now, it appears that remote work has become a permanent part of work schedule options. Essentially, hybrid work schedules are arrangements where folks work a combination of work from home some days and other days are on campus.

If your campus chooses the hybrid model, it should be done with intention that takes into consideration that the arrangements need to be monitored and adjusted as the work evolves and folks’ personal needs change. The traditional campus work life won’t and shouldn’t go away. Simply, the hybrid schedules supplement it.

What’s amazing about this hybrid workforce model is that it challenges our assumptions about our campus spaces and what collaboration looks and feels like. We’ve all gained virtual work skills during the pandemic even if we have never worked remotely before. We’ve relied heavily on our WiFi and our IT colleagues. So, it is critical that your IT function be included in the strategizing as various tools are needed for calendaring, chatting, e-signing, managing projects, payroll access, and document sharing. Ha! And, we’ve all come to love videoconferencing in the form of Zoom or something like it. 

As a human resources professional, my observation is that folks often underestimate how much of their work is virtual, even when they are on campus. In many cases, we conduct much of our business through email exchanges with folks we may rarely have face-to-face meetings or connections. In my view, it is critical that social and interpersonal skills are components of any workplace strategy and culture. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we work and to adapt necessary changes are needed to strengthen our campus work cultures. For obvious reasons, your campus will need to think through role-specific criteria for hybrid work schedules, but arrangements will also be driven by the employee’s personal circumstances. Supervisors of teams with full or hybrid schedules should seek out support from HR. Employee engagement and connection is important for collegial, high performing team collaborations. HR can assist with crafting activities, training, and other interventions to create inclusive experiences for all employees. Whether folks have chosen to be on campus or not, we must recognize that all of our constituencies are looking for assistance to maintain a healthy work and family life.

Articles on topics that may affect your organization’s policies

As we continue the fall semester, the Blog Committee would like to share some of the articles we’ve been reading that relate to policy administration in higher education.

• Class Notes: The gender poverty gap, COVID-19’s impact on college students, and more
  By Ember Smith and Richard V. Reeves, The Brookings Institution, Sept. 9, 2020
• A Perception Problem About Free Speech
  By Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 29, 2020
• University of California must stop all use of SAT and ACT in admissions, judge orders
  By Michael Burke, Ed Source, Sept. 1, 2020
• Accommodations in the Time of COVID
  By Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, Talent Management and HR, Aug. 31, 2020
• UW System: Registration is now open for national public summit on preventing sexual harassment in higher education
  WisBusiness.com, Sept. 29, 2020
• 4 COVID-era Cybersecurity Threats CISOs are Confronting
  By Matt Zalaznick, University Business, Aug. 20, 2020
• California Bill Likely Conflicts with New Title IX Regulation
  By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive, Aug. 28, 2020