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Last month, we asked you to weigh in on your experience of working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to share your thoughts about a potential return to in-person work.
Almost 100% of respondents thought that the shift to remote work was successful and resulted in more productivity. Eighty-five percent of our team would like to continue working remotely for the majority of the workweek, provided that all appropriate safety protocols are followed.
While many details are still to be determined, based on these responses and our talks with University leadership, we can provide some updates on what a potential return to the office will look like:
- The Model: A hybrid of remote and office work, with health and safety at the forefront and following all COVID-19 guidelines. The percentage of remote time for each job function will be determined by your direct supervisor and driven primarily by optimizing efficiency, quality, and service delivery.
- The Location: Since fewer of us will be in the office at the same time, we will end our lease at the Dominion Towers on the Medical campus. We are redesigning the former Research Administration space in Gables One Tower to accommodate the new hybrid working schedules and also working to ensure access to flexible spaces on the Gables and Medical campuses.
- The Physical Experience: Since we won't have assigned seats for everyone, when you come in you'll have a choice of spaces to use for the day, similar to a WeWork coworking office. There will also be private spaces available for meetings and phone calls.
- The Timeline: The Dominion Tower lease is tentatively scheduled to end in July. We will be in touch with everyone who has assigned space at Dominion and Gables One to discuss collecting your personal items and equipment prior to the move. We hope to begin a phased return to work with our redesigned space at Gables One Tower in the fall.
There is still much to be determined, but above all we want to convey that this process will be iterative – we will pilot different models as we learn what works best for each job function.
In the next few weeks, we'll organize group meetings to begin determining what that means for each team. Feel free to reach out to your leaders with any questions and concerns we can address.
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