The charge of the Future of Work Planning Group is to develop a comprehensive plan for the future of work at the University of Mary Washington consistent with our educational mission and ASPIRE values, as well as DHRM policies. The plan should build on the skills, knowledge, innovations, and processes we have developed while working fully remotely and in hybrid forms during the COVID pandemic.
The following considerations will provide parameters for the recommendations of the Future of Work Planning Group:
- Start with a high-level survey of the nature of work at UMW over the last year. This might include surveying the UMW employee community, including supervisors, about their experiences of the past year, what worked well, what they’d like to see continue, etc.
- Review the UMW Mission Statement, the Strategic Vision, and other relevant documents and suggest ways that UMW’s work environment is connected to that mission and vision.
- Determine how to continue forms of remote work and other modalities of working as appropriate and in ways that are a productive and beneficial part of our institutional environment, meeting the needs of students, faculty, staff, visitors, and other UMW constituencies. Consider practices such as space sharing, office swaps, rotating on-site schedules, flex time, and remote work from home as ways to continue to accommodate and support our employees’ quality of life and work-life balance while still meeting the university’s educational mission and vision and the needs of students, faculty, staff, and the larger University community.
- Consider the role of community and trust of the workforce at UMW. For example, in what ways will future work policies address the need for including new employees, for collaborating and generating new ideas, for understanding what everyone is working on, fostering teamwork, etc.?
- Identify short-term changes in practice, policies, and potential investments in infrastructure that can be made now, as well as long-term investments. These might include investing in infrastructure including “paperless” environment/document management system; moving more systems to the cloud with mobile interfaces; reducing the number of system interfaces with which students and employees deal; and allowing for more seamless and efficient remote work.
- Based on the Planning Group’s recommendations for the Future of Work, develop a plan for the expeditious review and revision of relevant policies, protocols, and processes.