To: Wellesley College Administrative Staff
From: Carolyn Slaboden, Chief Human Resources Officer
Re: Fall Flexwork Pilot
Date: July 16, 2021
As the world’s premier women’s college, Wellesley has the opportunity to create a workplace that lifts up employee lives and careers, particularly for women. We also have a responsibility as a residential college to sustain a vibrant campus community where in-person engagement is essential to student success and to institutional effectiveness.
Aligned with the College’s strategic plan, and grounded in lessons from the past year of remote work and instruction as well as feedback from the Future of Work survey and conversations, we have developed a flexwork framework that promotes a work environment that simultaneously advances the educational mission of the College and supports the work-life priorities for our employees. Many thanks to Megan Núñez and Sarah Staley for leading the Future of Work initiative and to the many community members who helped create this framework.
We designed this framework, which applies only to administrative staff, with several key principles in mind:
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The process for determining flexwork options will be the same across all divisions; however, the options themselves will be based on the needs of the College, the work of different departments, and the roles of individuals as determined by the division head.
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Flexwork should be functionally equivalent to working in person.
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Team cohesion, coordination across divisions, serving the needs of constituents, and maintaining high quality work are essential in any flexwork arrangement.
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Flexwork should provide opportunities for positive impact on the experience of students, colleagues, or other constituents (e.g. prospective students).
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Flexwork schedules must be responsive to change and urgent needs.
We plan to pilot this framework this fall. Most staff will return to campus by the week of September 7, 2021. Some staff may return to campus earlier due to the nature of their work.
Over the next few weeks, departments and divisions will develop flexwork arrangements, which division heads will then have the opportunity to approve. The timing of this planning will vary from department to department based on the nature of work and employee schedules.
At the conclusion of the fall semester, we will assess flexwork arrangements across the College to determine the ways in which flexwork has improved the quality of the work and the work experience. Following the assessment, Senior Leadership will make a determination regarding an ongoing flexwork policy.
This memo outlines the full framework, eligibility, and process for developing a flexwork plan. Employees, supervisors, and division heads will work on these plans over the summer. Here is a brief overview of the process:
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Division heads will communicate with their direct reports about flexwork guidelines and expectations based on the work of the division.
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Direct reports of division heads will meet with their teams to discuss the guidelines, expectations, and process that will be followed for the fall semester.
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Direct reports will complete a departmental flexwork staffing proposal and submit the plan to their division head.
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Division heads will review plans and share them across divisions to ensure that collaborative work across the College remains a priority.
We communicated yesterday regarding vaccination documentation and the importance of uploading this information by August 2. Masks will continue to be required in all academic and administrative buildings. Achieving a vaccination rate of over 90 percent will allow us to relax masking and other protocols for administrative staff. I am sure many of you have additional questions regarding the health and safety protocols for the fall. We expect to share updated guidance later this month.
We appreciate the time that so many of you took to participate in the Future of Work survey and planning sessions. We are excited to be able to use your feedback and the lessons learned from last year to pilot a new approach to flexwork at Wellesley that we hope will provide you with additional flexibility and advance the important work of the College.
