Working Group on Staff Remote & Flexible Work Arrangements

Download the Committee’s final report

COVID-19 introduced a number of temporary changes to the nature of work on the Williams campus. Most notably, a large number of administrative staff moved to full-time remote work arrangements in order to protect public health. Over the summer of 2021, all such employees will return to their campus offices. However, the temporary transitions off-campus raised wider questions of whether Williams is best served by changes to work arrangements going forward.

The working group on staff remote & flexible work arrangements is charged with reviewing Williams’ remote work policy in light of the questions raised and lessons learned during the 2020-21 academic year and making recommendations to Senior Staff for possible revisions to the policy.

Tasked with reaching out to a broad range of campus constituents, the working group is asked to consider the following:

• Does Williams’ current staff remote work policy serve the college and its diverse workforce well? If not, what changes could be made that would better address current needs?
• Would a change in approach strengthen or hamper our efforts to reach our longer-term goals for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; sustainability; and Williams as a residential learning community?
• If the college makes changes to the staff remote work policy, what other changes would need to be considered as a consequence? In other words, are there particular structures or ways of organizing work that could allow for more flexibility without compromising the college’s core mission? Do we have the right HR and other structures in place to support a more flexible
  workforce? If not, what changes would have to be made to support such a move? Are they advisable?
• Are there models from academic and non-academic institutions that are worth considering at this stage in the college’s history?

You can share your thoughts and experience on Staff Remote & Flexible Work Arrangements on our web form. [The web form is now closed.]

The working group will begin its work in June 2021 and includes the following members:

Jamie Art, General Counsel
Danielle Gonzalez, Director of Human Resources
Megan Morey (co-chair), Vice President for College Relations
Ngonidzashe Munemo, Interim Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Professor of Political Science and Chair of Global Studies
Kim Tremblay, Administrative Coordinator, Integrative Wellbeing Services
Safa Zaki (co-chair), Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Psychology

Here are a few of the resources that have helped us deepen our understanding of the issues surrounding remote, flexible, and hybrid work arrangements.