Why your institution needs an up-to-date flexible work policy

Blogs

Why your institution needs an up-to-date flexible work policy

Remote and hybrid work is here to stay, and effective flexible work arrangements can help your institution attract and retain top talent, improve productivity, and conserve space and energy. Yet many university leaders struggle to institutionalize flexible work and establish formal policies and procedures that clarify eligibility and approval processes and that align with broader institutional goals.

Facilities leaders play a critical role in designing and deploying successful remote and hybrid work arrangements but can easily feel overwhelmed by the process and not know where to start.

Click on the statement that best describes where you are in your journey towards flexible work to connect with resources that will accelerate your progress:

Early

My institution currently has no formal flexible work policy or has not revised an existing policy following the COVID-19 pandemic but is interested in taking the first steps.

Eager

My institution is in the process of creating or revising a flexible work policy and needs to better understand space and talent management considerations in order to make informed decisions.

Expert

My institution has created a formalized flexible work policy that we're ready to deploy.

Exemplar

My institution has an up-to-date flexible work policy in place.

Early

Your institution, like many, has yet to make a formal decision about its approach to remote and hybrid work. Before you begin creating an official policy, ensure you’ve considered the following:

To effectively make decisions about flexible work, ensure you first understand stakeholder preferences, equity concerns, space redesign options, and regulatory requirements.

Understanding the status quo can prepare you to design a flexible work policy that is in line with current higher ed trends.

Next step: Begin drafting your institution’s policy.

Eager

Although your institution may already have a policy in place, it is important to make intentional decisions that actualize the cost savings, talent retention, and productivity benefits of flexible work. See the following resources to know how different decisions can impact success:

Make choices about in-person work requirements, renovations, and technology upgrades that are directly linked to lowered costs, securing talent, and supporting employee success.

Leverage effective space management techniques to inflect behavior change and improve space utilization rates.

Next step: Assess your institution’s current policy and how it supports the benefits of remote work.

Expert

If you have a comprehensive flexible work policy in place, the next step is understanding how it compares to industry best practices. Submit your policy for review:

Use the remote work policy audit to compare your institution’s policy to best practices across a wide spectrum of employers and data-driven research, and receive concrete suggestions to improve your policy that are specifically tailored to higher education. All you need to do is email your remote work policy document to [email protected]. Partners can expect to receive a customized report, scoring rubric, and specific recommendations roughly six weeks from the date they submit materials for review.

Next step: Implement the recommended changes and schedule a call with one of our experts for support.

Exemplar

If your institution already has a comprehensive policy in place or has already completed a policy audit, Facilities leaders need to effectively communicate this policy to campus leaders and continue to collect data to measure the policy’s success. The following tools can help you launch and maintain a successful approach to flexible work:

Senior Facilities officers (SFOs) increasingly recognize the need to better communicate with campus constituents. To support institutions in these efforts, this toolkit offers seven tools that provide detailed, step-by-step instructions.

Calculating the cost savings related to remote and hybrid work requires an accurate understanding of space utilization. Learn about three approaches for collecting space data to improve Facilities decision-making.

Remote Work Policy Audit

Attract and retain the best talent, improve productivity, and conserve space and energy with an up-to-date remote work policy.

EAB asks you to accept cookies for authorization purposes, as well as to track usage data and for marketing purposes. To get more information about these cookies and the processing of your personal information, please see our Privacy Policy. Do you accept these cookies and the processing of your personal information involved?