Information Technology Services

 

Date of this Version

5-27-2020

Document Type

Article

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© 2020 Marcia Dority Baker and Teri Abbo. The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Now is the time for institutional leaders to ask employees what they need to successfully transition back to working on campus. It is also a good time for employees to ask their managers what remote work options will be available in the long term.

In late April, EDUCAUSE conducted a QuickPoll survey asking the higher education technology workforce how they are doing. The results of the poll provide great (and timely) insight on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the work, location, and workload of technology employees. The results also show how the pandemic has impacted these employees as individuals. The looming questions that remain are, "What now?" and "How can institutions embrace new opportunities that may arise?" Institutions need to actively reach out to employees and ask, "What do you need?"

The QuickPoll results summary ends with a look at the work changes that nearly 1,800 respondents said they hope will continue after the pandemic eases. The most impactful of the identified changes, perhaps, were the following three values: collaboration, communication, and transparency.2 Higher education institutions are working hard to provide employees and students with a clear picture of what the immediate future will look like. These three values provide a nice framework to help institutions determine what is needed right now so that they can effectively plan for how to successfully transition employees back to campus.

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