"For months, colleges have weighed the risks and rewards of bringing students back to campuses disrupted by Covid-19. Now they’re considering what to do about their employees.

Committees at colleges and universities across the country are evaluating the future of work, asking to what extent staff and some faculty members could remain virtual and what that would mean for life on campus and off. There are broad implications, for example, for recruiting and campus density.

Before the pandemic, many colleges had remote-work policies, with arrangements often negotiated for individual employees. Colleges that closed during the pandemic had to not only move their entire student body online, but also train many employees on how to use remote technology. Meetings migrated to Zoom, and office chatter moved to Microsoft Teams. In-person welcome receptions became virtual meet-and-greets.

Covid-19 abates, and the results are loud and clear. Nearly three-quarters of Duke University faculty and staff members, for example, said they wanted to work remotely three to five days a week, citing the lack of a commute and higher productivity as key benefits.

Some campus leaders now believe that flexible work-from-home policies will make or break their future hiring and retention efforts, particularly in competitive fields like technology. Campuses that don’t embrace those policies may 'suffer,' losing talent to other campuses and to the private sector, said Andy Brantley, president and chief executive officer of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

'If we’re going to continue to attract and retain the greatest talent,' remote work 'can’t be so exceptional anymore,' said Helena Rodrigues, vice president and chief human-resources officer at the University of Arizona. There is greater competition from private industry on benefits packages, she said. 'It has to be part of our norm, for sure.'"

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