The University of Iowa is reimagining the employee experience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of the Provost and University Human Resources have formed a committee to consider how UI employees work, where they work, and how to continue to innovate and serve in new ways.
The Employee Experience Committee, made up of faculty and staff from across campus, will make recommendations to central administration that reimagine the employee experience to align with emerging talent needs and trends. Examples include employees who have to balance children at home and virtual schooling; employees who live in different locations but bring expertise to the workforce; and the need to be more flexible about where work can be performed.
The committee will be co-chaired by Cheryl Reardon, chief human resources officer and associate vice president, and Lois Geist, associate provost for faculty and professor of internal medicine.
“The pandemic has transformed and will continue to transform our university, but it also has created a huge opportunity to shape our future,” says Reardon. “As leaders, we need to come together to review and potentially modify our approach to the employee experience.”
The 25-member committee will be informed by five subcommittees that will examine certain areas in more detail. Those subcommittees include:
- Faculty/instructors
- Staff
- Health care
- Physical space
- Technology
A recent university survey found that employees are open to approaching their jobs differently. Fifty-nine percent of employees who responded to an April 2020 remote worker survey said they strongly agree to being open to a remote work arrangement one or more days a week after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Another 26% of respondents said they somewhat agree.
“We understand that COVID-19 has forever changed how we operate,” says Geist. “Now we must do the work to identify what we want the future to look like and how we can continue to deliver the university’s core mission in a new way.”
The committee will meet biweekly and make its final recommendations before the start of the fall 2021 semester.
More information can be found on the Future of Work@Iowa webpage