In the early days of the pandemic, colleges scrambled to move their work forces online in order to keep their operations running. The initial results weren’t always pretty. But higher ed has spent the past two years learning from its mistakes and making improvements, even while more of its employees have begun returning to campus. Despite hopeful signs that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, there is a growing understanding that remote and hybrid work, at least in some form, is here to stay. With the benefit of hindsight and enough time to consider things more thoughtfully, institutional leaders and academic administrators are increasingly engaging with essential questions about remote work: What is the best way to manage teams at a distance? What does it take to recruit, retain, and engage faculty and staff members? What can higher education learn from other industries that have long embraced telecommuting?
