Flexible Work: Overview, Vision & Guiding Principles
Vision
Great Work Deserves Great Support
We do our best work when we have the resources to meet our own needs. At Tufts, we aim to ensure that every employee has the flexibility, support, and opportunity to succeed.
Overview
A Work-Life Balance That Works
For many of us, a flexible approach to where and when we work has enhanced our productivity and our work-life balance. Together, we have learned so much about how to work effectively across a wide range of circumstances. Tufts is committed to preserving these flexible work opportunities in an equitable way for staff, while also restoring the benefits of time spent working on campus.
The Flexible Work at Tufts project team, led by VP for human resources Kim Ryan, gathered employee input and feedback over the spring and summer of 2021 to clarify and distill the lessons we have already learned. Using our community’s collective wisdom and best practices from our peer institutions, the team created a new, durable framework for Flexible Work at Tufts moving forward. This framework offers policies, guidelines, and tools for managers to use as needed and appropriate to support their teams and advance their unit’s strategic goals.
Ongoing training and resources are available to help division, unit, and school leadership develop plans with their staff outlining where and when they work to support a healthy work-life balance as well as departmental needs and goals.
Feedback from our community will be used to improve our flexible work strategies and resources as we move forward. Whether our workspace is at home, on campus, or a combination of the two, the future of work at Tufts will be driven by what we have learned about harmonizing flexibility, quality, efficiency, and productivity—all in support of the university’s mission.
Guiding Principles
A Foundation of Community Wisdom
Guided by input and feedback from our colleagues and peers, the project team distilled the following touchstones to guide Flexible Work at Tufts as we move into the future:
- Results Driven: Deliver exceptional service, performance, and results
- Equitable: Provide equitable opportunities for staff
- Dynamic: Inspire continuous improvements in our programs, systems, and culture
- Impartial: Make decisions based on job responsibilities and objective rationale
- Connected: Protect and advance connections to our community, mission, and work
Provided by Human Resources