2021 Remote Work Needs Assessment of Administrative Staff

Download this report (PDF)

Introduction

The goal of this anonymous survey is to gain insight into the 2020 experience of remote work and to ensure the needs of our administrative staff are met moving forward. The survey was designed by the Business Services team (EVP for Business and Operations) in collaboration with Institutional Research, Data, Analysis, and Planning (Provost) and reflects feedback from the Staff Senate and the summer 2020 Remote Work Group.

The survey was live between March 8 - March 16, 2021. The invitation was sent by email to all full-time and part-time administrative staff. Human Resources generated the email list to include faculty with administrative roles and omit furloughed, contingent, and student workers.

This report presents the responses of 703 of 904 administrative staff for a response rate of 78%. Respondents shared over 1,100 comments, which were categorized into themes and a selection is included in this report.

In addition to this narrative report, the quantitative and qualitative data are presented in an interactive Tableau workbook and the survey questions are recorded in this google document. The Tableau workbook is available only to the New School community and requires logging in via Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Key Findings

• 75% of respondents are comfortable in their ability to continue working from home in Fall 2021. Regardless of their comfort level, five in ten are either juggling work with caring for household members or sharing their workspaces; the other half do not confront such challenges.
• 60% said they are somewhat or very uncomfortable returning to campus in the Fall if they are asked to do so.
• After the pandemic, 64% of respondents would prefer to work fully remote or mostly remote with only occasional days on campus. An additional 25% would like a hybrid schedule with regular days on campus and remote. The remaining 11% of respondents prefer to work fully on-campus or mostly on-campus with only occasional days from home.
• 85 respondents (12%) have relocated or are in the process of relocating outside of the tristate area and an additional 153 (22%) are considering a move. An additional 33% are open to relocation should university policy allow it.
• 336 respondents (48%) said they feel less connected to the university community in this remote environment. The top things that would make respondents feel more connected were frequent ‘State of the University updates from Leadership’ and ‘Regular Virtual Town Halls.’

A. Current Experience

A.1 Physical Workspace and Comfort

696 out of 703 total respondents (99%) said they are currently working from home (WFH) to some degree. Of those working from home, 75% said they were somewhat or very comfortable continuing to do so in Fall 2021 (Figure 1) and 66% have a home office or desk to do their work (Figure 2). However, 227 administrative staff are using a makeshift workspace (sofa, bed, etc.) and 12 have no comfortable workspace at home.

Figure 1: Comfort in ability to continue working from home (Q.20)

Figure 2: Current work-from-home workspace (Q.17)

About half the respondents are either juggling work with caring for household members or sharing their workspaces; the other half do not confront such challenges. The proportion of respondents stating that they were comfortable continuing to work from home was the same regardless of whether they had a desk, a makeshift workspace, or no comfortable place to work in their home. See the Tableau workbook for additional figures.

When asked to elaborate on their comfort continuing to work from home, those with a home office were more likely to make positive comments about WFH (40%) than those without (11%).

Selected positive WFH Comments

• “I feel very comfortable in my ability to continue to work from home and produce good work. I am however not confident and I am nervous that I will be required to come into the office several days a week just to be there for the sake of being there, and do the exact same work I could be doing from home.”
• “It's chaotic, as you can imagine, but it's working; once vaccination is widespread enough that in-person schooling is less risky, the benefits of remote work will far outweigh the negatives.”
• “My office is busy, toxic and I get distracted by the office politics and feelings of not belonging. At home I have a good emotional system and would rather [limit] my in person days. Prior to COVID they said my job could not be done remotely. 1 year later I have excelled in my role and been able to take on more responsibilities.”

Selected negative WFH comments

• “While I do not have others disrupting me in my space, I do juggle a variety of distractions and disruptions from neighbors, apartment building maintenance activities, and street noise/activities. These types of distractions are most active and ongoing during the workday hours (8am to 6pm).”
• “This has evolved over the past year and would likely evolve further as my children return to school. I reside in a small apartment but we have managed to carve out suitable work stations for the three of us who remain home most of the time. This has made our spaces less flexible and, further, it's not always the case that we are each without distractions. This is compounded when my partner is also home.”
• “Because this is my home, I feel uncomfortable blending it to serve primarily as a workspace, which it was not designed for. Working remotely, I am also made uncomfortable having to regularly host my professional colleagues in my home space via ZOOM video calls/meetings. While I have adjusted to this, it is still not comfortable. In short, the remote work means that I am not able to keep my home space primarily as a space for living at home.”

A.2 Productivity, Workload, and Effectiveness

• Most respondents (80%) indicated either their productivity improved or remained the same when working remotely compared to when working in the office. (Figure 3)
• 426 (61%) respondents said they are working more hours per week on average now compared to when they worked on-campus. Four in ten respondents (39%) are not confident that they can maintain the same workload or do so at the same level of efficiency. Only 30% perceive they could keep the same workload with the same efficiency level; the same proportion is uncertain about how a return to the office might impact their workload (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Productivity while working remotely (Q.37)

Figure 4: If you were to return to the office, would you be able to maintain the same workload (amount of work)? (Q.42)

Perceptions about workload upon return to office do not significantly differ across work areas (Figure 5). 61% of respondents said they are spending more time in meetings now compared to before the pandemic. (Figure 6) 540 respondents (77%) supported the idea of establishing a designated university-wide meeting-free time.

Figure 5: Work Area (Q.8) and Workload (Q.42)

Figure 6: Average time in meetings now compared to before pandemic (Q.39)

Staff who commented that they were experiencing a decrease in the quality of collaboration or communication with their colleagues were less likely to report that they are “very comfortable” continuing to work from home (39%) compared to all staff (55%). In particular, staff who had private offices before working from home were more likely to comment that they experienced a decrease in the quality of collaboration or communication compared to all staff.

The top reasons cited that would make them more effective when working remotely are:

1. Inadequate hardware or infrastructure (e.g. computer, faster internet, etc.)
2. Lack of established “rules of engagement” (ex. office hours; number of meetings; expectations for frequency, method, and ideal timing of communications; time frame for replying to emails) and
3. Need for improved, different, or centralized virtual tools (software).

Having an ‘established terms of engagement’ weighed equally as a top consideration among respondents working remotely across all work areas: colleges (50%), central administration (45%), and Provost units (43%). (Figure 7) The latter group was more likely to cite issues with hardware/infrastructure (53%) than the colleges (48%) and central administration (43%).

Figure 7: What would make you more effective when working remotely (Q.38) and Work Area (Q.8)

When given the option to elaborate on their comfort continuing to work from home this fall, 47 respondents cited increased productivity, most of whom (83%) are working from a designated home office.

Selected comments citing increased productivity in this environment

• “After one year of working from home, I can confidently say that I am more productive now that I am no longer tethered to an open plan office. I did not realize the extent to which the physical lay-out and auditory distractions of the office created continuous psychological and physical disturbances and prevented me from doing my work to the best of my abilities.”
• “…I have been able to successfully meet with more students (lack of office space in person) than I have been prior. I am able to provide more flexibility for meeting with students at later times in the day as I was not prior and have been able to listen in weekly for the [unit-wide] meetings.”
• “Since working from home I feel my productivity has actually increased. Despite having to care for my [baby] working from home has allowed me to concentrate and feel more relaxed when the pressures of the job and from the outside world have increased.”

Selected comments citing increased workload or issues with working effectively in this environment

• “Shared space is distracting; my computer is aging; internet access is shakey; and zoom engagement with students is dispiriting.”
• “I have been asked to take on more work than I was doing when working on campus. My continued attempts to express that the workload is too much for me alone and should be distributed among other staff members within my department have had no [effect]. I know that more work is put on me particularly and I have been told I must take on more work "temporarily" despite how overwhelming it has been for me. I often feel unheard. I am also not being compensated for the extra work I am doing which dampens my morale. I have also been finding it very difficult to get approval for time off when I need it. This also dampens my morale and makes me feel unappreciated.”
• “[I] feel that due to the layoffs my portfolio of work greatly expanded and I'm not even doing all of the work that those staff were doing since some isn't happening remotely. I'm worried that when I return on person the workload will explode with the return of some of the in person specific tasks and the loss of some of the flexibility (being able to do a workout during my lunch break, making food for myself for lunch.)”

A.3 Impact on Personal Life

Seven in ten respondents indicated that their ‘Expenses‘ and ‘Schedule’ have been impacted positively by remote work. Networking was the factor cited most for negative impact, followed by Physical Health, Anxiety/Stress Level and Work/Life Balance.

Figure 8: How has remote work contributed to the areas of your life? (Q.36)

93 respondents provided comments indicating remote work had a positive impact on their life compared to 25 negative comments.

Selected comments citing a positive impact on personal life

• “Generally, remote work has greatly enhanced my work-life balance to the point where I feel happier committing to my current position for longer…Saving 2+ hours of commute time on the train makes a huge difference! This has contributed significantly to my satisfaction with my job and to my feeling of fulfillment in life. I have also been able to save money that I ordinarily would have spent on transit, coffee, and lunches when in the office.”
• “Working remotely has been the best thing for my family…When we went remote, I found an abundance of free time that was devoted to traveling to the office. I was able to fit in household chores during my lunch break. I was able to reduce my guilt of having my child in daycare for 11+ hours a day because of my job as he no longer had to be there as long since I wasn't commuting. I have become closer to my team as we are more intentional about connecting as a group. I have become closer with my colleagues as we have found each other virtually in each other's homes.”
• “I may be an anomaly, but I have fully embraced and enjoyed the newfound work/life balance and positive impact on my mental health and overall well-being working from home has brought me. Stress levels are less. The grueling 3+ hour round trip commute to and from campus has led to better interpersonal relations with my friends and family as well as more time to be there for students and colleagues.”
• “Remote working has approved my mental and physical health. I've been able to eat healthier food while working from home. I feel less rushed without a stressful and expensive commute. Not spending money on an MTA pass has helped with financial strain.”

Selected comments citing a negative impact on personal life

• “The absence of separation between my work life and home life has taken a tremendous toll on my mental and emotional health. My productivity is also way down. Healthy and timely collaboration with my professional network has been drastically reduced. My small living space cannot sustain a comfortable and well-equipped workstation. The prospect of remote-only work continuing with no relief in sight is overwhelming.”
• “If we are to continue working remotely, there probably should be stronger/stricter guidelines surrounding work hours and expected availability later in the evening and on weekends.”

B. Fall 2021 Preferences

B.1 Comfort Returning to Campus

274 (40%) respondents feel somewhat or very comfortable returning to campus if they are asked to do so in Fall 2021 compared to 422 (60%) that feel somewhat or very uncomfortable. (Figure 9) Comfort with returning to campus was similar across all work areas but decreased for caregivers (35%) and those with 1+ hour commutes (28%).

Figure 9: Comfort returning (or continuing) to work on campus if asked to do so in Fall 2021 (Q.22)

Nearly all respondents indicated that public transportation was their primary method for commuting prior to COVID-19 (92%). Other methods were walking (4%), biking (3%), or private car (1%). Generally, those with longer commutes via public transportation were less comfortable with returning to work on campus in Fall 2021 than those with shorter commutes (Figure 10). 63 respondent comments mentioned feeling safer working from home this fall due to either COVID-19 or anti-Asian attacks (11%).

Figure 10: Comfort Returning to Campus (Q.22) and Pre-pandemic Commute Time (Q.13)

Selected positive comments related to working on campus in Fall 2021

• “Working from home, depresses me. I have been waiting to come back to the office since March 2020. I miss my faculty and students. Isolation has been the hardest part of dealing with this virus for me. I would prefer to come back to work, once I'm vaccinated, even if I need to do this on rotation, like one week working from home and one at the office, until everything is back to normal.”
• “The student educational experience along with the employee work experience both operate to a more successful degree in person and on campus. Remote work is an option, but does not replace what we do better in person… If your job needs to take place in person you get a vaccine, wear PPE, wash your hands and go to work.... its that simple.”

Selected negative comments related to working on campus in Fall 2021

• “I spend at least 3 hours of my day commuting to and from work using public transportation. It was always stressful and costly, but will be even more of a concern while the pandemic rages on. I feel safer and more productive working from home…Until a majority of the country is vaccinated, including children, I feel more comfortable being able to continue to work from home.”
• “I worry about vaccine transition period. I am very comfortable staying away from people and mass transportation until all is under control…”

B.2 Interest in University Co-working Hubs

The university is in the planning stages of creating WeWork-style coworking hubs on campus for individuals to reserve seats as needed. 53% of respondents indicated interest in using a university coworking space at some point during the Fall semester. 147 respondents (21%) are interested in using a hub weekly (132 would use it a few days per week and an additional 15 would use it every day) (Figure 11).

Interest in using a hub during the Fall was greater for those working in Provost (58%) or central administrative units (56%) compared to those working in a college (48%).

Figure 11: Interest in using a university coworking hub in Fall 2021 (Q.25)

Quiet / focus rooms were cited the most times as a valuable amenity in a workspace (69%). Respondents that indicated interest in a coworking hub weekly for the Fall 2021 semester were slightly more likely to cite quiet / focus rooms than those indicating they would not use a hub (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Workspace amenities providing the most value and Interest in a coworking hub

C. Future Preferences

C.1 Work Mode

450 respondents (64%) would prefer to work fully remote or mostly remote with only occasional days on campus (Figure 13). Interest increased to 71% for respondents that do not manage other staff, faculty, or students.

An additional 176 respondents (25%) would like a hybrid schedule with regular days on campus and remote. The remaining 11% of respondents prefer to work fully on-campus or mostly on-campus with only occasional days from home. Respondents with longer commutes are more likely to prefer remote work (Figure 14).

Figure 13: Preferred work mode after COVID-19 (Q.32)

Figure 14: Pre-Pandemic commute time (Q.13) and Preferred Work Mode after COVID-19 (Q.32)

Respondents working in central administration prefer remote work slightly more than those working in colleges or a Provost unit (Figure 15). However, across all work units, over 80% of respondents prefer working fully remote, mostly remote, or a regular hybrid schedule in the future.

Figure 15: Preferred Work Mode after COVID-19 (Q.32) and Work Area (Q.8)

Selected comments regarding future work mode preference

• “I believe that working remotely has allowed myself and other members of the university a newfound freedom to balance work and life in practice and not just words. I sincerely hope the university offers staff members (in accordance with their supervisor) to make the decision or have a big impact on the decision as to whether they work remotely and how much of the time they do so. My strong preference would be 100% remote as it allows me to do my work productively, without distraction, and with the flexibility that is afforded with less commuting and an incredible decrease in overall anxiety and stress.”
• “I miss the community of working with others and would like to return to work 1-2 days a week”
• “Much of my work requires the physical manipulation of equipment IN a room, interacting with others. I physically cannot do a large portion of my work from home.”

C.2 Relocation

One third of respondents have relocated, are in the process of relocating, or considering a move outside of the tristate area. An additional 33% are open to relocation should university policy allow it. (Figure 16)

Figure 16: Interest in moving to another region outside of the NYC-metropolitan area (Q.33)

318 or 71% of managers indicated they would be interested in hiring employees who do not live in NYC. Only half of managers indicated that their employees could work asynchronously. (Figure 17)

Figure 17: Managers interest in hiring employees who currently live outside of the NYC-Metropolitan area (Q.34) and working asynchronously (Q.35)

Selected comments mentioning relocation

• “My partner and I moved out of the city and the commute time to the city would require two hours. Prior to COVID, our commute time to our office was less than 15 mins. We hope to continue working remotely.”
• “All of my work can be--and is being--completed successfully and efficiently remotely. Part of my comfort comes in knowing that as a fully remote employee, I can move to a cheaper location closer to family. We have no guarantee of future raises, and many of us were under-compensated before the pandemic.”
• “I need certainty more than anything else. If I knew I could be fully remote, I would move further away to where I could afford to do that. If I need to be on campus at all, I can't do that. I worry that we will end up in a mixed situation where I need to spend 50–75% of my work time at home, but because I need to be close to campus, I can't afford an apartment that allows for a quiet space free of distractions.”

C.3 Workspace Preferences

A workspace that ‘Supports health and well-being’ and ‘Provides access to natural light’ were the most important attributes cited by respondents for future workspace design (Figure 18). Although proximity to students was more important to those working in the colleges than for central administration, only 18% of respondents working in a college indicated that proximity to students was required (Figure 19).

Figure 18: Attributes most important in a workspace (Q.29) n=703

Figure 19: Importance of workspace physical proximity to students (Q.30) and Who your role supports (Q.9)

D. University Communications and General Sentiment

336 respondents (48%) said they feel less connected to the university community in this remote environment (Figure 20). The top things that would make respondents feel more connected were ‘frequent State of the University updates from Leadership’ and ‘Regular Virtual Town Halls’ (Figure 21). The preferred method of communication for university status updates is email (80%) (Figure 22).

Figure 20: How connected do you feel with the TNS community in a remote work environment compared with an on-campus environment? (Q.47)

Figure 21: What would help you feel more tied to the university community (Q.48) n=702

Figure 22: What method is most effective for receiving status updates about the university? (Q.46) n=702

Selected comments mentioning university communications and community engagement

• “…As for the last year, it does feel like there was a lot of noise around a so-called "university reimagining" effort yet I haven't heard many, if any, details around what this reimagining is supposed to be or if it's even still happening. It feels like the new President and the leadership has kind of dropped the ball on that a bit..”
• “Clearer announcements about policies and policy changes. Particularly policies around supporting home technology. This is where the greatest inequities occurred among staff. There are still staff in our department without home internet. We've gone a full remote year without a University wide policy or approach to helping with home internet.”
• “It has taken an awfully long time for university leadership to communicate much of anything concrete about returns to campus, etc. There have been lots of "don't worry, be happy" type communications, or long-winded emails that boil down to "we're still talking about it and don't have anything important to say," but the March 1 email was the first one in a long time that actually had some concrete statements about what's happening, and when…It would be nice to get more of those. Even if you're not 100% sure, it would be nice to know what you're leaning toward with some rough dates if everything works out…"

Selected general comments

• “COVID presents a unique opportunity for The New School to continue its evolution as an academic leader and innovator. Wishing for life to simply "return to normal" is unrealistic, and we must embrace emerging hybrid models for learning, teaching, and engaging in our communities. “
• “I also hope that we think about what new opportunities can arise from these new challenges. We should think about the workforce and workplace of the future. Let's build a University of the future not one of the past. Why go back when we can go forward.”
• “Remote work works! Invest in employee's wellness (mental and physical health) and be transparent around changing needs and demands in the midst of a pandemic. The need for flexibility with work accommodations post-coved will be essential in retaining employees and considering their work-life balance along with overall wellness.”

Next Steps

The above findings provide compelling support for the university to embrace a hybrid work model. To enable a successful transition to hybrid work, the Business Services team in partnership with the Provost Office will establish a working group charged with identifying the policies, practices, training, and resources required to support all administrative staff regardless of their future work modality. This working group and its formal charge will be announced via the University Planning website in late April 2021.

A note about responses excluded from our analysis. This survey was designed specifically for assessing the needs of our administrative staff and was anonymous to encourage the highest response rate. 124 respondents self-identified as faculty (10 full-time and 114 part-time) with no secondary administrative role or managerial responsibilities. As such, we omitted those responses and comments from the analysis resulting in this report and supplemental Tableau dashboard. However, the complete dataset including all submitted responses was shared with the Provost Office.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the following New School colleagues:

Members of the Summer 2020 Remote Work Group and the Staff Senate, especially Maria-Elena Grant and Natalie Gross, for their input and feedback on the survey questionnaire.

The Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support, specifically Katy-Ann Blacker, Holly Frisbee, and Tet Lopez-Rabson, for their guidance and assistance with data analysis.

Please reach out to us for any questions about this report.

Lisa Bonner at bonner@newschool.edu
Abbey Chieffalo at chieffalo@newschool.edu
Wendell Zaragoza at zaragozw@newschool.edu