President Jarrell established the Future of Work Task Force to think through the changing needs of UMB and develop recommendations that allow for increased work flexibility, recognize our employee value proposition, support the well-being of our workforce, and assist senior leadership in planning for the future. 

The task force will be composed of three committees and a Human Resources work group, as outlined below, with about 50 participants. The task force will consist of broad and inclusive faculty and staff representation from the various schools, units, and Staff and Faculty senates. Each committee will have representation from all the generations in our current workforce.

The Work Flexibility Committee will begin meeting in September 2022 and finish by the end of November 2022. The Employee Value Proposition Committee will begin meeting in October 2022 and finish by the end of January 2023. The Employee Well-Being Committee will begin meeting in November 2022 and finish by the end of February 2023.

The work of the committees and the Human Resources (HR) Work Group is described below:

Work Flexibility Committee: This committee will focus on how, where, and when we work, and incorporating the training, skills development, and technology needs and resources needed to support flexible work arrangements and empower staff and faculty (who have staff reporting to them) to do their best work. 
 
Employee Value Proposition Committee: This committee will focus on identifying and examining UMB differentiators; proposing changes to the employee experience; branding and marketing efforts; and incorporating technology, training and development needs, and resources to strengthen efforts to attract, retain, and engage faculty and staff. 
 
Employee Well-Being Committee: This committee will focus on how we can optimize mental, physical, and financial health (programs, resources, benefits, and training) while maintaining employee engagement, building social and emotional connections, and enhancing work-life balance for faculty and staff. This includes incorporating technology, training and development needs, and resources necessary to support these efforts. 
 
Human Resources Work Group: Members from Central HR Services, HR Council, and HR Partners will continue to gather data, analyze, and recommend actions and future considerations to leadership, including conducting an institutional job assessment to identify jobs and a process to assess eligibility for remote/hybrid/flexible work options; identify and recommend policies that need to be developed and/or updated to support future of work strategies; and developing a strategic workforce plan to identify and address current workforce gaps and future human capital needs.

All faculty and staff members are encouraged to participate by providing their feedback via listening sessions and surveys that each task force committee will convene. All listening sessions and surveys will be completed by the end of 2022.

Input from the UMB community is essential to ensure planning for the Future of Work at UMB is representative of the current and future needs of the campus.

The committee meetings will be completed by early February 2023, with recommendations expected to be provided to UMB senior leadership no later than the end of February 2023.