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 three committees are as follows (1) a Work Flexibility Committee (2) an Employee Value Proposition Committee, and (3) an Employee Well-Being Committee.

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 participated by providing their feedback via listening sessions and a survey.

President Jarrell appointed faculty and staff from across the campus and charged them with thinking through the changing post-pandemic needs of this institution and developing recommendations that address staff work flexibility, recognize our employee value proposition, support the well-being of our workforce, and will assist senior leaders to plan for our existing and future workforce.

The task force has developed and presented their recommendation to the senior leadership in September 2023. A senior level workgroup is reviewing the recommendations with final recommendations being announced to the campus in Town Hall meetings to be held early 2024.