Do you want to help us discover the Future of Work (FoW) at UMB?

The pandemic has forever changed the way our faculty and staff work. While UMB has taken measures to overcome many of the challenges we have faced over the past few years, we need to continue to evolve. The lessons learned have also afforded a unique opportunity to reevaluate the needs of our workforce and to develop transformative and innovative strategies we need to remain an employer of choice. To that point, a Future of Work Task Force was established by President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, in April 2022 for the purpose of providing leadership with recommendations on how we best prepare for the future of work. 

As variants of COVID-19 continue to surface, UMB will act in the best interest of our campus community as it has done over the past three years. The lessons learned and actions taken since early 2020 have helped us to become a stronger organization that is forward thinking in education, research, and how we work. Recommendations made by the Future of Work Task Force will consider UMB’s broad goals that include:

• The health and safety of our campus.
• Employee well-being and work flexibility.
• The promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Our focus on sustainability and our carbon footprint.

The input of our faculty and staff is essential as we shape UMB for the future. The work of the UMB Future of Work Task Force will embrace our core values regardless of working location, reflecting a caring, inclusive, and respectful work environment.

There will be opportunities for faculty and staff to participate in the work of the task force. President Jarrell has appointed 30 employees to serve on one of the three committees — Work Flexibility, Employee Value Proposition, and Employee Well-Being. These individuals are a diverse group made up of representatives from across the University and across generations. Multiple listening sessions and surveys will give employees the opportunity to provide feedback for each of these committees:

If you want your voice to be heard but are unable to attend a listening session, we will be sending out a survey to capture your thoughts.