Town hall meeting: “Return to the office & Future of work”
On Monday, 28 March 2022, ETH Zurich held a town hall meeting entitled “Return to the office & Future of work” to inform ETH community members about the university’s two-phase approach to this issue. The recording of the Zoom event is now available.
Many of us are now increasingly returning to our workplaces at ETH Zurich. However, the way we work has also changed as a result of the pandemic. This town hall meeting provided insight into the next phases of how ETH intends to deal with current and future modes of working and collaborating. What are the key questions surrounding the transition back to the office and the future of work at ETH? What parameters and guidelines are in place? How can teams and supervisors establish new ways of working and collaborating post-pandemic? These issues and more were covered in the meeting.
Unfortunately, the number of participants was limited, which was not planned. We apologise for this and hope for your understanding. We would like to refer to the video recording of the town hall, which is now available.
Further information about the topic can be found on our website: Return to the Office & Future of Work | ETH Zurich.
Two-phase plan for organising future work and collaboration
At the town hall meeting, it was explained that ETH Zurich has developed a two-phase strategy for organising working and collaborating at the university going forward.
In the initial “Return to the office” transition phase, we will work on identifying the status quo/current conditions and will clarify questions about new ways of working and collaborating in teams and research groups. (The term “office” also includes other types of workplaces at ETH.) In Phase 2, “Future of work”, we will use our experience from the pandemic and from Phase 1 to continue promoting and developing future models of working and collaborating at ETH Zurich.
“Welcome back” workshop
ETH Zurich encourages supervisors to discuss everyone’s experiences during the coronavirus pandemic and to establish a shared understanding of how the team will work and collaborate in the future. Supervisors should acquaint themselves with the different expectations and possibilities and then find a way of working that is best aligned with the duties and desires of the team. Some supervisors have already had these discussions, others are starting it now.
To ensure that these conversations are effective and fruitful, supervisors are encouraged to think about how they want to conduct these exchanges with their team. The Vice-Presidency for Personnel Development and Leadership has prepared a protected pageworkshop template that can be used as a guide.
If you have any questions about the workshop concept, please get in touch with the Leadership & Development department. If you have any questions about regulations and guidelines, the HR Partners (HR Consulting) will be happy to assist you.