The post-pandemic workplace at ETH Zurich
After two years of pandemic-related absence, most ETH employees have now returned to their workplaces at the university. This phase of the transition back to in-person working is called “Return to the office”, and employees are trying out how flexible working can be put into practice. A new video series sheds light on the process.
ETH Zurich returned to normal operations around two months ago, when the Executive Board lifted all coronavirus restrictions on 1 April 2022 (see also the internal news article from 31.03.2022). Since then, many of us have returned to our workplaces at the university.
However, the pandemic has changed the way we work. Virtual meetings are now part of the everyday agenda, and remote work and flexiwork are no longer foreign concepts. These new ways of working bring a number of advantages but also require additional coordination within each team. Who works on site and when? Who works at home and when? Will meetings generally be held in person, or are hybrid meetings also an option? Will there be a “team day” when all colleagues are present?
Two-phase plan for organising future work and collaboration
These questions are at the centre of the current “Return to the office” transition phase, which aims to identify the status quo/current conditions and clarify questions about new ways of working and collaborating in teams and research groups. The next step will occur during a second phase entitled “Future of work”, in which the university will define its official stance on these new modes of work.
“Return to the office” video series
How are the various teams at ETH dealing with the issues and challenges that currently surround the transition back to the office? What kind of agreements have they reached, both individually and as a group? How well does flexible working actually work now that things are back to normal?
We are launching a new video series today to explore these questions. The series aims to serve as inspiration and provide insights into how you and your team can handle returning to ETH and engaging in flexible, mobile working going forward.
The first video in the series portrays colleagues from the Octavo building in Zurich Oerlikon. They share what they’re most looking forward to about returning to the office, what they’ll need some time to get used to after two years of working from home, and whether the pandemic has changed anything about how they work.
The series will continue after the summer break and continue throughout the “Return to the office” phase, with other teams and research groups sharing insights into their (new) daily routines.
How do you work?
What’s your personal working situation? Are you now working differently than before the pandemic? More flexible, more mobile? How are team members managing to coordinate with each other? Or has nothing really changed for you since the pandemic?
Please share your experiences with the ETH community in a comment below!
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