NMC’s Office of Research, Planning, & Effectiveness conducted a Return to Work survey in June to better understand faculty and staff concerns, as well as understand what would make them feel more comfortable about returning to campus when it’s safe do so. Over 75% of faculty and staff provided insight into what they are feeling in the survey.
Here’s what we learned from our survey that can be used to encourage further exploration.
We asked what concerns faculty and staff had about returning to campus. The majority (71%) reported concern with “getting exposed to the coronavirus at the office”.
We also asked for one word to describe how they feel about returning to campus. “Cautious” and “apprehensive” topped the list although several responses also included “optimistic” and “ready”.
What can we do to alleviate these concerns? We asked what would make them feel more comfortable about returning to campus and here’s what they shared:
- Availability of a vaccine (64%)
- Office hygiene protocols, such as nightly deep cleans (49%) and hand sanitizer stations (49%)
- Wearing masks in the office (48%)
- Limiting the number of employees in the building by staggering their hours or days (39%)