Page 12 - BusinessWest March, 21, 2022

Editorial
FWork Has Changed — Forever
BusinessWest
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lash back exactly two years ago, to a time when employees work remotely and be just as effective as they were in the office, if of companies across the region — from banks to nonprof- not more effective — and that it should be done.
its; hospitals to health plans — packed up their computers Miriam Siegel, first senior vice president and chief culture offi-
and whatever else they needed and went home to work. Initially, we thought two things that never really happened the
way we expected. The first was that these workers wouldn’t be gone for long — maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months, depending on how things went. The second was that, just as everyone left en masse, so would everyone return en masse.
Indeed, two years later, many still haven’t returned. And they certainly haven’t returned all at once.
And most importantly, most of those who have returned — and will return in the coming weeks and months — won’t be going to the office five days a week.
Suffice it to say the world of work has changed considerably since COVID-19 entered our lives — and there is simply no way things will go back to the way they were. The genie is out of the bottle, if you will, and there is no getting it back in (see story on page 6).
But except for the long-term implications of this new world order on office properties, the restaurants and bars located around them that count these workers as patrons, and cities like Boston, New York, and even Springfield — and that’s another story — these developments are mostly positive.
In many ways, the move to flexible schedules and greater con- cern for the needs of employees is something businesses should have been thinking about long ago — and a few of the more pro- gressive ones certainly were.
What the pandemic did, among other things, was show the business community that it could be done — that employees could
Opinion
Lessons in Social Mobility
TBy James F. Birge
his isn’t another COVID think
piece written by a college presi-
dent. This is a story about upward mobility in the face of the most signifi- cant public health crisis of our lifetime.
In fact, the faculty and staff at Mas- sachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) are so dedicated to this mission that
we’ve received national recognition for
it — MCLA ranks 21st on U.S. News and World Report’s list of the 50 public and pri- vate “Top Performers on Social Mobility,” which measures how well schools graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants. These grants are typically awarded to those whose families make less than $50,000. The publication also ranked MCLA as a 2021 Top Ten College for the third consecu- tive year, and the ninth time in the past 11 years.
Nearly half of MCLA students are Pell Grant recipients, the highest percentage across the Massachusetts state-university system. More than 40% are the first in their families to go to college. Nearly 85% of stu- dents receive some kind of financial aid.
These are students who need support in their academic journey. Many are balanc- ing work and family commitments. Many
are coming from urban areas and are dis- covering what it is like to live in a rural area for the first time. Many have no frame of reference for what a college experience is like. They are discovering who they are, and who they want to be, in a time of global upheaval, and many of them have seen increased economic insecurity as a result of COVID-19.
What does a commitment to social mobility look like during a pandemic? Here are some examples.
• In 2020, MCLA kicked off its TRiO Pro- gram, supported by a $1.2 million federal grant, which works toward increasing the retention, good academic standing, and graduation rates of low-income, first gen- eration, and students with disabilities. This program serves up to 160 students a year;
• MCLA’s Office of Admission adopted a test-blind policy in 2020 and waived SAT requirements for students applying for the fall 2021 and 2022 semesters;
• In 2020, in response to economic uncertainties brought on by the pan- demic, MCLA established the Resiliency Fund, which has to date distributed nearly $300,000 to 296 students in need;
• The MCLA Food Pantry combats stu-
dent food insecurity, supported with stu- dent volunteer work and donations; and
• MCLA boasts more than 100 of its own private scholarships, including five new additions since 2020.
Like all other schools, MCLA has seen its enrollment decline as a result of the pandemic. Still, we continue to serve these students well. We continue to graduate our high-need students at higher rates than
the national average, and the vast majority of MCLA graduates — 93% — land jobs or get accepted into some of the finest grad schools in the country. Helping our under- resourced students achieve a college edu- cation will help them earn more in their lifetimes, find fulfilling careers, and live meaningful lives. Public colleges help con- tribute to furthering economic equity every day, and we are proud to make this part of our mission as an institution.
I’m incredibly proud of all our students, as well as our incredible faculty and dedi- cated staff, who are changing individual lives and working toward a more equitable future. v
JamesF.BirgeispresidentofMCLA.
cer at Ware-based Country Bank, probably said it best when she told BusinessWest, “one of the big things we’ve learned at the bank is that we have to recognize that we don’t live in a one-size-fits-all working world anymore.”
For the 200 or so years leading up to the pandemic, one size did fit all — at least in most cases. Almost everyone worked at the office. Almost everyone worked Monday through Friday. Almost everyone worked roughly 9 to 5.
One-size-fits-all worked for employers before the pandemic, and it worked for most employees, although they learned over the past two years that flexible schedules work better.
And what employers are learning now is that flexible schedules work better for them as well. They work because employees are generally happier. They work because, in some cases, productiv- ity actually improves when people work remotely or in hybrid schedules. And they work because the biggest challenge facing all employers right now is attracting and retaining talent, and they’ve already found that they fare much better with those challenges if they can be accommodating to their employees.
Six months into the pandemic, most workers were still looking forward to the day when they could return to the office full-time. Not long after that, most were looking forward to perhaps not returning at all.
That’s how much the world of work has changed. And while we can’t say definitively what the future will bring, it seems almost cer- tain that these changes are here to stay. u
12 MARCH 21, 2022
OPINION
BusinessWest