Submitted by Ashley Arrocha, Staff Constituent Advisor

We begin our new academic year and return to campus with excitement and hope but also apprehension and fatigue.  It is wonderful to see the campus come to life again after 18 months.  However, the pandemic continues to be a threat that weighs on us both individually and collectively while we slowly adjust to the new “normal” in our community. 

As with previous memos, the Staff Advisory Team (SAT) (including myself and the Staff Council District M Representative) adopted our usual approach to gauge how the staff is doing by soliciting staff input through a four-question survey. Although the response rate was low, the information shared is consistent with what we have heard through informal conversations with colleagues. I summarized the key themes below. You can also access the anonymized survey responses here. Additionally, MIIS staff members are participating in the Staff Council’s comprehensive annual survey and the results will likely expand on these themes.

• Work/life balance is essential to us. With the campus reopening and many returning to an in-person work modality, we are navigating how best to maintain the benefits of flexible work arrangements. The former can be challenging as the demands of in-person work can negatively impact a more balanced life.  Supporting equitable and flexible work opportunities is fundamental to staff satisfaction and morale.
  
• MIIS staff are a tight-knit community, and we value our relationships with one another. Over the past 18 months, many have cultivated deeper connections across our different campuses and locations, and for some, these connections have turned into friendships. As we rebuild our community, we’ll need to work together to preserve and strengthen these relationships.
  
• With COVID-19 and its variants still spreading, safety, health and wellbeing continue to be of great concern for our staff community, many of whom have young children who cannot be vaccinated.  The Institute’s vaccine compliance and mask mandates will help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.  Permitting remote and hybrid work arrangements continues to be essential.
  
• Working with ongoing budget and resource constraints remains a serious concern among staff. The former impacts staff morale and contributes to work fatigue, excessive workloads in departments, and resource scarcity on campus. Furthermore, discrepancies in the level of resources and staffing between different parts of our organization can weigh heavily on staff morale.  

What continues to inspire me, and I think many of my colleagues, is that our staff community at MIIS is incredibly supportive. We have all experienced personal and professional hardships over the past 18 months. Yet, many have gone beyond the scope of their job responsibilities to help create a supportive, thriving, and inclusive campus that is adapting to meet the challenges of hybridity in the ways we work, teach, and learn.  It is clear that our resilience remains strong and that we can rely on our strong sense of community to keep our hopes high for a brighter future, despite the challenges.