Rethinking How We Build Communities: The Future of Flexible Work

Abstract

As most academic libraries closed in March 2020 to help slow the spread of COVID-19, practitioners started working from home for the first time. After observing impacts on their own work, the authors sought to study the broader effects of remote work on practitioners’ professional and personal life by conducting a longitudinal study between July 2020 and June 2021. The authors identified successful and unsuccessful practices and, based on this data, developed recommendations for how employers can support their employees as whole persons to ensure more productive professional performance and healthier personal lives.