Open Forum

Question for Small Museums:

As the pandemic subsides, will some percentage of the work of the staff of your museum continue to be remote that was not remote prior to the pandemic? If yes, what percentage of work for all staff combined will be on site? In other words, of 100% of the workload of all of your staff that used to be done on site prior to the pandemic, what percentage will you go back to being on site work. For example, we went from 100% on site work to 66% on site work during the pandemic and will likely return to 90-95% of on site work post pandemic.

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Sally Corbett-Turco
Executive Director
Stepping Stones-Historic Home of Bill & Lois Wilson
Katonah NY
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Sally, for us a percentage is difficult to say as we're planning for a flexible hybrid model or our 25-ish full time staff.  We're asking that staff work at least two days in the office, one of which must be Wednesday. The other day is their choice, and they can work all five days in the office if they choose.  And of course, there are staff who's role require them to be on site and who cannot work from home. As we don't know how often staff who are able to will choose to remain remote, it is difficult to determine a percentage. And it will likely change week to week. I can think of some staff who might have quite a bit of writing to do one week choosing to work from home three days one week, and who then have a project that requires they be in the museum for five days another week. We're going to run this model in July and August and then check in with staff about how it is going in September and if it should be modified.

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Joseph Imholte
Vice President, Programs and Operations
The Bakken Museum
Minneapolis MN
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