The pandemic has significantly impacted how and where we work. Yet these current challenges also provide a unique opportunity to recalibrate our long-held ideas of what the work environment should look like, and to think more intentionally about utilizing our workspaces in a way that can reinvigorate our IHPI community. In considering return-to-work strategies to best support our faculty and staff, IHPI leadership is striving to meet a range of needs and goals, including flexibility, safety, connection, and engagement throughout and beyond the pandemic.
IHPI fully supports Michigan Medicine’s Flexible First policy, which encourages flexible work arrangements that blend in-person and remote work. IHPI is also committed to efficiently managing our NCRC footprint to promote continued collaboration and serendipitous connections between our members. Given the numerous requests for office and cubicle space within the NCRC complex, the IHPI Leadership Team has created a new committee - known as the “Space Force” - to help prioritize requests, think creatively about our workspaces in a hybrid environment, and promote collaborative research opportunities for IHPI members across campus. To this end, I am writing to share news about developments within the NCRC/IHPI footprint.
You may be aware of a recent decision endorsed by Michigan Medicine leadership to relocate the Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQI) staff teams to accommodate their ongoing needs for additional space. CQI staff are in a phased process of moving to the Arbor Lakes complex (located at 4251 Plymouth Road), which will allow for even greater collaboration between their teams, while retaining CQI faculty offices at IHPI. IHPI will work with the CQIs to ensure that these teams continue to be highly engaged and connected with the overall IHPI community, and have access to collaboration spaces within the IHPI footprint.
Following the CQI moves, faculty and staff from the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Center will move from the North Ingalls Building to NCRC in spring/early summer 2022. This move builds upon a recommendation from IHPI’s previous five-year review process, in which the review committee endorsed the co-location of CHEAR within NCRC to promote better integration of child health research into IHPI’s collaborations and partnerships.
We are also committed to exploring hybrid and flexible work models that can develop over time along with our IHPI community’s evolving needs. To start, we will work with the Center for Health Outcomes & Policy (CHOP) to pilot innovative approaches for returning to a hybrid work environment and more creatively utilize NCRC space, including strategies to foster stronger connections with our colleagues from across campus via drop-in office spaces. We anticipate this pilot could serve as a model for other units as we begin to return more fully to our in-person work environment.
Finally, we will continue to monitor and adhere to public health guidelines for in-person work. Where applicable our facilities and protocols have been adjusted to respond to the pandemic and help ensure the safety of our community. Currently all building systems, including air handling units, are in accordance with documents shared by U-M Environment, Health & Safety for ventilation (outside air, filtration, etc.). For all other protocols, including those to support physical space management best practices and procedures, please refer to the Michigan Medicine COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan.
We understand that even small changes to our usual routines can be difficult to manage against the backdrop of the pandemic’s unprecedented challenges. However, we hope you will join us in embracing this opportunity to reimagine our physical workspaces in a way that will benefit our overall research community. This will be an ongoing process, and I value your input; please use this form to share your feedback anonymously.
On behalf of our entire IHPI team, we thank you for your continued engagement and look forward to finding new ways to connect and collaborate in the coming year.
Director, University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
Alice Hamilton Distinguished University Professor of Medicine