Diamond Riley, a Staff Assistant at the Duke Graduate School, finds the office coffee irresistible and looks forward to it every day. Beyond the coffee, Riley thrives on social interactions, making her role at the front desk ideal. She enjoys being the first friendly face in the historic building that once housed faculty in the 1930s and 1940s. This is a significant shift from her previous job with minimal human interaction.
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic transformed work environments, Duke University continues to support flexible work arrangements for roles not directly involving patients or students. A recent poll by Working@Duke, conducted at the end of 2023, revealed that of the nearly 3,500 respondents, 41% work remotely one to four days a week, 27% are fully on-site, and 32% work entirely remotely—a slight decrease from 2022.
National trends reflect similar patterns. The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources found that in 2023, 24% of employees adopted a hybrid schedule, while 65.5% primarily worked on-site. Gallup reports that 52% of individuals in remote-capable roles across the U.S. maintain a hybrid schedule.
Antwan Lofton, Vice President for Duke Human Resources, highlights the benefits of remote work, emphasizing the increased flexibility it offers for task completion. For instance, Franca Alphin, an Associate Professor in Family Medicine and Community Health and Dietitian at Duke Student Health, follows a hybrid schedule. This allows her to have valuable face-to-face interactions on campus while enjoying the convenience of telemedicine calls from her home in Pittsboro. She appreciates the ability to take neighborhood walks or do household chores between work tasks.
According to the Working@Duke survey, 41% of respondents cited the lack of a commute as the top benefit of remote work, while 25% valued the flexibility to balance work and personal obligations. Alphin, who avoids a 45-minute commute each way by working from home, loves the hybrid model for its versatility. She starts her workday at 7 a.m. and enjoys the flexibility to manage her day in a way that suits her lifestyle.
The continued embrace of flexible work arrangements at Duke reflects a broader shift towards balancing professional responsibilities with personal well-being.
Read more at Duke Today