From the Harvard Crimson: Roughly 150 staff in Harvard’s Alumni Affairs and Development office will be required to work in person twice a week beginning the week of Oct. 5, prompting fierce pushback from employees who accused administrators of ignoring contractual flexible-work protections. Employees in the FAS Development and AA&D’s Advancement Communications, Events, and Donor Relations teams were informed by their supervisors Tuesday of the new requirement, according to emails obtained by The Crimson. The policy was initially scheduled to take effect in September. But AA&D leaders later pushed the start date to Oct. 5 after realizing the first required in-office day for some staff would fall on Yom Kippur.
...AA&D leader Jim Husson had begun shifting the organization toward in-person work months before this week’s announcement, according to six people familiar with the office. Some teams were encouraged — or strongly encouraged — to come in for in-person “anchor days” earlier this year... Still, the decision drew immediate pushback from staff and union representatives. During an all-staff town hall Wednesday, Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers representative John Baglione addressed his “union siblings” after Husson delivered opening remarks. Senior Director of Human Resources Shannon Gerah told Baglione that there was only time for a short comment on the new policy and said HUCTW had been consulted about the change...
Baglione called the return-to-office requirement a “regressive pay cut” that could “destroy productivity” and “hinder our climate goals.” ...Baglione argued that AA&D leaders had failed to demonstrate a need for more in-office work... “It’s not good enough that ‘everyone else is doing it,’” he wrote. “This is Harvard, we set the standard.” ...
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/7/27/aad-office-mandate/.
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