UBC will remove faculty from its hybrid work program, leaving some disabled faculty members concerned on their ability to come to work while feeling safe.
The UBC Hybrid Program launched in June 2021 to provide workplace flexibility to UBC staff and faculty during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While UBC has observed that the program greatly benefited disabled people, racial minorities and women have also significantly benefited from the initiative.
In November 2022, UBC presented the recommendation to exclude faculty from the program the Board of Governors Employee Relations Committee a significant change to the initiative
Dr. Jennifer Gagnon, the president of the Disability Affinity Group at UBC, said she is worried about the potential negative effects the changes could have on faculty. She said the changes could marginalize some faculty members and undo the progress made to achieve equity between disabled and non-disabled faculty.
Gagnon criticized the lack of full remote work opportunities as “ableist” and does not take into consideration the hardships disabled people have to face while working in-person. Other notable aspects of the program that continue to be a concern, according to Gagnon, include a lack of consideration of complete remote work arrangements and a temporary outlook on existing remote work provisions.
“This [change] creates an inequity between faculty and staff and will have a disproportionately negative impact on disabled faculty, especially those not on the tenure track,” she said.
Gagnon added that leaving the decision of remote work to faculty heads reduces the agency of faculty members to manage their course in a way that is safe for both them and students.
“[My colleagues] have been refused the ability to continue working remotely with the return to campus and the end of the mask mandate. These colleagues are faced with the horrible choice of working and risking their lives, or tendering their resignation” she said.
“By not including faculty in the Hybrid Work Program, it will become even more difficult for disabled faculty to access remote work options such as online teaching. ”
Gagnon also said the temporary element of the program implies that disabilities are temporary while the reality is that they are permanent aspects of disabled person’s life.
Associate VP HR Strategic Partnerships and Support Services Adam Charania said that work arrangements for faculty are left to the individual department heads to account for the “differing perspectives depending on the nature of their teaching and learning models, operational priorities, and the needs of their students, faculty and staff.”
“We noted that all other hybrid work programs across Canada applied to staff only, so UBC’s program is consistent with that approach and faculty continue to work as they always have,” Charania said, adding that fully remote work was not being considered to maintain a strong campus life.
However, Gagnon believes that the committee should have done further consultation before excluding faculty from the program. She also advocated for the creation of a Disability Task Force as a group to be consulted for issues related to disabled people and finds the approach of the committee to be stigmatizing.
“To say that our accommodations for our permanent disabilities are temporary sends the message that we as disabled employees are temporary members of the university until our problematic bodies prove too inconvenient for our supervisors.”
This article was updated at 1:09 p.m. on Thursday, February 9 to correct Adam Charania's title and include a longer quote from his statement.
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