Harvard College Staff Braces For Five-Day Office Mandate This Fall

Harvard College staff are being told to get ready for a full return to their desks, with employees saying a five-day in-office workweek could be on the way this fall as part of a sweeping Faculty of Arts and Sciences reorganization. The word is largely coming through managers before any official memo, landing in the middle of tense talks over staffing levels, union protections, and earlier cost-cutting moves that have already rattled campus offices.

As reported by The Harvard Crimson, one FAS staff member said managers have been telling employees that a five-day requirement will kick in this fall, even though no college-wide guidance has gone out yet. FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky told divisional town halls that hybrid schedules should be "closely tied to the needs of the work and of the faculty and students," and that "we expect some roles will require a change in a hybrid schedule that necessitates more time on campus," according to a recording of a June 9 webinar. The Crimson also reports that Harvard College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote that "conversations around hybrid work are ongoing."

Why FAS Says It Needs The Shake-Up

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences describes the workforce overhaul as a push for a more consistent administrative model and long-term financial stability, according to materials from the FAS Task Force on Workforce Planning. The task force lays out a move toward a federated, shared-services system that leaders say will cut duplicated processes and clarify who does what across departments. Reporting in The Boston Globe notes that administrators frame the restructuring as an effort to close an estimated 365 million dollar structural shortfall facing the FAS.

Union Anger And Staff Pushback

The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers is not taking the news quietly. The union has publicly demanded more transparency and urged members to organize against what it calls sweeping cuts. In an update to members, HUCTW leaders highlighted the union’s petition, outreach, and Work Security programs and criticized the pace and opacity of the administration’s plans, saying the union will "do everything possible to stop job cuts and preserve employment." Union organizers have also been rallying and gathering signatures while staff wait for formal notifications.

How Many Jobs Could Be On The Line

Internal documents and outside reporting have only added to the anxiety. The Harvard Crimson reported in May that the FAS restructuring could result in as many as one in four staff positions being eliminated under a plan to consolidate unit-level administrators into shared clusters. That possibility, along with early eliminations of a small number of high-level administrative dean roles and new internal job postings, has fueled concern among long-serving department administrators and support staff watching the changes inch closer.

Legal Protections And What Comes Next

As the process unfolds, staff are looking closely at both legal safeguards and union contract language. For large layoffs that meet certain thresholds, the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act generally requires covered employers to provide 60 days of advance notice, and the Department of Labor offers guidance for workers and employers on how that works. Unionized HUCTW members are also covered by a collective agreement and related joint committees; the union posts its 2022 to 2026 agreement and personnel manual online and points members toward grievance and recall procedures they can use if changes are imposed.

Administrators say implementation will roll out across the summer and into the fall as details are finalized. The FAS task force materials describe a phased move to the new administrative model during the summer, and reporting indicates that many operational questions still need answers before final decisions are announced. In the meantime, staff and union leaders are preparing to keep pressing for transparency and, where applicable, to lean on contractual grievance processes as the reorganization shifts from planning to reality.