In January 2025, Chancellor Sam Hawgood announced a new campus initiative to optimize UCSF’s on-site and flexible work strategy. The default work policy for all UCSF employees is fully on-site at a UCSF location. The chancellor charged each campus division and school with adapting this to their operations and needs.
Our Process for Input
The school solicited faculty and staff feedback through an anonymous online suggestion box. In addition, input was provided by the Dean’s Leadership Group, department chairs, chief administrative officers, Faculty Council, Staff Council, and deans of the other UCSF schools.
After reviewing all input, school leadership developed a work policy and an implementation plan that strikes a balance between offering flexibility to our staff and faculty, and meeting our operational needs.
What Guides our Decision
As a university with robust missions in research, education, and care, our work is fundamentally centered on serving students, faculty, staff, patients and our communities. Some of the greatest impact we can make comes from in-person work.
- Working together on campus is key to fostering the collaborative culture that drives our research innovation, education delivery and clinical care. It also helps broaden and deepen connections, and enhance understanding.
Managers and supervisors will have greater ability to develop our people professionally and support their career advancement in a workplace that balances remote and on-site work for staff.
School Policy
- Beginning Sept. 1, 2025, the following policy will apply to all school staff and faculty. New faculty and staff hires will also comply with this policy.
- The dean, vice deans, associate deans, department chairs, center directors, individuals who manage or supervise others, faculty, and any student-facing staff will work on-site four days a week. On-site refers to the primary UCSF location to which they are assigned. The anchor days will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and each individual can choose Monday or Friday as their fourth on-site day.
- Senior leaders and faculty already have considerable agency over their hours and work site; this flexibility will remain but the default School of Pharmacy work policy will be four days on-site.
- All staff will work on-site at least three days a week. On-site refers to the primary UCSF location to which they are assigned. To optimize time together, the on-campus anchor days will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- For staff members who work in research labs, the principal investigator will set the work policy for their teams. The policy must be in writing and approved by the Dean’s Office.