At the University Board’s most recent meeting, which was held 28 October, attendees discussed potential changes to the focus of our premises supply plan. The relevant goals adopted at the meeting include an effort to promote stable rental costs, optimisation of the utilisation of our premises supply and integration of the climate roadmap so that the increase in emissions generated by the University is reduced. These goals are closely linked to each other as well as to the work to keep the University’s budget in balance.
Our effort to promote stable rental costs includes terminating leases on premises we no longer need, such as facilities west of Roslagsvägen. An important part of this effort is to consider how we use our premises, that is how well we optimise the use of our facilities. This is work we need to undertake together in order to see a financial benefit for the university as a whole. If we are to be able to control and reduce the university’s rental costs, we need to be able to terminate leases. This requires a joint optimisation effort to identify these opportunities. It does not benefit the university as a whole if an individual department or unit terminates leases on a portion of its premises – it does not have an impact on the total rental costs.
The President recently issued a decision on rules for remote work for technical and administrative staff. According to the introduction to the rules, work at the university must be performed primarily at the regular workplace, that is in the university’s premises. Being able to interact face to face in a physical workplace facilitates and promotes cooperation within and between work groups. Stockholm University also has a clear profile as a campus university. But it is also clear that as was the case for many other employers, the pandemic revealed new, more flexible ways of working that make it easier to achieve a good work–life balance over the long term. And over the long term, this shift also creates new opportunities to examine the way we utilise our premises.
The text is written by Åsa Borin, University Director. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where different members of the management team take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in every edition of News for staff which is distributed to the entirety of the University staff.