Staff Advisory Council

The BU Staff Advisory Council (BU-SAC) was created on April 28, 2023, following a recommendation from the president’s Task Force on Workplace Culture (TFWC), established in October 2021. The BU-SAC’s purpose is to identify and assess the activities, events, and programs that inform the culture of Boston University.

Among the other projects undertaken to evaluate practices and staff perception of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at the University, the TFWC issued its annual report in 2022. The report recommended establishing a Staff Advisory Council (SAC) as part of the University’s governance, thus improving leadership and staff professional learning programs and creating strategies for identifying and aligning different activities across the BU community. A key recommendation in the report was to assess individual contributors’ and managers’ perceptions of flexible work.

As a result, the Flexible Work Survey launched in 2022 and assessed perceptions and potential improvements related to existing remote work options. The survey also fielded questions to gauge opinions about additional flexible work options. The TFWC’s 2022 Annual Report is available for further review.

After careful consideration, President Brown approved the TFWC’s annual report recommendations, including flexible work scheduling options, professional learning programs, and ways to further DEI work across BU’s community. As of May 31, 2023, flexible work guidelines are available for staff reference.

The BU-SAC is now advancing the critical work begun by the TFWC. The BU-SAC fosters direct, regular communication between staff and University leadership to address issues that impact workplace culture and to identify opportunities for improvement.

The BU-SAC also supports the curation and execution of the Innovation to Action speaker series and works to develop programming that is valuable, relevant, and impactful to all members of the BU community.

Thanks to all BU-SAC members for their time, enthusiasm, and dedication to creating an inclusive and respectful work culture here at Boston University. The work of the TFWC brought the culture of BU into closer alignment with its mission and values, and now the BU-SAC will continue making inroads that will impact and improve the staff experience across the organization. We could not advance BU’s mission to be a best-in-class employer without all of you—thank you.
Amanda and Andrea, BU-SAC advisors

More information is available on the BU-SAC’s website.