CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Up to 2,000 Dartmouth-Hitchcock employees will keep working remotely in some capacity after the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
Brenda Blair of Dartmouth-Hitchcock tells the Valley News that positions will be affected at least part of the time in human resources, information technology, finance and clinical secretary services. The total includes about 13% of the health system’s employees overall and almost 20% of workers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
“It is increasing our ability to recruit and retain our staff,” Blair said. “We are employing workers outside of Vermont and New Hampshire.”
She characterized the current shift as one from “remote by necessity,” which the health system adopted in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, to “remote by design,” in which Dartmouth-Hitchcock has taken the time to think through how best to approach remote work.
Blair said some employees will work from home full time, while others will rotate in-person days with other co-workers.
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THE NUMBERS
More than 99,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 35 cases announced Friday. The number of deaths remained at 1,372.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire decreased over the past two weeks, going from 27 new cases per day on June 20 to 14 new cases per day on Sunday.