Dear Colleagues,
The MBL will conduct a test of our business continuity plan this Friday, March 13. This is in anticipation of possible future direction from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that would lead us reduce our on-campus staffing levels and transition to remote work in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A business continuity plan ensures that the laboratory can maintain critical administrative operations while reducing the overall on-campus staff footprint by allowing some of the staff to work from home. Testing of capacity and operability will help us to ensure that the IT infrastructure (e.g. systems, VPN remote access etc.) that are in place to do this work can perform under a full load and that any issues that are identified can be resolved.
Some of the critical work on the MBL campus obviously cannot be done from home. We must maintain our buildings, take care of animals, continue research etc. As such, this test will focus on those staff jobs that can transition to work from home. More details and guidance on this testing, and who will be a part of it, will be provided to managers who will then discuss with staff.
There is no question that the steps being taken to mitigate the spread of the virus are disruptive to all of our lives. We will continue to update you with changes to MBL programming as they occur. We appreciate your continued cooperation as the MBL works to increase our efforts to mitigate the spread of this disease.
Paul Speer PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Marine Biological Laboratory