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 percent of the health system’s employees overall and almost 20 percent 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.