Alumna Jessica Galica speaks with Boston Globe reporter Kara Baskin about women in the workforce, and how to create better work-life balance while also pursuing meaningful work. “In 2024, power is the freedom and flexibility to make choices that you want,” says Galica. “I do see women choosing to pause and choosing to downshift as a form of power — because they’re actively and intentionally making that choice. This is a way to exhibit that power, and to go after what you want.”
In a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe, Prof. Emerita Lotte Bailyn underscores the importance of leaders and prominent public figures taking family leave. “As someone who has long studied the effect of employer policies and practices on the success of an enterprise, I know the extreme importance of a leader’s actions,” writes Bailyn. “What they model, not the words they say, has the strongest impact on the culture of an organization”
Fast Company reporter Stephanie Vozza writes that Prof. Erin Kelly has found greater flexibility in work schedules and location resulted in higher levels of employee well-being and job satisfaction. “Our study found that increasing employees’ say in when, where, and how they do their work, and conveying support for their personal and family life, both improved well-being and reduced turnover, reducing costs for the company, too,” says Kelly.
Shana Lebowitz writes for Forbes about a study co-authored by Dr. Sara Ellison that determined that gender-diverse teams are more productive than their single-gender counterparts: “[R]esearchers estimated that transitioning from a single-gender office to an office evenly split between men and women would translate to a whopping 41% revenue gain.”
Susan Adams writes for Forbes about research coauthored by Dr. Sara Ellison that indicates that single-sex teams are less productive than their co-ed counterparts. “The authors say their research shows that switching from a single-sex group to a co-ed team could increase revenues by a whopping 41%,” Adams writes.
Research by Dr. Sara Fisher Ellison indicates that co-ed teams are more productive, but have lower job satisfaction, writes Rachel Emma Silverman for The Wall Street Journal. “The researchers posit that shifting an all-female or all-male team to a coed one would increase revenues by 41%.”
Kathryn Hauser of WBZ News reports on the new MIT study showing that while workers are happier in single-sex offices, diversity results in higher levels of productivity. “If this spurs more firms to think seriously about trying to increase gender diversity, I for one would be pleased,” says Dr. Sara Ellison, co-author of the study.
Hailey Lee of CNBC examines a new study co-authored by Dr. Sara Ellison, which found that gender diversity in the workplace increased productivity. The study shows that "companies really need to start considering whether introducing more diversity could in fact benefit their bottom line in ways they may not be able to predict or understand," says Ellison.
Sharon Crowley of Fox News reports on the new study co-authored by MIT economist Dr. Sara Ellison on diversity in the workplace. The study found that while diverse workplaces are more productive, workers are happier in single-sex offices.
In a piece published by The Huffington Post, Chad Brooks writes about a new study co-authored by Dr. Sara Ellison, which found that increasing gender diversity in the workplace can make businesses more productive. “Despite the improved production, individual employees may prefer a less diverse setting,” writes Brooks of the study’s findings.
Zeninjor Enwemeka of WBUR writes about a new study examining diversity in the workplace by MIT economist Dr. Sara Ellison. The study found that while many workers actually prefer a homogenous workplace, shifting to an office evenly split along gender lines could increase revenue.
Boston Globe reporter Katie Johnston writes about a new MIT study showing that while employees are happier when they work with people of the same sex, single-sex workplaces aren’t nearly as productive. Employees “liked the idea of diversity more than they liked actual diversity,” says Dr. Sara Ellison, co-author of the study.
Kate Levingston of Boston.com interviews mother and MIT Media Lab researcher Catherine D’Ignazio about the upcoming breast-pump hackathon at the Media Lab. As one of the organizers, D’Ignazio hopes the event will help to improve breast pump function and make breast pumping more acceptable in everyday life.
“It might not be the first thing that comes to mind after the word ‘hackathon,’ but organizers of an upcoming one at MIT say the world is long overdue for a better breast pump,” writes John Johnson for USA Today. The Media Lab event is slated for later this month.
Kathy Simons, director of MIT’s Work-Life Center, joins the editor of Working Mother magazine and the CEO of Clockwork Media to talk about the issues facing working families on Minnesota Public Radio.