work-life balance

Reporting for Good Morning America, Kate Kindelan spotlights how Prof. Troy Littleton has placed a travel crib in one of his lab’s offices so his graduate student, Karen Cunningham, can bring her 10-month-old child to work with her when needed. “These sort of local ways that people in positions of power can protect parents against the systemic things, like what Troy's been doing in creating a really supportive and inclusive lab, I think that does make a really big difference and it's great to have an example of that,” says Cunningham.

In an article for Fortune, Prof. Erin Kelly and Prof. Phyllis Moen of the University of Minnesota explore how to craft effective hybrid work policies that can benefit both employees and employers. Kelly and Moen advocate for “inviting teams to discuss and learn from how they adapted during the pandemic and how they struggled, and to imagine what might work well for them.”

Fast Company reports on Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It,  a book co-authored by Prof. Erin Kelly, which shows that “employees with more control over their work schedules were happier, healthier, and had a better work-life harmony.”

In an article for Workplaces magazine about the importance of lactation rooms, Jennie Morton writes that MIT is going “above and beyond to support community members who are breast-feeding their babies.” Ronnie Mae Weiss of the Work-Life Center notes that MIT aims to “offer our community members high-quality lactation rooms across the campus.” 

Bloomberg Business reporter Rebecca Greenfield writes about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that finds that when workers have control over their schedules they tend to be more satisfied. Prof. Erin Kelly explains that at present employees "worry about if there are career consequences for working in this different way.”

Brigid Schulte of The Washington Post interviews Kathy Simons, director of the Work-Life Center at MIT, about the importance of taking time off from work. Studies indicate that taking vacations from work yields tangible health benefits.

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.