• Currently a stay-at-home father who was laid off and
  has been out of the workplace for six months or longer
• Currently married with a spouse that works full time
• Five or more years of professional experience prior to becoming a stay-at-home father
• Primary caregiver of at least one child under the age of 12

If you or someone you know fits this description and would be willing to be interviewed, we would appreciate your passing their name and contact details along to us.  Please send contact information to vandeus@bc.edu.

Is Your Job Killing You?
Interesting infographic illustrates the severity of the problems associated with work-related stress and provides tips on how both employers and employees can reduce stress.

Welcome to the Global Workforce Roundtable F. Hoffmann-LaRoche AG, Basel, and welcome back GlaxoSmithKline! The Roche Group, including Genentech, is an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases.  GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies with the mission to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, and live longer. Please join us in welcoming Anne Schiefer, Trainee Management Start-Up Human Resources, Roche, and Tomás Leal, Director, Inclusion and Diversity, GlaxoSmithKline!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Web-conferences:

Wednesday, January 25, 2012:  Member Benefits Review

*2 Sessions Available*

→    10:00-11:00am EST (Time Zone Converter) REGISTER NOW!

→    8:00-9:00pm EST (Time Zone Converter) REGISTER NOW!

 

This call will highlight all that's available to you as a Global Workforce Roundtable member, such as the Members' Only Website, Member Email Listserv and Archive, Information Requests, Center Research and Publications, and the CWF Virtual Roundtable. It will be a helpful reminder for longstanding members and a great overview for newer members, so please join us on the call!

 

Global Summit 2012: Contextualizing Work-Life In Brazil

Sao Paulo, Brazil

March 6-8, 2012

 

Through presentations and corporate best practice examples we will cover such topics as:

• What is the economic, social, and legal context for organizational quality of life programs?
• What is the role of the organization in addressing issues of education, poverty and health?
• What are the dynamics of gender in Brazilian organizations?
• What supports do organizations offer to employees with disabilities?
• What does workplace flexibility mean in Brazil and how can it be successfully implemented?
• What can organizations do to address unconscious bias in Brazil and around the world?

We are thankful to Johnson & Johnson for their offer to host the meeting and to Deere & Company for their sponsorship!

 

Recent Events:

Wellbeing and Work: Towards a Balanced Agenda, by Dr. Cary Cooper CBE, Lancaster University Management School

• Webconference Recording 
• Presentation Slides 

Financial Wellness Around the Globe: A Look at How Multinational Companies are Helping Employees Better Manage Their Finances Fred Van Deusen, CWF, and Kevin Close & Davy Deegan, EMC Corporation.

o    Financial Wellness Around the Globe Report

o    Webconference Recording

o    Presentation Slides

 

MEMBER RESOURCES

Listserv Summaries

• Onsite Daycare Centers in India (November 2011) 

 

GLOBAL RESOURCES

The State of Flexible Work Arrangements in China

The Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs recently rejected the proposal to implement flexible work hours as a way to combat unpaid leave. The main reasons given for opposing this idea was that flexible work hours could decrease the quality of work and negatively impact productivity.

 

2011 Global Vacation Deprivation Study

Expedia.com recently released the results of their 2011 Vacation Deprivation Study, which looks at vacation habits across multiple countries, and found that Americans, Japanese, and Koreans take the fewest vacation days, whereas French, Spanish, Dutch, and Brazilian workers take the most vacation days.

 

Work-Life Balance more important than Salary in Singapore

A recent study by Ernst & Young of public and private sector workers in Singapore found that employees ranked compensation as the third key driver for motivation at the workplace, behind work-life balance (1) and manager & team dynamics (2).

 

Have a question about what's happening at the Center for Work & Family?   Please contact us - we always love to hear from you!

RECENT EVENTS:

Global and National Roundtable Members receive complimentary membership in NEWFA! If your organization has representatives in New England, we would love to get them involved! For more information about NEWFA, please contact Jennifer Fraone at 617-552-2862 or sabatinj@bc.edu. 

Members of our Corporate Partnerships are encouraged to join the CWF Virtual Roundtable: our own members-only social network filled with information on topics that are relevant to the field of work-life.  Please sign up or sign in in order to access all of these resources!

 

Please contact Catie Maillard at  maillarc@bc.edu if you would like a tutorial of the CWF Virtual Roundtable or would like more information about joining and participating.  The Virtual Roundtable is available only to BCCWF members. 

Mission

The Boston College Center for Work & Family is committed to enhancing the quality of life of today's workforce by providing leadership for the integration of work and life, an essential for individual, organizational, and community success. Our vision is that employers and communities will work together to ensure their mutual prosperity and the well being of employees and their families.

 

Values

Bridging Research and Practice

We seek to advance the depth and quality of knowledge in the work-life field and serve as a bridge between academic research and organizational practice.

 

Transforming Organizations

We believe any work-life initiative is also an organizational change initiative. We help identify and develop organizational models to meet the needs of a contemporary workforce and provide expertise to assist in implementing these changes successfully.

 

Strengthening Society

We believe employers who recognize and manage the interdependence of work, family, and community build stronger organizations and a more vibrant society.

 

For more information about the Center for Work & Family visit our website at www.bc.edu/cwf  or review our CWF brochure.
To contact us please e-mail cwf@bc.edu or call 617-552-2844.

We are appreciative of your support and proud to have your organization as our corporate partner.  Any feedback on this newsletter or about the Center for Work & Family is always welcome!

 

Sincerely,

 

This week Jennifer Fraone appeared on one of Boston's local news channels to do our monthly Work-Life Wednesday segment. We've been doing these regular pieces for nearly a year and it has been a great way for us to talk about our research, provide updates on new developments in the field, and offer some evidence-based advice on how individuals can flourish in the work-family aspects of their lives. The staff members of the Center take turns doing these pieces and we have all enjoyed the opportunity to experience what Andy Warhol memorably called our "15 minutes of fame" - although in this case, it's closer to five minutes.
 
In her work and her writing, Jennifer frequently offers her thoughts, suggestions, and advice on what one can do to create greater work-life harmony to borrow a term from my friends in Singapore. In this week's segment, she provided a number of excellent tips on maintaining balance during the stressful holiday season. One of her pearls of wisdom was "It's more about presence than presents." Jennifer discussed the fact that we often feel compelled to get everyone on our list a present. As a result, we spend much of our precious holiday time in frenzied malls hunting down the perfect gift, which often doesn't prove to be that perfect. Instead, we might choose to slow down long enough to realize that spending time with our loved ones might prove far more valuable than something that comes in a box with a bow.
 
My own family is certainly not exempt from the "rushing around to buy presents syndrome". But there are three things we do every year that are far more meaningful and memorable to all of us than any material gift could ever be. First, we do an annual pilgrimage to Providence, RI to see a wonderful and always unique rendering of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We make an overnight of it and after the show enjoy a meal in one of Providence's many wonderful Italian restaurants. Second, on a mid -December afternoon we go as a family to pick out our tree and then spend the early evening decorating it together (with the late, great Vince Guaraldi's classic Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack always playing in the background.)
 
Finally, as many of you know, I am quite proud of my Irish-American heritage. So the third much beloved tradition is I drag the entire family to see A Christmas Celtic Sojourn. I'm the only one in the family who really loves Irish music so part of the beauty of this tradition is seeing the disappointed looks on my angelic children's faces every year as I hold up the tickets and announce the good tidings that we will once again be attending this wonderful show. So every year, however reluctantly, the kids get dressed-up and truly seem to enjoy an evening of Irish music, storytelling and dance. Even though the kids are more excited about seeing Scrooge and decorating the tree than they are about their Gaelic evening, they are present in each of these three small but important traditions. And their presence is the greatest gift I receive each year.
 
I wish you happy holidays, a Merry Christmas, and a prosperous New Year!
 
                     Brad