The Center for Work & Family maintains an active research agenda. In addition to its own projects, a primary objective is to act as a bridge between leading academic researchers and work/life practitioners. This dual focus requires the Center to not only conduct its own research, but also to keep informed of the most current research in the field from a wide variety of sources.
Current and recent Center research projects include:
- Flexibility Study: The Center
- Workplace Culture and Flexible Work Arrangements: The Center on Aging & Work/Workplace Flexibility has awarded a grant to
- Responsive Cultures for Hourly Workers: The Ford Foundation Economic Development Unit has awarded a grant to Jennifer Swanberg (principal investigator) at the University of Kentucky and Jacquelyn James (co-principal investigator) at the Boston College Center for Work & Family to study “Responsive Cultures for Hourly Workers.” The study will be conducted across 6 different regions of a national retail chain and will examine the employee and company benefits associated with cultivating a work environment that demonstrates adaptability and flexibility in supporting their workers’ on-the-job and family responsibilities. Both management and employee perspectives will be discerned through qualitative interviews and survey data. Using such data, the investigators will be able to present best practices and strategies for effective management of the hourly workforce as well as predictive models indicating the business outcomes of such support. To access more information about the study, and to download Issue Briefs on flexibility, job quality and employee engagement, please visit the CitiSales Study website.
- Managing Careers and Work/Life Integration: Center Executive Director, Professor Brad Harrington and Professor Douglas T. Hall of Boston University, one of the country's pre-eminent career scholars, have collaborated on a new book Career Management and Work-Life Integration: Using Self Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers. The book is targeted at individuals or couples to assist them in navigating their careers and maintaining work/life balance during these challenging times. With a rigorous self assessment process as its foundation, this book addresses the changing employment contract, managing traditional and alternative career paths, using flexible work arrangements, and managing a career over the life span. The book will be appropriate for use in both academic and workplace settings for courses and executive education programs on career development and work/life. For more information, contact Brad Harrington.
- The Work-Life Evolution Study: The purpose of The Work/Life Evolution Study is to assess the patterns of change in workforce management strategies over time and to develop a better understanding of the trends and forces that will catalyze the field moving forward. The study, which will be published in the summer of 2007, will recommend future approaches to managing people through their career lifecycle that will yield highly positive outcomes for organizations and their employees. For more information, contact Brad Harrington. For the full report click here.
- Model Programs and Policies for Hourly and Lower Wage Employees: The Center conducted a research study to identify and highlight 15 organizations that have developed model programs or policies to support the needs of employees in lower wage occupations. Building on work by the Families and Work Institute, information for this one-year project was collected through site visits, telephone interviews, and analysis of written materials provided by the participating organizations. A summary report that frames the issues faced on a daily basis by employees in hourly and lower wage occupations, and presents information about innovative programs and policies for this group of employees in five different areas: Dependent Care, Employee Development, Financial Assistance, Financial Incentives, and Scheduling/Leaves is available in .pdf format. For more information, contact Jackie James.
- Standards of Excellence in Work/Life Integration Project: Through the financial support of twelve leading corporations and with the guidance of a corporate and academic advisory board, the Center has developed standards for the Work/Life field. The Standards of Excellence in Work-Life Integration defines a framework that includes a set of guiding principles, strategic elements, and performance indicators used to assess organizational work/life efforts. The Standards provides employers with a set of measurement instruments for assessing progress, a means of benchmarking their organization with other leading organizations, an on-line handbook of research and corporate best practices, and an annual trend report on the state of excellence in the work/life field. Learn more
- On-site Child Care Center Assessment: An evaluation conducted at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, this project studied the impacts on employees who enrolled their children in newly-developed on-site child care centers. The study contrasted these employees with a comparison group of employees at a site without an on-site center, and examined these employees at three different points in time. Overall, the impact of using the on-site centers was very positive, with many of these changes taking place at about the time that the centers opened and continuing at later points in time. For more information, contact Jackie James.