Center for Work & Family

carroll school of management

Welcome to the Center for Work & Family!

Since its founding in 1990, Boston College Center for Work & Family (CWF) has been a national leader in helping organizations create effective workplaces that support and develop healthy and productive employees. We provide a bridge linking the academic community to leaders in employment settings who are committed to promoting workforce effectiveness. We are fortunate to count many of the world's most progressive companies in the work/life arena as our members.

We are pleased to be an important part of the Carroll School of Management and Boston College, which are consistently ranked among the top 35 business schools and universities in the United States. More importantly, Boston College provides an environment that promotes both scholarly thinking and a commitment to social action, an ideal combination for the focus of our important work. Thank you for visiting with us.

Brad Harrington, Executive Director

Brad Harrington

 Center for Work & Family brochure

NEWS


*Center Staff in the News*

FREE Work-Life Webconference The Center for Work & Family will be offering a FREE open webconference on Tuesday, September 9 from 12:00-1:00 EDT entitled Meeting the Needs of Today's Workforce: Culture, Flexibility and Careers.  Led by CWF Executive Director Brad Harrington, the conference will present important issues revealed through our research and the implications for your organization in the future.  To register, please e-mail Jaclyn Fitzgerald at fitzgeop@bc.edu or call 617-552-2869.

Jamie Ladge, Ph.D., was the winner of the first Center for Work & Family Fellowship, given to an outstanding doctoral candidate whose research is related to the Center’s mission. We wish Jamie the best of luck as she joins the faculty at Northeastern University College of Business in the fall.

CWF Executive Director Brad Harrington presented on Work-Life Integration at the Mayo Clinic Summit on Physician Well-Being on June 8, 2008 in Rochester, MN. 

A new Issue of the Executive Briefing Series is now available entitled The Multi-Generational Workforce: Management Implications and Strategies for Colloaboration.  To view the accompanying references and PowerPoint presentation, or to access past issues in the Executive Briefing Series, please visit our Publications Page.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award Winners for Excellence in Work-Family Research announced at the WorldatWork Conference! For more information, please read the 2007 Best of the Best Report which provides research summaries of the top twenty nominees or view the Press Release.

National Work & Family Roundtable Spring Meeting in Chicago was a wonderful meeting! Evaluated a 4.3 out of 5.0 by our corporate Roundtable members.

Overcoming the Implementation Gap: How 20 Leading Companies are Making Flexibility Work.  We are excited to announce that the Executive Summary of this report is now available.    The full 150+ page report is available for purchase.  Please contact Jaclyn Fitzgerald at fitzgeop@bc.edu or 617-552-2869 to request a copy of the Executive Summary or to order the full report.  The study is featured in the May 2008 WFC Resources Trend Report.

The Global Workforce Roundtable Summit in Shanghai was a great success!  Held February 26-28 2008, this event focused on the Role of Work-Life in Recruitment, Retention and Development of Top Talent Press Release.  A new Center for Work & Family publication Work and Life in China was released at the Summit.

New Issue Briefs available from CitiSales Study! The Center for Work & Family, in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, examined the effects of quality workplace practices for employees in hourly, front line retail jobs and for older workers in professional and hourly jobs in the same organization.  The nine Issue Briefs now available provide insights into topics such as flexibility, job quality, employee engagement, and generational issues.  To access the issue briefs,

please click here.  The study was featured in the WFC Resources newsletter and the Lane Report.

 

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network December 2007 newsletter highlighted Brad Harrington and Douglas T. Hall in a discussion about their new book, Career Management & Work/Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers.

 We are excited to release the Executive Summary of the latest Center for Work & Family research report, Flexible Work Arrangements in Asia.  

 

Work-Life Evolution Study released: The Work/Life Evolution Study explored change in workforce management strategies over time in order to develop a better understanding of what will move the field forward.  To read the full report, download the Report PDF .  For more information about the Evolution study click here or view Results of the Work-Life Evolution Study presentation.

 

Center Director Brad Harrington co-authored Career Management & Work/Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careersbrad book cover
This new book, now available for order, is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide to managing contemporary careers. Although grounded in theory, the book also provides an extensive set of exercises and activities that can guide career management over the lifespan. For more information, please visit the Sage Publications website.

Dr. Jacquelyn James, Center for Work & Family Research Director, co-edited The Crown of Life: The Dynamics of the Early Post-Retirement Period
The Crown of Life Book CoverThis volume explores the challenges and opportunities of retirement for new generations of retirees who are expected to live long healthy lives. For more information, please visit the Springer Publishing Company Website or view the Press Release