Recruiting, Promoting & Retaining The Best Faculty: The Role of Work/Family Policies

1. Recruiting, Promoting & Retaining The Best Faculty:The Role of Work/Family Policies Lisa Wolf-Wendel University of Kansas

2. Goals for the Session • Establish why universities should care about work/family policies • Recruitment – focus on Dual Career Couple Policies • Promotion & Retention – focus on needs of academics with children • Future of work/family Policies

3. Context Higher Education is in flux Academics (future academics) lives are complicated Institutions of Higher Education are not altruistic

4. Why Institutions are Becoming “Family Friendly” • To recruit, promote and retain best faculty • To address concerns about representation • To raise morale and increase productivity • To create more equitable work places • Pressure from external sources

5. Recruitment: The case for Dual Career Couple Hiring Policies Types of “help” Ad hoc, decentralized Relocation assistance Consortia Shared positions Creation of non-tenure track positions Creation of tenure track positions

6. When Dual Career Hiring Works Serendipity Initial hire is really wanted Quality of second hire Fit of second hire/needs of unit Culture and Receptivity of hiring department Willingness/needs of second hire Availability of resources

7. Tenure, Promotion & Retention (other work family policies) In Academia – work and family has been an “either or” proposition (especially for women) Could wait to have children…. Could opt not to pursue an academic career Could opt for a less prestigious position How do faculty manage work and family?

8. Academic motherhood study Qualitative study Interviews with 120 women Variety of institutional types All with young children, all tenure track Variety of fields Interviewed early career (less than five years) and mid career (5-7 years later) Reviewed institutional policies

9. Early Career Findings • The joy of professional and personal roles • Academic work is flexible, but unending • Having a child makes you efficient • Puts things into perspective

10. Early Career Findings • Buffering • Preoccupation with timing • The second shift is alive and well • Individual agency • Departments determine culture • Policies are important, but underutilized

11. Mid Career Findings • Most were successful and thriving • More flexibility, less work stress • Easier to prioritize their interests at work • Parental concerns shift • changing diapers to arranging car pools • Scheduling is a major issue • Not wanting to deal with politics • Hesitant to go up for promotion and move into administration

12. Mid Career Findings • Burnout • Stress of pre-tenure stage still stings • Need for self care • Mentoring and support • Serve as mentors for others • Helped to create institutional policies • Don’t receive mentoring or support

13. Family Friendly Policies Dual Career couple hiring Day care – affordable and accessible Tenure clock stop policies Family leave policies Modified duty policies Flexibility in tenure Professional development (throughout career) Mentoring (throughout career)

14. Dilemmas: Tenure and Biological clock can they coexist “Ideal Worker/Ideal Scientist”

15. Dilemmas… • FMLA is not enough • Not an entitlement • Not just a woman’s “problem” • Not just for junior faculty

16. Questions/Discussion • Institutional versus individual perspectives • Results at different institutional types • Disciplinary differences • Gender differences Questions? contact Lisa Wolf-Wendel lwolf@ku.edu