Work-Life Balance (including Child Care Needs) at CCSU

Submitted by Leah S. Glaser (History) and Beth Frankel-Merenstein (Sociology),
Work-Life Balance Sub-Committee, Committee for the Concerns of Women (CCW)

Central Connecticut State University, March 2009

The “work-life balance” or “work-family” movement has been growing for over a decade. As a public university that includes non-traditional students and a diverse faculty, the Work-Life Balance Committee of the Committee of the Concerns of Women (CCW) recommends that this is a trend Central Connecticut State University should seriously consider embracing. [1] Work-life and child care issues are clearly not simply women’s issues, but women have more often borne the responsibilities, stigmas and pressures of wanting, or more often needing, to be both responsible caregivers and career professionals. However, CCW is an advocacy group and would plan to eventually delegate the program duties to a campus Work-Life Coordinator.  Therefore, CCW’s Work-Life Balance Sub-Committee makes the following long-term recommendations:

1. Join the College and University Work Family Association (CUWFA) as an institution in order to solicit research on this topic and collaborate via blogs and discussion groups with other campuses on ideas and programs that accommodate such needs.
2. Designate a work-life contact at CCSU to work with Human Resources. This person would also serve on the Work-Life Balance Committee of the CCW.
3. Enlist counseling center to establish support groups and workshops for faculty, staff, and students to address issues like time management for young parents.  Other support groups may include caregivers to adults as well.
4. Explore ways to expand FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) protections and support beyond requirements of law:
   - Work with the AAUP, DECs, and the administration to address the “tenure vs. the biological clock.”
   - Provide additional emotional support and resources for parents with work-life balance issues that involve children and medical needs of older family members.
5. Advocate the expansion of CCSU’s Early Learning Center beyond pre-school to toddler and infant care. Provide “drop-in” and after-hour care services.
6. Model a campus coordinated babysitting service off of a program like Yale’s, but accommodating CCSU’s particular needs.  Encourage students, both parents and babysitters/ caregivers, to form clubs and groups that provide training and support for campus-related child care.

CCSU wants to attract and retain top talent in its faculty and its students and our campus cannot afford to exclude families from the campus community. Research from this university and others has shown that campuses with a child-friendly culture at minimum would ease many of the burdens for faculty, staff, and student parents. CCSU does not currently provide adequate support for child care needs. CCSU is affiliated with a pre-school facility, but that facility cannot accommodate all who need child care services. Therefore, the immediate goal of the CCW’s Work-Life Balance Sub-Committee is to recommend the establishment of a clearinghouse for on-campus and/or drop-in babysitting services. CCW would like to pursue the creation of a website that will serve as a clearinghouse to match and coordinate babysitters with campus parents to help meet the needs of campus-affiliated families.

We are aware that our recommendations entail major legal issues and liability considerations both typical and atypical of our university.  We submit these recommendations in order to elicit administrative support to pursue these initiatives.