University of Minnesota Moment: Family and Work Life

Transcription

[Announcer]: I'm Rick Moore with the University of Minnesota Moment. The pressures of work and family life can take their toll. University assistant professor of sociology, Erin Kelly, explains what employers can do to help their employees.

[Kelly]: So some of those key changes are really thinking about how flexible organizations can be and letting go of some of the ingrained assumptions about when and where and how work happens. Some companies do this with, by setting up flexible work arrangements and some companies haven't felt the need to formalize it that way. But, in either case, I think it's important for workers and for supervisors to think through, "where do I work most productively and in what situations? And is there a way that I can be more focused at work, maybe have fewer interruptions, maybe have a more predictable schedule, so that I can also be more focused at home?"

[Moore]: Kelly says even minor adjustments at work to relieve stress will be noticed at home.

[Kelly]: There's some interesting research with kids that shows that their number one wish for their family life is that their parents, their working parents, would be less stressed. They're not as worried about the exact amount of time that they get to spend with their parents, but they're more worried about the stress and the sense of being frazzeled that they see from their parents.

[Moore]: For the University of Minnesota Moment, I'm Rick Moore.